“… The Lord’s Supper is the Church’s foremost gathering for prayer. It is our duty and need to break that bread and share that cup every day unless prevented by serious cause. We are fortified for the journey on which he has sent us… .” Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross 3:27
Several months ago, I found myself in conversation with two Holy Cross priests who had not seen each other in 45 years. The initial banter and kidding from seminary days quickly turned serious as they described some of the most important moments of their priesthood. I listened as both men spoke of important ministries and significant people that had influenced them. Their faces softened, and their voices deepened as they painted pictures of rich, vital, grace-filled relationships ministering among people surviving circumstances beyond their own experiences.
I joined in the conversation then, each of us articulating our ministries as moments in life for which we were not fully prepared. Our experiences led us into the depths of the human condition, far beyond our educational expertise. It was in precisely those moments that we knew the Eucharist, celebrated among such varied and diverse people, would lead us into love, acceptance, and a new way of life. We all relied on prayer to reveal the way for people and for ourselves as we accompanied them.
As Holy Cross priests, we are fortified for the journey on which Christ sends us. The Breaking of the Bread challenges us to break open the love of Christ for each human heart, for each circumstance in which we find ourselves. Over the years, I have learned to rely on the Eucharist for nurturing people whom I cannot fully feed because their hunger is so deep and often so full of worry, grief, and despair. My human talents alone are insufficient to nourish people trying to survive abusive pasts or a destructive home life. I must rely on the gift of Christ because he has promised to bring to people his full and vital self. I cling to the message that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who, when the Eucharist is broken open and shared, brings the lost to a new homeland. I know in my own heart that the Sacred Heart of Jesus overwhelms guilt, suffering, and pain when I stand at the altar and surrender to such a gift for the people who most need love.
After years of celebrating the Eucharist, I now know that the Breaking of the Bread has a broad and rich meaning well beyond the moment of sharing communion. The Breaking of Bread provides a breaking open of my heart when I am at a loss about how to enter people’s lives. I had to rely on the Eucharist to break through my naiveté when I landed in a ministry with people who lived outside. I did not then have the understanding to know where to turn when I heard the stories of people who had lost everything because of mental illness and horrific addiction. As I have journeyed with people who have suffered excruciating abuse, the help of Jesus Christ has led me to healing words and tender solace. I know the Eucharist breaks open my own heart as I pray amid groups of people who challenge me more than ever.
As I look back on my years of sacramental ministry, I am grateful to Holy Cross for sending me on a journey where I had to finally surrender to Christ Jesus to find not only love in the world but to know the hidden mystery of grace within my own call and soul. Now, I celebrate Eucharist at an altar knowing there is more for me to experience, to imagine, and to interpret within God’s presence, within me, and within the people of faith. I listen to people in small and quiet confessionals, believing that the love of God continues to break open my heart to offer me an essential life of listening softly and without judgments.
On June 22, we celebrate the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This Solemnity, commonly known as Corpus Christi, reveals to us once again that the Breaking of Bread is truly a mystery in our communities. On this day, I am always reminded that I must see my own vocation at the sacred altar and get out of the way in which Christ desires to reveal hope for the people sitting in the pews or for those who are lost on the margins of life. I simply cannot control grace or wish for life to be different or easy to understand. Standing at the altar of God has now become an expertise, not because I possess answers but because I have become vulnerable enough to comprehend how little I know about life and how God cares for the injured, the wearied, and the anguished.
On this feast, we center again at altars across the world and know that we are not supposed to have all the answers. Instead, we hold the Body of Christ in our hands and break open the gift of not only wheat but the love of God that truly brings justice in our world and hope for every human heart.
When the sacrament is broken,
Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,
That each sever’d outward token
Doth the very whole contain.
A fragment from the Sequence for
the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
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About:
Rev. Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C., serves as the religious superior of Holy Cross House, our retirement and medical facility at Notre Dame, Indiana. He is an award-winning author, blogger, and visual artist. Learn more: ronaldraab.com
Artwork:
Fr. Ron created this image of the Eucharist a few months ago. Fr. Ron’s artwork has been published in parishes, dioceses, and ecumenical settings around the world.
Published May 2025
