LIFE WITHOUT THE EUCHARIST

In a letter to the leaders of the world’s episcopal conferences, the head of the Vatican’s office for worship and sacraments, Cardinal Robert Sarah, said that Catholic communities should return to Mass as soon as it can be done safely, and that the Christian life cannot be sustained without the Sacrifice of the Mass and the Christian community of the Church. Here are some of his words:

We cannot be without the banquet of the Eucharist, the table of the Lord to which we are invited as sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to receive the Risen Christ Himself, present in body, blood, soul and divinity in that Bread of Heaven which sustains us in the joys and labors of this earthly pilgrimage.

We cannot live as Christians without participating in the Sacrifice of the Cross in the which the Lord Jesus gave himself unreservedly to save, by his death, humanity which had died because of sin...in the embrace of the Crucified One all human suffering finds light and comfort.

The Church bears witness to hope, invites us to trust in God, recalls that earthly existence is important, but much more important is eternal life: sharing the same life with God for eternity is our goal, our vocation. This is the faith of the Church, witnessed over the centuries by hosts of martyrs and saints.