DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME
We
gather to build this community and to keep alive the vision
that impelled Jesus.
He Took the Bread
[or alternative hymn]
He took the bread and slowly raised his eyes
He was mindful of the pain within our lives
But he broke and he gave you thanks—even with the
pain
Fill our lives with meaning so all won’t be in vain.
Many times we are restless and in a hurry
We move so fast we get anxious, then we worry.
Slow us down so we can see the Light inside us
Then we’ll be living what he did.
Why are we here? Do we desire to know the meaning?
Or do we run from the truth that we are seeking?
Give us the strength to embrace the pain of searching
As we remember what he did.
You can’t avoid all the schedules you must be keeping
But as you live, is there a Truth that you are seeking?
In a world that can drain your every power,
There’s a God inside your heart.
2002 Chapter Story
“In the intimacy of sharing as Brothers our search
for meaning in the crumbs and fragments of our stories,
together we found God present in our midst. In our
listening for God, we had discovered a shared route as
Christian Brothers, to replace our tendency to travel on
individual paths. We had discovered anew that the way to
God as Christian Brothers, our distinctive way of living
and loving, was to take literally the meaning of relating
as Brothers. We had started our discovery of what it could
mean – and what it would cost – to truly live
Eucharist”.
Reading of the Word
Story is something we carry
when on a journey. This story has the power to transform us
into Jesus, regenerate our energies and invest our simple
lives with meaning, purpose and hope.
Reading of
the Gospel of the day
Sharing of the Word
When we tell the story, it is a story which is still
happening today. We bring the story of Jesus into a hopeful
engagement with our struggling and ordinary lives.
How is the Gospel story happening in our personal/communal
lives today?
WHEAT AND GRAPES
Anyone who is familiar with wheat and grapes
knows that the story of bread and wine is indeed a story of
life and death.
How wise of Jesus to use such already sacred signs to
continue his presence among us.
We have been asked to break the bread and share the cup in
His name.
Each time we do this we proclaim His death and rising until
he comes again.
Are not our lives a little like the wheat and grapes?
Doesn’t a similar kind of religious experience take
place in us, the dying and the rising, being broken and
crushed, shared together, poured out for one another?
Surely as in that broken bread and that shared cup, it is
the same Christ we are trying to recognise in the
brokenness of our lives.
The story of our Eucharist is, indeed, a mystery we have
hardly begun to tap. Bread too, like us, has its birth in
violence.
The Bread
The seed that fell into the ground, died and came forth as
wheat, is now ground into new form and flour, is sifted and
changed into loaves for rising.
We break this bread with reverence and give it to each
other for eating just as another person once broke those
loaves and asked us not to forget. We haven’t!
If there is any command we have been religiously obedient
to
it is the command of not forgetting.
Do this in memory of me. Do it again and again.
Jesus we have ….We have broken bread with tears in
our eyes and we’ve broken it when our hearts felt
nothing but we have broken it just as you asked us to do.
We are still trying to understand what it means.
But we haven’t forgotten.
The breaking
of the bread and the sharing
The Wine
And the wine?
It too is born out of pain.
After days of ripening, the grapes are crushed and squeezed
into unfamiliar form waiting in barrels and vats and
finally, bottles
to be accepted, loved, believed in.
And this wine we drink carefully with more reverence than
usual.
It is in honour of that same person, the One who asked us
not to forget. And we haven’t!
If there’s anything we’ve been faithful to,
it’s this not forgetting request.
In big churches, in small communities, with friends, with
strangers
we meet, we break the bread, we share the cup.
And something happens not only to the bread and wine but to
us!
It is especially to remind each other not to forget that we
meet.
It is especially to celebrate the life that comes out of so
much death.
The pouring of
the wine and the sharing
Remembrances and Prayers
Concluding prayer
Bread, born out of brokenness!
Wine, born out of being crushed!
We are still trying to understand what it really means.
We are still trying to recognise you, Lord
in the breaking and the sharing.
But we haven’t forgotten.
We Remember
[or alternative]
We remember how you loved us to your death,
And still we celebrate, for you are with us here;
And we believe that we will see you
When you come, in your glory, Lord.
We remember, we celebrate, we believe.
Live Jesus in our hearts—forever