olp.orgdo this to remember me. by sister kieran sawyer, ssnd. purpose. the . eucharist is (or should...

Do This to Remember Me By Sister Kieran Sawyer, SSND

PurposeThe Eucharist is (or should be) the heart and summit of our lives as Catholic Christians. In this session, participants look with fresh eyes at this great sacrament, focusing on what the Eucharist is and what it does. Eucharist is the pledge of God’s love. It is truly the body and blood of Christ given for us. It binds us to Christ, to his Church, and to his mission of love to all who are in need. Component: Catechesis

Correlation to the U.S. Bishops’ Adaptation: Course 5: C-3: The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1407, 1337, 1376, 1391, 1416, 1397)

Session at a Glance7:00 p.m. Introduction: They Don’t Remember – A True Story 7:15 p.m. Do This to Remember Me7:35 p.m. Eucharist as a Symbolic Action7:55 p.m. Real Presence Dialogue

Extend the Session: Solemn Reading of the Emmaus Story (add 10 minutes)

8:05 p.m. Prayer Experience: Do This to Remember MeExtend the Session: Presence as a Personal Choice (add 20

minutes)8:15 p.m. Feedback on the Session8:25 p.m. Announcements and Refreshments8:30 p.m. Good Night!

Materials Needed Newsprint and marker Chalk board or white board Pens or pencils, one per participant For Eucharist story: (see #3 in Prepare in Advance)

o Basket with a small loaf (or loaves) of breado Carafe of grape juice and a wine glasso Small cloth for wiping the cup

Note: If concerns rise about sipping from the same glass, consider pouring small amounts of grape juice into small cups for each person

Quarter sheets for writing feedback notes Resource 1, They Don’t Remember – A True Story, one copy for leader Resource 2, CCC References, copy for the session leader

Do This to Remember MeCopyright © Center for Ministry Development, 2012. All rights reserved.

Handout 1, Eucharist: A Symbolic Action, one for each participant Handout 2, Do This To Remember Me, one for each participant

(Optional) Extend the Session: The Emmaus Story Bibles, one for each participant

Prepare in AdvanceNote to Leader: This session is correlated to the U.S. Bishops’ Adaptation of the Curriculum Framework, published in January 2010 by the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis at the USCCB. Download the Adaptation from this website: http://old.usccb.org/evangelization/Adaptation-of-HS-Curriculum-Framework-Preamble2.pdf.

1. Prepare to read the story “They Don’t Remember” (Resource 1).

2. Prepare well for the simple enactment of the Last Supper. Be ready to tell the story in your own words, adding the actions of Jesus as you speak.

3. Prepare the materials for the enactment of the Eucharist story. (If you are seated at several tables, with a leader at each, prepare these materials for each table.)

4. Create a newsprint sheet labeled “HOLY EUCHARIST.” On it list the questions given on pages 5-6.

5. Create a poster that reads:DO THIS TO REMEMBER ME

6. Create a poster that reads: JESUS IS REALLY PRESENT IN THE EUCHARIST. Am I?

7. Create a prayer space by covering a small table with a cloth. Place the Bible and a pillar candle on the table. Have matches or a lightstick nearby. Also have a candle (or candles) in a glass container for the candle pass activity.

8. Set up tables for refreshments and sign-in. Have one or two people at the sign-in table with check-in sheet and nametags and registration information (have a few extra packets on hand for walk-ins). Hospitality is important! As the leader, spend the arrival time moving among the participants, greeting and speaking with them.

(Optional) Extend the Session: The Emmaus Story9. Before the session, invite four students to read the Emmaus story from

Luke 24:13-35. One will read Jesus’ lines, one will be the narrator, the Do This to Remember Me

Copyright © Center for Ministry Development, 2012. All rights reserved.

http://old.usccb.org/evangelization/Adaptation-of-HS-Curriculum-Framework-Preamble2.pdf

http://old.usccb.org/evangelization/Adaptation-of-HS-Curriculum-Framework-Preamble2.pdf

other two should take turns reading the words of the two disciples (even though the Gospel itself seems to have only one disciple speaking).

