When did Christ institute the Eucharist?

Christ Instituted the Holy Eucharist on the evening before his death, "on the night when he was betrayed" (1 Corinthians 11:23), when he gathered the Apostles around him in the Upper Room in Jerusalem and celebrated the Last Supper with them.

"For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said 'This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way also the chalice, after supper, saying, 'This chalice is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me' (1 Corinthians 1123:25).

This, the oldest account of the events in the Upper Room at the last Supper, is by the Apostle Paul, who was not an eyewitness himself, but rather wrote down what was being preserved as a holy mystery by the young Christian community and was being celebrated in the liturgy.

The celebration of the Eucharist is the heart of the Christian communion. In it the Church becomes Church. We are not Church because we get along well, or because we happen to end up in the same parish community, but rather because in the Eucharist we receive the Body of Christ and are increasingly being transformed into the Body of Christ.

What is the Holy Eucharist?

1. "THANK YOU JESUS" for the Gift of Yourself.
Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament in which Jesus Christ gives his body and blood - HIMSELF - for us, so that we too might give ourselves to him in love and be united with him in Holy Communion. In this way we are joined with the one body of Christ, the Church.

2. Jesus sacrifice on the cross is made present.
After baptism and confirmation, the Eucharist is the third sacrament of Initiation of the Catholic Church. The Eucharist is the mysterious center of all these sacraments, because the historic sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is made present during the words of consecration in a hidden, un-bloody manner. Thus the celebration of the Eucharist is "The source and summit of the Christian Life" (Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium,11).

3. Eucharist unites us with the Love of Jesus for us.
Everything aims at this; besides this there is nothing greater that one could attain.
When we eat the broken bread, we unite ourselves with the love of Jesus, who gave his body for us on the wood of the Cross;
When we drink from the chalice, we unite ourselves with him who even poured out his blood out of love for us.

We did not invent this ritual. Jesus himself celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples under the signs of bread and wine and commanded them from then on, even after his death, to celebrate the Eucharist. "Do this in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24)

St. Josephine Bakhita, 8th February

She was born in a reasonably rich family at Olgossa village in Darfur region of Sudan in the year 1869. But in about 1877, she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders and was forced to walk barefoot for about 600 miles. Then she was sold and resold several times.

She even forgot the name given to her by her family but took the name given by slave traders, Bakhita. The name Bakhita in Arabic means Lucky. She was also forcefully converted to Islam. She suffered a lot as a slave from her cruel masters till the year 1883, when she was brought by an Italian vice-consul by name Calolisto Legnani.

They returned to Italy from the present Khartoum in Sudan, which was still under siege. On November 29, 1889, an Italian court decided that Bakhita was not a slave. Then she was baptized on January 9, 1890 with the name Giuseppina Margherita. She then took her vows in the Canossian Convent on December 8, 1896. In the monastery she was employed as a cook, sacristan and porter (door keeper).

People of Schio believe that during World War-II, Schio escaped without a casualty due to the presence of the saintly Bakhita, even though there was bombing. She died on February 8th, 1947.

She is venerated as a modern African Saint. She was declared blessed on May 17, 1992 and canonized on October 1,2000 by Pope John Paul-II.

St. Colette, 7th February

Background:
St. Colette was born at Corbie in Picardy, France on January 13th, 1381. Her father was Robert Boellet and mother Marguerite Moyon. The birth name of St.Colette was Nicole Boellet. Colette's mother Marguerite prayed to St.Nicholas for a child and St.Colette was born when her mother was 60 years old. Her conception was a miracle of St.Nicholas.

St.Colette received the habit of the Third Order of Francis in 1402. She founded the Colettine Poor Clares, a reformed branch of the Order of Saint Clare. She also founded 18 monasteries. She prescribed extreme poverty, observance of perpetual fasting and abstinence to the members.

Miracles:

She used to go to all places by bare foot. When, once she stayed in the house of her friend, the house ownder;s wife was having major difficulties in child birth for a third child. Colette went to a nearby church and prayed. The house owner's wife later gave birth to a girl child and that child later entered the monastery of Colette and became the biographer of Colette (Pierinne).

One day a man brought child, died at birth to the parish priest for baptism. But the priest refused and advised the man to go to the nuns. The man then came to mother Colette and she gave her veil to the father of the dead child in it and take to the priset's house with the dead child, the child was conscious and was crying. The priest then baptized the child. Colette died on March 6,1447.


She was beatified by pope Clement-XII on January 23,1740 and canonized by pope Pius-VII on May24, 1807.

She is the patron of women seeking to conceive, expectant mothers and sick children.