Created to Live with You
Prayer
Father of life,
help us to long for the fullness of life
and to know the wonder of what awaits us
beyond the dimensions of this earthly existence.
A reading from the Book of Job 19:1, 23-27a
Then Job answered and said: Oh, would that my words were written down! Would that they were
inscribed in a record: That with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in the rock forever!
But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him; And from my flesh I
shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing.
Then Job answered and said: Oh, would that my words were written down! Would that they were
inscribed in a record: That with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in the rock forever!
But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust;
Whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another’s, shall behold him; And from my flesh I
shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing.
(silent reflection)
Prayer
God of all creation,
grant us the wisdom
to understand fully the mystery
that life has no meaning apart from you.
God of all creation,
grant us the wisdom
to understand fully the mystery
that life has no meaning apart from you.
A Reflection by Pope John Paul II2
The Eucharist is a straining towards the goal, a foretaste of the fullness of joy promised by Christ
(cf. Jn 15:11); it is in some way the anticipation of heaven, the “pledge of future glory”…Those
who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to receive eternal life: they
already possess it on earth, as the first-fruits of a future fullness which will embrace man in his
totality. For in the Eucharist we also receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of
the world: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on
the last day” (Jn 6:54).
The Eucharist is a straining towards the goal, a foretaste of the fullness of joy promised by Christ
(cf. Jn 15:11); it is in some way the anticipation of heaven, the “pledge of future glory”…Those
who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to receive eternal life: they
already possess it on earth, as the first-fruits of a future fullness which will embrace man in his
totality. For in the Eucharist we also receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of
the world: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on
the last day” (Jn 6:54).
Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…
1 Based on Evangelium Vitae, no. 2.
2 Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 18.
2 Ecclesia de Eucharistia, no. 18.