Note to Leader: Parts of this session were adapted from Confirming Faith (Ave Maria Press, 1995) and The Faith Difference (Ave Maria Press, 2001). Used with permission of the author, Sister Kieran Sawyer.

Session OutlineIntroduction: They Don’t Remember – A True Story (15 minutes)For this session, it would be helpful to have the young people sitting with you around a large table. If that is not possible, arrange to have a small table for yourself, with the students sitting on chairs in a semi-circle in front of you. Be ready to bring out a small basket of loaves and a flask of wine (or grape juice), but have them hidden from sight when you begin. If your group is large, seat the participants at several tables, with an adult leader at each table who will do the enactment as you tell the story of the first Eucharist.

Welcome the participants as they arrive. Be prepared to read the story “They Don’t Remember.” Say:

I’m going to begin our session by reading a true story to you. The person telling the story is Sister Kieran Sawyer, who wrote this session. She was teaching high school religion in a small city in Wisconsin when the story took place.

Read the story. Then spend a few minutes discussing the story with your young people. Ask:

What did the words “They don’t remember Skip” mean to Al? What difference did he want the memory of Skip to make in the lives of his

friends? Is that a reasonable expectation? What would you have said to Al that morning if you were Sister Kieran?

Do This to Remember Me: Enacting the Last Supper (20 minutes)Say:

I chose that story to read to you because I think it teaches us something about tonight’s topic: Eucharist. Can anyone tell me what the connection might be?

Invite a few participants to respond, then display (or write) the words “Do this to remember me.” Ask the young people if they can tell you when Jesus said those words. Then explain.

It is Holy Thursday night. Jesus has gathered his friends for one last supper with them.


Gesture with your hands to show that the participants are the followers you are speaking of.

He knows that the authorities are out to get him—that he will soon be arrested, tried, condemned, and killed. He has spent the last three years preparing his followers for this moment. He will be leaving them, but he wants them—this motley group of men and women—to continue the work he has begun. What was his work? Why had Jesus come into this world?Accept a few answers from the group, then continue.

Jesus had been sent to tell the human race that they were loved by their Creator, who was his Father and theirs. He wanted to teach them that their whole reason for being was to live the love covenant God offered them.Ask someone to tell you the two great commandments Jesus had taught them.

Yes, Jesus wanted them to love God with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love one another as much as they loved themselves. Day by day, week by week, Jesus has taught them what God’s love looks like. He has taught with words and with actions. They are to get to know God as a loving Father. They are to treat all people as their brothers and sisters. They are to take care of one another—especially the poor, the sick, the outcasts.

Jesus wanted to be sure that this little group would remember his teachings. But more than that, he wanted them to realize that his message was not just for them. He was asking them to spread the message of love to the entire world. This one person, who lived for just thirty-three years, in one small town, in one small country, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, wanted his teachings to travel through time and space until it reached everyone in the whole world. He even wanted the message to reach the hearts of a group of teens at [insert your parish name], in [insert your town/city and state].

Bring out the basket of bread, a carafe of grape juice, and a wineglass (or cups) and place them on the table. Then sit down at the table and say:

So what did Jesus do? He gathered his followers for one last supper. He spoke to them a long time, telling them again how much God loved them and how they were to love one another. Then he took bread into his hands.

Take a loaf of bread out of the basket. Speak very slowly, very deliberately. Do the actions of Jesus as you speak.

He gave thanks to his Father, then he blessed the bread and broke it. “This is my body,” he said. “It is given for you. Take it and eat it.”

Break the loaf into enough small pieces so all will get one, then pass the basket among the participants.

When all have eaten, pour grape juice into the wineglass and continue. Then Jesus took a cup of wine and again gave thanks to his Father. “All of you must drink from this,” he said, “for this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant. It will be poured out for you, for the forgiveness of your sins. Take and drink.”


Pass the wineglass and a cloth napkin for wiping it off. When all have drunk, continue.

Then Jesus said, “Do this in memory of me.”

After the supper was over, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and went to the garden to pray. Later that night he was arrested, and the next day he was condemned to death and crucified. But we know the rest of the story. We know that three days later he rose from the dead! The Gospels tell us that he spent the next 40 days letting his followers know that he was still alive, appearing to them at unexpected places in unexpected ways. Then he left them and went back to heaven to be with his Father. Ten days later the Holy Spirit came and gave the little band of disciples the strength and courage they needed to spread the word they had heard from Jesus.

