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Prayers and Devotions
The Eucharistic prayer service in the cathedral takes place at 5 pm on workdays and at 5 pm on Sundays and holidays as part of vespers.
'Of all devotions, that of adoring Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament is the greatest after the Sacraments, the one dearest to God and the one most helpful to us.' (St. Alphonsus Liguori)
Each day from Monday to Friday a larger (or sometimes smaller) group of male and female worshippers gather at the Wiener Neustadt altar for the rite of Eucharistic Devotion, because 'the Catholic Church offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it.' (CCC 1378)
The Eucharistic devotions in our cathedral began in the early 1970s and were instigated at the suggestion of my predecessor, Deacon Ernst Ballner.
The Eucharistic Year provided us with an opportunity to make a few revisions to the arrangement of this liturgy and adapt it to the realities of the times. Hence we constantly take up the concerns of the Church and the world, and pray and intercede for them in our Liturgy of the Word.
A second area which we emphasise in our devotional services is our unceasing commemoration of the saints (of the day), in whose lives we seek model guidance for our own lives and to whose intercession we and the whole of the church entrust ourselves in particular. The months of May and October are marked by the very popular and extremely well frequented May Devotions and the Prayers of the Rosary.
The cult offered to the sacrament of the Eucharist outside of Mass is of estimable value for the life of the Church. It is closely bound to the celebration of the Eucharistic sacrifice. The presence of Christ among the consecrated hosts which are reserved with utmost care after the Mass comes from the celebration of His sacrifice and strives for sacramental and spiritual communion. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself up for us. (CCC 1380).
'I am the living bread that came down from heaven' (John 6, 51)
His whole life is to be the 'bread from heaven', bread that gives life through the very act of giving. Jesus' presence in the form of bread epitomises the deeply profound sense of his mission: He is and remains among us as the living bread broken for us and given to us, as our 'sustenance'. (CCC 1380).
The highpoint of our prayer services is the exposition and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. At that moment I think it is particularly important that a short period of silence is observed so that we can contemplate what we have just heard in view of the Blessed Sacrament. The intention behind this silent adoration of the Eucharistic bread is for Jesus' mission and vocation to become indelibly impressed on our lives, so that we too become bread like HIM, bread 'for the life of the world'.
You bread against death. We eat you. We don't die, we live.
You bread against hate. We share you. We don't argue, we love.
You bread against pride. We take you. We don't sneer, we serve.
You bread against envy. We dine on you. We don't lust, we let go.
You bread against fear. We try you. We don't fear, we hope.
You bread against suffering. We taste you. We don't hesitate, we fight.
You bread against nothingness. We break you. We don't doubt, we believe.
Body of Christ - my celebration that no-one can prepare because He is giving it.
Body of Christ - your celebration to which I'd very much like to come.
Body of Christ - his celebration, the celebration without end.
Body of Christ - our celebration even when we only lament.
Body of Christ - your celebration that you prepare at the finest and most wretched places in the world.
Body of Christ - their celebration, all those that labour and are heavy laden.
Body of Christ - our body, our lot, our celebration, our life.
Source: Deacon Roman Faux |
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