This Eucharistic Prayer Companion is designed to help you spend thirty minutes to an hour in meditation and silent prayer with Jesus during Eucharistic adoration. Even if you cannot be physically present in a church or adoration chapel with the Blessed Sacrament, you can unite yourself spiritually to Jesus in the Eucharist as you spend this time in prayer. During the Easter Season, we are offering reflections rooted in the tradition of mystagogy. This is an ancient form of liturgical catechesis that invites us to go deeper into the sacred mysteries we experience at Mass and in the sacraments. Each week you’ll be invited to reflect on a rite or part of the Mass and an excerpt from the Sunday Gospel.
THE GRACE I SEEK: to believe that I can unite my own sacrifices to the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. AMEN.
Jesus, the Lord of Life, has given himself to you in the Eucharist. He is gazing upon you, his beloved child, with great love at this very moment. Pause for a few moments and allow yourself to rest in his loving gaze. Thank Jesus for the gift of himself in the Eucharist.
ASK FOR THE GRACE: Jesus, help me to unite my sacrifices with your one, perfect sacrifice.
Read slowly, allowing your senses to help you enter into this moment of the Mass. Let the Holy Spirit fill your heart with his divine grace, that the hidden mystery from this moment in our memorial of Christ’s sacrifice may be revealed more abundantly to you.
A sweet silence has come upon your inner being... as if a gentle dew has fallen upon the thirsty ground of your soul. You sit alert in the wooden pew with your eyes fixed upon the actions of the priest, who stands erect behind the altar. First, his hands lift the paten containing the host. Still holding the paten, he speaks the ancient words: “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you...”. Gently, he lays the paten upon the snow-white corporal linen, lying in the middle of the altar. Next, the chalice is raised high, containing wine into which a few drops of water were just mingled. The eyes of the priest are elevated as he speaks more ancient words, in union with Jesus, to our Heavenly Father: “Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have this wine to offer you...”. After each invocation, your voice unites with those of the whole assembly in response: “Blessed be God forever.” You are intimately uniting your own heart to this offering. You are drawn in... within you awakens a deeper desire to become a living sacrifice with Jesus, the Great High Priest.
Allow yourself to reflect for a while, being attentive to how the Lord is speaking in your heart.
What moment of this rite are you most drawn to? What aspect of the mystery of God’s merciful love draws you most deeply to him during the offertory at Mass? How can you become a living sacrifice with Jesus?
Read slowly, 3–4 times. Allow the words of Scripture to wash over your mind and heart. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you through this passage.
“Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’ Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” (John 20:26–28)
Allow yourself to reflect for a while, being attentive to how the Lord is speaking in your heart.
Thomas doubted. Jesus did not turn from Thomas but rather rushed toward him in his crisis of faith. Without faith, we cannot unite our sacrifices to the sacrifice of Jesus. Ask Jesus to help you encounter his presence in the Blessed Sacrament, right now. Proclaim your faith in the words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God!”
Remain in silence with the Lord. Allow him to speak in the silence, in your heart. Receive his presence. If it helps, write down what you sense the Lord communicating to you during this time of prayer.
God of everlasting mercy, who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast kindle the faith of the people you have made your own, increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed, by whose Spirit they have been reborn, by whose Blood they have been redeemed. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect, Divine Mercy Sunday)
At every Mass, Jesus offers himself to the Father for us. We can always join our own offerings with Jesus at Mass. This Sunday, offer your own self-sacrifice in union with the perfect sacrifice of Jesus.
Would you like to print a copy of this resource to bring with you to the chapel for prayer? Click here to download the Eucharistic Meditations for the Easter Season in English or Spanish.