The apostles and their new converts often gathered in one another’s homes to do what Jesus had asked them to do—to eat bread and drink wine together in memory of Jesus. And they discovered that whenever they did this, whenever they told again the stories Jesus had told, whenever they blessed and broke the bread as he had done, he was really present to them in a mysterious and powerful way. This special presence of Jesus in the Eucharistic celebration, and in the bread and wine consecrated during the supper, came to be expressed in the Church as the doctrine of the real presence.

Stand. Put the bread basket and grape juice carafe aside. Then say:We have just acted out one of the most solemn minutes in Christian history, the institution of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

Display the HOLY EUCHARIST chart you have prepared in advance. There is much to know about this central sacrament of the Christian faith. Tonight we are going to focus on just a few of the truths about this great mystery.

Read the questions from the chart. Why did Jesus choose this way of keeping his memory alive? What do Catholics mean by the “real presence” of Jesus in the Eucharist? What must we do, as 21st century Christians, to show that we truly do remember

Jesus? How can our attendance at Mass help us to remember Jesus?

Eucharist: An Action (20 minutes)Divide the participants into small groups of three or four students. Distribute copies of Handout 1, Eucharist: An Action, and pens or pencils. Say:

This exercise will help you to think about the first question on our chart: why Jesus chose this way of keeping his memory and his message alive in the world. Work together to discuss each question, and to write a few words that summarize your answers.

Allow time for the small groups to complete the exercise, then call on representatives from each group to share their answers. Possible answers to


the questions are given here. Supplement their responses with these ideas as needed.

1. Jesus chose an action rather than an object because an action would be less likely to be lost or destroyed over the

centuries an action can be shared by many people at once an action can be repeated again and again an action involves the person who is performing it

2. Jesus chose the action of eating and drinking together because eating and drinking are natural signs of life we have to eat and drink to stay alive what we eat and drink becomes part of us eating and drinking are universal actions, everyone does them we usually eat and drink with family, with people we love

3. Jesus chose bread and wine because bread and wine are common food for common people everyone has access to bread and wine bread is a sign of work; wine is a sign of fun and joy both are natural symbols of unity—small particles of wheat

are ground to make one loaf; grapes are crushed to make one cup of wine

both are the work of human hands: someone has to bake bread, to make wine

4. The life of Jesus is full of references to bread and wine, wheat and grapes.

the miracle of the loaves the wedding feast at Cana the parable of the sower and the seed Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus compared the kingdom of God to the action of yeast in

bread Jesus and his followers were Jews who remembered the

manna in the desert, and who blessed bread and wine at Passover each year

5. Encourage the young people to tell how remembering Jesus should affect our behavior.

Real Presence Dialogue (15 minutes) Display (or write) the words REAL PRESENCE on a sheet of newsprint. Say:


Let’s spend a few minutes thinking about this phrase “real presence.” What does it mean to be really present to a person or an event? Can you be physically present somewhere and not really present? Can you be really present even if you are not physically present?

Raise your hand if you have been “yelled at” by one of your parents in the last few days.

Call on someone whose hand is raised. Ask a few questions like the following:

Were you “really present” to what your mom or dad was saying? Did you look at him/her during the conversation? Did you think about his/her feelings? Did you take the scolding to heart?

Raise your hand if this scenario has ever happened to you: You are busy doing your homework and a little child wants you to play with them.

Call on someone whose hand is raised and dialogue for a few minutes about being “really present” to a child.

Raise your hand if you have ever received a love note from a girl or guy.

Call on someone whose hand is raised and dialogue about being “really present” to a written message. Point out that the person who wrote the message is also really present there.

Raise your hand if you attended [insert an example of a public event such as ‘the football game Friday night’].

Call on someone and talk about what it means to be “really present” at an exciting public event. Include in your discussion how the attitude of the rest of the fans influences your degree of presence.

Raise your hand if you have a teacher who reviews the main ideas that you are going to be asked on an upcoming test.

