We Are Sent to Proclaim Love and Peace of Christ

From Eucharistic Altar to Daily Encounters with The World
Corresponds to the message of the Gospel today, I propose the following excerpts from Pope Benedict XVI Apostolic Adhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, 2007, for meditation:

What the world needs is God's love; it needs to encounter Christ and to believe in him. The Eucharist is thus the source and summit not only of the Church's life, but also of her mission: "an authentically eucharistic Church is a missionary Church." (Propositio 42 The Eleventh Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, Roma, 2-23 October 2005). We too must be able to tell our brothers and sisters with conviction: "That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us" (1 Jn 1:3). (Sacramentum Caritatis 84)

The more ardent the love for the Eucharist in the hearts of the Christian people, the more clearly will they recognize the goal of all mission: to bring Christ to others. Not just a theory or a way of life inspired by Christ, but the gift of his very person. Anyone who has not shared the truth of love with his brothers and sisters has not yet given enough. (Sacramentum Caritatis 86)

The eucharistic mystery thus gives rise to a service of charity towards neighbour, which "consists in the very fact that, in God and with God, I love even the person whom I do not like or even know. This can only take place on the basis of an intimate encounter with God, an encounter which has become a communion of will, affecting even my feelings. Then I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but from the perspective of Jesus Christ." (Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est, 18). In all those I meet, I recognize brothers or sisters for whom the Lord gave his life, loving them "to the end" (Jn 13:1). Our communities, when they celebrate the Eucharist, must become ever more conscious that the sacrifice of Christ is for all, and that the Eucharist thus compels all who believe in him to become "bread that is broken" for others, and to work for the building of a more just and fraternal world. (Sacramentum Caritatis 88).