Celebrating the Year of the Eucharist at Holy Redeemer School, Marshall

by Paula Dudgeon

1st grade teacher

Imagine a gift that is already bought, wrapped and ready to be given. You only have to dare to get it. Dare to open it. Dare to look! This is the scenario for the Year of the Eucharist at Holy Redeemer School in Marshall. Jesus himself comes to us as the gift bought by his sacrifice, given to us in the Eucharist and waiting for our response.

Each school year, the staff and students of Holy Redeemer choose a commandment to be more closely studied and lived. This year however, there is a little different twist. The Year of the Eucharist is our focus, and the 3rd commandment, “Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day” becomes one of the vehicles to convey the message of the Eucharist.

During this academic year, continuing until October 2005 with the closing of the Year of the Eucharist, staff and students will be engaged in a variety of activities, prayers, actions and learning that will further our knowledge and love of the Eucharist. All of this began with great anticipation during the Advent season. All students received the name of another student to pray for as their Advent Light. The weekly Advent Wreath celebrations for the student body include a Eucharistic focus on our role and responsibility as the Body of Christ. Staff will have the opportunity for in-services to support their work in liturgy preparation and preparing students to engage in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.

There can hardly be a more perfect time than the Year of the Eucharist to stress the value and importance of the Sunday Eucharist and of keeping the entire day as holy and thus the 3rd commandant is a logical ‘fit’ for the year. By focusing our attention on the 3rd commandment, we are not introducing something new but rather “...emphasiz(ing) the Eucharistic dimension which is part of the whole Christian life” (Mane Nobiscum Domine; Paragraph 5). By turning our efforts toward the 3rd commandment and the Year of the Eucharist we wish to draw the students more deeply into the gift and privilege of Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament.

Beginning this month, the student body will participate in monthly Days of Prayer, which will bring all students in front of the Blessed Sacrament through the day and will enable the students to become a praying body of Christ. This ‘new’ old prayer form will enhance the faith of the students and also provide an opportunity for the parish community to join with the children in prayer. Ultimately, the focus, study, prayer and action of the Holy Redeemer students are best summarized by our Holy Father himself, “...we relive the sacrifice of the cross, we experience the infinite love of God and hear the call to spread the light of Christ among the men and women of our time” (John Paul II, October 2004).