Call on someone whose hand is raised and discuss what it means to be “really present” in class, as compared to being there but not being “really present.” Ask the person to tell you which classes he/she is most present in and why. What can he/she do to increase the degree of presence?

Point to the words REAL PRESENCE, and say:Presence is an interesting word, isn’t it? Sometimes the word just means physical presence—someone is or isn’t there, in a certain place. But in the examples we have been talking about, “presence” has a much deeper meaning. These are all examples of personal presence.Write this phase on a sheet of newsprint.


In each of these little scenarios, presence was a personal choice. [insert name of participant], you were physically “there” when your dad was scolding, but you might not have been really taking in the scolding. [insert name of participant], you were there when a child wanted you to play, but you might not have given the child your full attention. [insert name of participant], you were there when the teacher was reviewing, but you had to decide whether or not you would be really present to the ideas he/she was reviewing.

Presence, as we are defining it here, has to do with a choice and a relationship. Presence is a choice to be open to a relationship—a relationship with a person or a relationship to a group.

Can anyone tell me what all of this has to do with Eucharist?Field a few answers, then continue.

As Catholics we believe in the Real Presence (point to the words) of Jesus in the Eucharist. Our faith in this mystery is based on the words of Jesus, who promised to be present to us in a special way in the bread and wine which become the body and blood of Christ.. But the presence of Jesus will be lost on me unless I am also really present there.

Show or write these words:

Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. Am I?

(Optional) Extend the Session 1: The Emmaus Story (10 minutes)Distribute copies of the New Testament. Invite everyone to open to Luke 24:13-35.Say:

It took time for the early followers of Jesus to absorb and understand all that Jesus had taught them. Luke relates a wonderful story that shows how they came to realize what it meant that Jesus had been raised from the dead, that he was still alive, that he was still really present in their lives, and that he was especially present when they gathered to break bread as he had taught them.

Invite your readers to come to the front to present the dramatic reading.

Prayer Experience: Do This to Remember Me (10 minutes)Invite the participants to gather in the prayer space. Distribute Handout 2, Do This to Remember Me, to each participant. Say:

Our prayer tonight will simply be a quiet reflection on all that we have been saying about the Eucharist, about remembering Jesus, about his presence and ours in the Eucharistic celebration. The form of the prayer will be simple. I will read the reflection exercise out loud, asking you just to think about what is written on the paper.

Let us begin now: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Read the entire handout, slowly and thoughtfully, allowing just a few seconds between each point. After the reading say:


Jesus is present to us in a very special way in Eucharist, but he is also present with us whenever we gather in his name as we are doing here. Remembering that he is here with us now, let’s join hands and pray the prayer he taught us. Our Father …

(Optional) Extend the Session: Presence is a Personal Choice (20 minutes)After the prayer, invite the students to return to the table setting.Say:

Let’s look again at the handout we used for prayer. Young people your age often complain that they don’t get anything out of going to Mass. Raise your hand if you have ever made that complaint. Remember we said earlier that presence is a personal choice. Each time you go to Mass, you choose how present you will be there.

I invite you to read through this list again. Let’s start with the positives. See if you can find five things on the list that you already do when you go to Mass. Mark those items with a plus sign.

Allow time, then call on individuals to share one or two items they have marked.

Now read through the list again. See if you can find five items where you really want to improve—you really want to be more present than you have been in the past. Circle the little arrow in front of these items.

Allow time, then call on individuals to share. Dialogue with the respondents about their answers: Is this something you really choose to do? How will you remember?

Read the list one more time. Are there any items on the list that you know you aren’t going to do no matter what? You can mark those with a minus sign.

Allow time, then see if anyone is willing to share their answers. Ask questions like: What might cause you to change? Do you think you will someday see the importance of this item?)

Give everyone a copy of the little booklet you prepared for them. Encourage them to take it with them when they go to Mass.

Feedback (10 minutes)Invite the participants to return to the table setting. Distribute quarter sheets of paper and pencils. Say:

My goal tonight was to help you to do something that every Catholic needs to work at doing—to understand the profound mystery of the Eucharist and live it more consciously. I would like you to write me a note telling me if I succeeded in my goal. Do you understand the Eucharist better? Do you want to be more present there? Will what we said and did tonight help you to remember Jesus in your everyday lives? In your note, just tell me something about tonight’s session that touched your mind or


heart—that made a difference in your thinking and might make a difference in your behavior. You do not have to sign the note, but if you do, I will write a reply to you.

