A Way and Style of Life

The APLM booklet Parish Eucharist says the following about the sending out that takes place at the conclusion of the liturgy and how this gets lived out in the week ahead:

It has been said that the most sacred moment in the Liturgy comes when the Body of Christ, having been fed by the Body of Christ, goes forth to be the Body of Christ in the world. We have been nourished by the Lord's Body and Blood, and now it is time to take up the Lord's life and work. We pause briefly to give thanks for the loving act of feeding us and to ask for guidance as we set out in mission....



The Liturgy is over, but the Eucharist is not. At the beginning of this booklet we observed that Eucharist is what the parish does. It is that...and more. It is the way the parish lives: thankfully, joyfully, as a participant in the resurrected life of Christ and servant to the world. That which we have just symboled in the Liturgy gets worked out in the day-to-day life of the parish and its members. That daily life, in turn, becomes the offering of our next liturgical celebration. Eucharist is a way and a style of life.