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 my own life can be deeply rooted in thanksgiving and praise of God.
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 live a life full of gratitude and praise for the greater glory of God.
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.
“It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks, Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord …” You are standing attentive, united to the priest and the whole assembly gathered in this privileged moment of thanks and praise. Ah! You are at the threshold of Heaven, anxiously entering into a representation of the greatest deed of all history—the Passion and glory of Jesus, your Savior. As these familiar words wash over your heart, you close your eyes for a moment and become aware of your own heart beating, desiring more, desiring heaven. The gathered congregation in union with the priest couldn’t possibly be sufficient—the entire mystical body of Christ is present: angels and saints. You unite yourself to this heavenly worship as aloud you joyfully acclaim, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!”
Allow yourself to reflect for a while, being attentive to how the Lord is speaking in your heart.
What is it like to consciously allow yourself to be united to the communion of saints at Mass? How does your own gratitude and praise of God make ‘more sense’ when you experience this heavenly worship? How is this a foretaste of heaven for you?
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.
And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:30–32)
Allow yourself to reflect for a while, being attentive to how the Lord is speaking in your heart.
On the Road to Emmaus, the two disciples are in a crisis of faith—all they had hoped about Jesus of Nazareth seemed to be dashed to pieces by the events of Good Friday. Yet when the mysterious traveler breaks bread at table with them, their eyes are opened, and their faith is restored. We need faith—without it, we cannot praise and thank God. How is every encounter with the Eucharist an opportunity for your faith to deepen and even be restored when it is tried by the anxieties and struggles of life?
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.
May your people exult forever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption, we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection. 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, Third Sunday of Easter)
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 desire to have a heart full of gratitude and praise for God.
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.