Allow a few minutes for the writing, then collect the notes yourself, thanking each student as they hand you the paper. If you have time, read some of the responses aloud anonymously. Before the next class, write a brief encouraging reply to anyone who signed the note.

Announcements and Refreshments (10 minutes)Thank the youth for their participation in tonight’s session. Make any needed announcements about upcoming programs and events. Invite everyone to enjoy some refreshments. As the students are leaving, hand each one a copy of the little booklets you have made for them. Encourage them to take the booklet with them when they go to Mass as a help in being really present there.

Websites and links in this session were accessed successfully on November 30, 2012.

This session was written by Sister Kieran Sawyer, SSND, author and national speaker. Sister Kieran is Director Emeritus of the TYME OUT Youth Center, Stone Bank, Wisconsin. Sister Kieran would love to hear from you and/or your youth after you have finished the session. She can be reached at [email protected]. Fr. Roy Shelly, Ph.D., pastor at St. Joseph Parish in Spreckels, California served as theological consultant on this session.


http://cmdnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=308&Itemid=317

mailto:[email protected]

Resource 1

They Don’t RememberA True Story by Sister Kieran Sawyer

Al was waiting for me when I got to school that Monday morning. “I have to talk to you, Sister,” he muttered.

I could tell he was troubled, but that didn’t surprise me much. It had been just three weeks since the accident. Al and Skip had been driving home from a Friday night party. It had been late, both boys had been drinking, and Al hadn’t seen the stop sign on the dark corner. He had driven right into the path of a passing truck. Skip, his best friend since kindergarten, had been killed in the crash. Al himself had come away with only a few minor scratches.

I unlocked the door to my classroom. Al came in, slumped down in a desk, and burst into tears. I put my arm around his shoulders, trying to calm his shaking body. Finally, he got himself together enough to talk. “They don’t remember!” he said, his words coming out in choking sobs. “They don’t remember. They don’t remember.”

“Who doesn’t remember?” I asked, puzzled. “Who doesn’t remember what?”

“The kids don’t remember Skip,” he sobbed.

“Of course they remember Skip,” I said, beginning to understand the depths of Al’s anguish. “No one could forget that wonderful guy.”

Al sat up then and looked at me with deep pain in his eyes. “No, Sister,” he said. “They don’t remember. There was another party at Johnson’s woods Friday night. Everyone was drinking again just like always.” He buried his face in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably.

Al’s distress began to make sense to me. He had come to see me several days after the funeral. He had told me then that he felt terribly guilty about Skip’s death. He knew the accident was his fault. He knew he had had too much to drink His only consolation, he had said, was that maybe Skip’s death would teach his friends a lesson. Maybe the memory of Skip would make a difference in their lives. Now he could see that it hadn’t done that at all.

I sat with my arm on Al’s shoulder, tears running down my own cheeks. I really did not know what to say to comfort him.


Resource 2

Catechism of the Catholic Church References

1407 “The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church's life, for in it Christ associates his Church and all her members with his sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to his Father; by this sacrifice he pours out the graces of salvation on his Body which is the Church.”

1337 “Knowing that the hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father, in the course of a meal he washed their feet and gave them the commandment of love. In order to leave them a pledge of this love, in order never to depart from his own …, he instituted the Eucharist … and commanded his apostles to celebrate it until his return.”

1376 The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: "Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation."

1391 Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus. Indeed, the Lord said: "He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him." Life in Christ has its foundation in the Eucharistic banquet: "As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me."

On the feasts of the Lord, when the faithful receive the Body of the Son, they proclaim to one another the Good News that the first fruits of life have been given, as when the angel said to Mary Magdalene, "Christ is risen!" Now too are life and resurrection conferred on whoever receives Christ.

1416 Communion with the Body and Blood of Christ increases the communicant's union with the Lord, forgives his venial sins, and preserves him from grave sins. Since receiving this sacrament strengthens the bonds of charity between the communicant and Christ, it also reinforces the unity of the Church as the Mystical Body of Christ.

