A Response to Sr Clare Pratt’s letter for the Feast of the Sacred Heart 2005
 (Superior General) l

Some Eucharistic moments
Redfern - The Block

1.  Christmas Meal at St Vincent’s Church, Redfern, Sydney 2004

In the year of the Eucharist this Christmas meal had special significance for me.  It was a living out of the Eucharist as service, celebration, and sharing.

The meal was served to some 250-300 people and a comparable number of hampers was distributed.  People from all over Sydney contributed to this celebration directly by serving and cooking, or indirectly by sending food or money, thus making it an ecclesial/eucharistic event. For me it brought to mind the fact that as Christians our living of the Eucharist begins in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist and is incarnated and projected in our service of one another, especially those in need.  It also brought home to me the interdependence of all and the communion that exists among us - those who contributed to the celebration but were not physically present, those being served, and those serving.

 

Truly we can say of one another: “This is my body, this is my blood”.

2.  Sharing on The Block at Redfern, Sydney.

As I walk to or from home (our house is barely 2 minutes from The Block) there is often a group of people who are Aboriginal having a yarn, a laugh, a drink.  They sit around together, with a fire in their midst if it is winter or dark, sharing stories, and sharing food and drink.  In spite of the negatives in such gatherings I find these moments direct my thoughts to the Eucharist.

3. A husband and wife who were one.

During a short stay in hospital last year I became aware in a heightened way of people living out the Eucharist around me. The interaction between a husband and wife was truly moving and inspirational.  The wife had dementia and the husband came every day to visit her and do whatever he could, bringing clean clothes, feeding her, and attending to any other needs.  He obviously cared for her at home in this very dedicated way as well – I could imagine each saying of the other “This is my body, this is my blood” so one were they.  I realised, too, that each of us in the ward was dependent on others for our needs and similarly our needs gave reason for the presence of those who cared for us.  These interactions recall Jesus’ washing the feet of his apostles, another expression of Eucharist.

4. You are the body of Christ.

 A priest where I attended mass some years ago always said, on giving communion to people, "You are the body of Christ"  -  I reflected on this for a long time and have come to realise that, yes, it is through my body, your body that another person can encounter Jesus  -  he has no hands but ours, no eyes but ours, no voice but ours.

5. An “ordinary” Eucharist

 Recently after a local event across the road I invited a couple of sisters of another congregation to come to our house for a cup of tea; the house was in a somewhat chaotic state ( I was feeling a little ashamed about that! ) and there were local people dropping in also for cups of tea or other needs; one of the sisters said she had not been able to get to Mass earlier that day and then said something like "but I feel that I've had Eucharist". I have thought about this all week  -  there was certainly nothing religious going on, nothing out of the ordinary, so it highlighted for me the significance and power of hospitality.

Esmey Herscovitch, RSCJ