Letter to The Catholic Weekly
9 January 2005 by (Sr) Esmey Herscovitch, Redfern NSW
In this year of the Eucharist what better way to put into practice the invitation of Pope John Paul II to live the Eucharist than the Christmas meal we have just celebrated at St Vincent’s, Redfern.
The meal was served to some 250-300 peopleand a comparable number of hampers was distributed.
People from all over Sydney contributed directly or indirectly to this celebration thus making it an ecclesial event as well as a Eucharistic one.
The patience of people waiting in queues to be served was impressive given the numbers of people.
For me it brought to mind the fact that as Christians our living of the Eucharist begins in the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist and is incarnated and projected in our service of one another, especially those in need.
It also brought home to me the interdependence of all, the communion that exists among us, those who contributed to the celebration but were not physically present, those being served, and those serving.
Truly we can say of one another: “This is my body, this is my blood”.