On the night before giving His life on the cross, Jesus instituted the Eucharist, the gift of His Body and Blood, in the form of bread and wine, as the perpetual Passover sacrifice for His followers. This was done in the context of what is traditionally called the Last Supper. The Solemnity we celebrate this Sunday, June 11,  centers on the gift of the Body and Blood of the Lord, which we partake in at Holy Mass (the Eucharist) until the Lord comes again in glory at the end of the ages.

Instituting the Eucharist at the time when the Jewish Passover lambs were being sacrificed, Jesus inaugurated the Christian Passover. As the ancient rite commemorated the freedom of God’s people from slavery in Egypt, the Christian ritual recalls freedom from sin and death and the gift of new life being offered in and through Christ, who rose from the dead to bring eternal life.

The Protestant reformers of the sixteenth century, including Zwingli, Calvin, Luther, and others, taught that the Holy Eucharist was simply a symbol. The unbroken teaching of the Church is that we behold and receive in the Eucharist the Real Presence of the Risen Lord, who promised to be with us until the end of time. It is a great mystery yet at the same time a simple truth: God-is-with-us in a very special and singular way in the Blessed Sacrament, both received at Holy Communion and adored in the Tabernacle or exposed on the altar at Exposition and Benediction.

The Mass, Holy Eucharist, is the sacrifice or offering of the new covenant in the Blood of Christ. It is likewise the offering of the faithful, God’s people, united to Jesus in praise of the One God.

St. Paul the Apostle preached that the entire life of a Christian is a prolongation of the Eucharist, as a spiritual sacrifice offered to God in union with Christ. For this reason, St. Paul exhorted his hearers to offer themselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is the message for each of us today as well and the heart of our religion and worship, in spirit and truth.

The Mass never ends, we might say, because at the conclusion of every Mass, we are “sent forth” to announce the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ, to the ends of the earth, by our words and especially by our deeds. As tabernacles of the Lord, by receiving His Body and Blood, we are commissioned with a special task that not everyone has embraced: to be “bearers of Christ” to all people until our final breath. Could there be a higher call?

The 2024 Mass Intention Calendar will open on Tuesday, June 20. You may come to the parish office at 8:30 am with your Mass Intentions for the calendar year 2024. Each Mass Intention is $10. The Parish Office accepts checks or cash.

In his message about resuming the reception of Holy Communion under both forms, Archbishop Jerome Listecki promised to provide some solid, Eucharistic theology to help us all understand the transition. Below is part three of five articles:     

How often do we use the word “sacrifice” to mean something we “offer up” or “do” for ourselves or someone else? The word “sacrifice” often has connotations of self-deprivation, inconvenience, or even suffering. Some examples of sacrifices are when parents lose sleep to care for a sick child or spouses mutually cooperate to build a life together. Everyone makes financial sacrifices to ensure a more secure life in the future. During Lent, we sacrifice food to share it with those who would otherwise go hungry. Sometimes someone sacrifices a kidney so their loved one can live. The word sacrifice conveys many meanings; however, at the root of each of these examples is love.

The Eucharist is a Real Sacrifice. During the Eucharistic Prayer, the priest says the words of Jesus at the Last Supper over the gifts of bread and wine: “This is my Body, which will be given up for you,” and “This is the chalice of my Blood … which will be poured out …” These words point forward to the death that Jesus would die for us on the Cross, making the Last Supper a sacrificial meal.

The sacrifice of the Mass is not a reenactment, imitation, or a dramatization of the Last Supper; rather, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says it “makes present the one sacrifice of Christ.” Scripture tells us that Jesus Christ “entered once for all into the sanctuary … with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12) The historical sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is not repeated, but instead, the sacrifice of the Mass is a memorial in which Christ’s sacrifice is sacramentally present.

The Eucharist as the sacrifice has another dimension. After the gifts of bread and wine have been presented by the assembly and placed on the altar, the priest invites us to pray in these words: “Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.” The privilege of participating in the Eucharist is that we take part in what we enact. God’s Love for us, manifested in the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, begs a response from us: love in response to love, sacrifice in response to sacrifice. When we participate in Mass, we offer God our thoughts, prayers, words, deeds, trust,  service, and charity — our very lives and everything that we are — and we pray that we may be transformed and so be gathered into one in the unity of the Body of Christ. As St. Paul says in his letter to the Romans, “by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (12:1) Eucharistic Prayer IV explicitly asks that God’s people “may truly become a living sacrifice in Christ.”

The Eucharist is a Real Sacrifice — it is Christ’s once-for-all, loving sacrifice for us. It is also our sacrifice — the loving surrender of our wills and our lives to God. When we receive Holy Communion, we are strengthened by Christ’s Real    Presence so that we can do the Father’s will. The Mass, which perpetuates the unbloody sacrifice of Christ, strengthens us to live the sacrifices which the Christian life demands. Next week, part four will be provided.

Contact Kay Shomperlen at 414-763-1250 to volunteer. 

If you miss the Livestream, you can watch the upload of each Mass on our YouTube channel.

St. John the Evangelist invites you to support our beloved festival by becoming an official sponsor of a festival booth or game for your business or organization! Or, this year, you can even honor a loved one with a sponsorship. St. John’s extremely popular festival draws thousands of people, providing strong traffic for your sponsorship. The cost of sponsorship is $175 which includes a professionally-produced custom sign and inclusion in the daily announcements on the PA system throughout the three-day festival. To become a sponsor or if you are interested in learning more about this opportunity to not only promote your business but help St. John’s thrive for years to come, contact Dave Radke at 414-529-2356

We need items for the Raffle Booth, Mystery Packages, and Grocery Booth. You may drop off your items at the parish office during regular business hours. 

Join us on Tuesday, June 13, for our council meeting in the GYM.

We will start with praying the Rosary at 6:30 pm. The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm.

If you want to discover what the Knights are all about, join us for the Rosary or the meeting; contact Patrick or Peter.  

Patrick Reiff, Membership Director, at 414-403-7504  

Peter Kurz, Worthy Grand Knight, at 414-659-2656