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July 13-19, 2020
"One Great Act of Fidelity"
Reflections on the Eucharist By Fr. Ronald RolheiserAbout the Theme
Who knows exactly how the recent pandemic will affect Catholics' understanding of, or participation in, the Eucharist?
Many observers -- cardinals, bishops and theologians -- think two and a half months without public, in-person Masses will and should have an impact on how we celebrate Eucharist going forward. Given that context, it seems timely to reflect on the basic meaning of the Eucharist and our experience of Eucharist as Catholic Christians.
For the purposes of this year's online retreat we have chosen seven reflections about Eucharist from previously published columns by the popular Catholic theologian and author Fr. Ronald Rolheiser. These excerpts highlight the central meaning of the Eucharist and may serve as a focus for our post-pandemic experience of Eucharist.
The retreat is offered free and is open to the public.
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In his book about Eucharist, Our One Great Act of Fidelity, Fr. Rolheiser explained the meaning of
its title this way:
"Throughout two thousand years of history, Christians…have consistently been able to ignore many
of Jesus’ key commandments and invitations. We have either been too weak to follow his counsels
or we have rationalized them away in some way…. But we have, for the most part, been faithful and
consistent throughout all the years to one of Jesus’ commands: to celebrate the Eucharist, to meet
together in every circumstance and share his word and break bread and drink wine in his memory….
"…I go to Eucharist [because] this is the one place where I can be faithful, where I can essentially
measure up. I can’t always control how I feel or how I think, and I can’t always measure up morally
and spiritually, but inside of my perpetual inadequacy and occasional doubt and confusion, I can be
faithful in this one deep way. I can go to Eucharist regularly."
• • •About the Author
Fr. Ronald Rolheiser OMI is a popular Catholic writer, speaker and spiritual guide. A native of Saskatchewan in Canada, Fr. Rolheiser entered the novitiate of the Oblates of Mary in 1966 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. He has earned degrees from University of Ottawa, Newman Theological College, the University of San Francisco, and the University of Louvain, 1982) and Ph.D/STD (University of Louvain, 1983). During and after his own studies, He has taught theology and philosophy and served in numerous leadership positions for the Oblate community. He has served as president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio since 2005. Since 1982 he has written a popular weekly column which is syndicated in over 90 Catholic newspapers, including The Witness. He is the author of 15 books, including Spirituality for a Restless Culture, The Holy Longing, Prayer--Our Deepest Longing, Sacred Fire, and Wrestling with God. Many of his columns on Eucharist were collected into a Our One Great Act of Fidelity, published in 2011.
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Learn More about our Online Retreats here.
Register for this year's Summer Retreat
- By phone: call 319-233-0498
- By email: dbqwcaf@dbqarch.org
- Online: Click here to register online
[Last Update: 06.12.20]