1397 “The Eucharist commits us to the poor. To receive in truth the Body and Blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, his brethren.”


Handout 1

Eucharist: An Action1. Before he died, Jesus wanted to leave his followers with something to

remember him by, some way to remind them of his love for them and of the wonderful things he had said and done. Instead of leaving a symbolic object, like a cross or a ring, Jesus chose to give his followers an action – the action of eating bread and drinking wine. Why do you think he chose an action rather than an object as his way of helping his friends to remember him?

2. Why would Jesus have chosen the action of eating and drinking? Why together?

3. Why did Jesus choose bread and wine for this special sacramental action, rather than some other food and drink?

4. What special events in the lives of Jesus and his friends had to do with bread and wine, with wheat and grapes? What are some of the parables in which Jesus used these simple things to teach his followers about God’s action in their lives?

5. Al, the teen we heard about in the story tonight, was disappointed because his friends didn’t seem to remember Skip. He had hoped that Skip’s memory would lead them to change their behavior regarding drinking and driving. Jesus gives himself to us in the Eucharist so that we will remember him. If we truly do remember Jesus each time we go to Mass, how will our behavior be affected?


Handout 2

Do This to Remember MeAs Catholic Christians we are invited to gather each week to “do this in memory of me,” to celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist. Jesus has promised that whenever we gather to “do this,” he will be really present there.

What is it that we “do” at the Eucharistic celebration? What must I do in order to be more truly present to this solemn

mystery? How can my “real presence” at the Eucharist help me to “remember

Jesus” in my daily life?

Listed below are various aspects of the Eucharistic celebration. Think about how you might be more “present” at each of them. Think about how your presence there might help you to truly “remember Jesus” in your everyday life.

We gather. We choose to be there. We make an effort to be fully present, to really pray and worship with the community.

We sing. We think about the meaning of the words in the hymns.

We admit out failings and ask forgiveness. We remember that Jesus asked us to forgive one another even “seventy times seven” times.

We read a passage from the Hebrew Scriptures. We reflect on these ancient words that Jesus himself would have studied as a child and teen.

We read a passage from one of the letters written by Peter, Paul, James, or John. They are reminding us of the things they learned from Jesus and encouraging us to live according to his teachings.

We read a passage from the Gospels. We hear the very words of Jesus and recall what Jesus said and did to show us that all people are loved by his Father.

We listen as the priest explains the Scripture readings and applies them to our daily lives.

We declare our faith in the teachings of Jesus and in his Church by praying the creed with the community.


We make an offering, a personal monetary gift that will be used to support the Church in doing the work that Jesus did.

We pray for the needs of the world, of the church, and of the people in our own parish family.

We offer bread and wine to God, and ask God to accept these simple gifts as signs of our love. We ask the Holy Spirit to transform the bread and wine—and to transform us into true disciples.

We listen as the priest, the official representative of Jesus and of the Church, says the sacred words that Jesus said at the Last Supper: “Take and eat, this is my body. Take and drink, this is my blood. Do this to remember me.”

We bow in adoration as the priest holds up the consecrated bread and wine, transformed now into the Body and Blood of Jesus.

We sing together the Great Amen, declaring to the whole world that we believe in the mystery of God’s love, and of God’s presence to us here in the Eucharist.

We join hands and pray the Our Father, the prayer that Jesus himself taught us and remember that he is here now praying with us and through us.

We turn to one another with a handshake or hug, offering the peace of Christ to those who are sharing the Eucharist with us, especially our own families.

We walk up in procession; we hold out our hands (or put out our tongue), asking for the sacred bread. We say “Amen” as a sign of our faith, and we receive the sacred Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion.

We spend quiet time in prayer, deepening our love for Jesus who is truly living within us, and renewing our commitment to him and to his people.

We stand and sing a closing hymn, thinking about the meaning of the words.

We go in peace to love and serve the Lord. We carry Jesus home with us in our hearts, making real efforts to remember him and to live his message of love in our little corner of the world.


We look for ways to love and serve others as Jesus did—especially the poor, the sick, the hungry, the lonely, and those that no one else notices and cares about.


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