Continuation of the Bishop’s Pastoral Letter: “Keeping the Lord’s Day”
Part I: Pilgrims on the Way (continued)

“The two disciples] recounted what had happened on the road and how they had come to
know him in the breaking of the bread.” (Lk 24:35)

In the Eucharist we receive his Body and Blood as “the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die” (Jn 6:50). He left this gift so that we could live in him and he in us as “branches” on “the vine” and that we might bear “much fruit” by becoming his disciples (cf. Jn 15:1-8).

One “fruit” that comes from being a disciple is bearing witness in such a way that one becomes a disciple maker. And you may recall that our diocesan pastoral plan, the Mutually Shared Vision, has as a top priority “Growing God’s Family” by making disciples. As Pope Francis highlights in his apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, “anyone who has truly experienced God’s saving love does not need much time or lengthy training to go out and proclaim that love.” The disciples on the way to Emmaus show us that the source of discipleship is the Holy Eucharist. Once they encountered the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread, they hurried back to Jerusalem to bear witness to his resurrection.

In our worship together at Mass on Sunday, we truly go “through him and with him and in him” to the Father in the Holy Spirit. In one sense, through Sunday worship at Mass, we go to heaven, the Father’s house, in Christ, even while we also remain here in time. This was also echoed at the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy: “In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of the heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, Minister of the holy of holies and of the true tabernacle.” As Mass concludes we are then sent into the world to bear witness to the love of God in our words and our actions.

Pilgrim disciples need Sunday and Sunday Mass to stay on the right way, to bear fruit along the way, and to get home to the Father’s house in heaven.

​​​​​​​(... to be continued)

"Feed My Sheep" by Yongsung Kim