To the Ends of the Earth. Mark C. McCann
and turning them into action steps that you can do as you love your family, serve your church and community, and lift up your brothers in the Faith.
Once a week you are encouraged to come together with other Catholic men to share your thoughts on the devotions, the insights you have gained in prayer, and the ways you have put these principles into practice in everyday life. The leader of your study group will facilitate a discussion, focusing on those passages, reflections, and actions that have meant the most to the men in the group. After a general sharing of thoughts about the daily devotions, the leader can focus on the Saturday “Go Deeper” questions. As each man shares ideas, the leader will encourage the other men to build on the ideas raised and add their own unique voices to the discussion.
As you make this journey, determine to spend more time in prayer, study, and worship to grow in your faith. Look for opportunities to interact with your brothers as you build one another up, carry one another’s burdens, and hold one another accountable before God. Love your families and your communities with the same uncompromising love that Christ has poured out on you. Look for ways to make this world a better place by being a man who represents Christ and his Church well. And look forward to all the blessings that are to come in God’s good time!
Introduction
Character Lived Out Within the World
Being a man of action is something that flows from your godly character. Hopefully you have examined your inner man by completing Book I of the To the Ends of the Earth series, Character. Now it’s time to put that knowledge into practice by considering how to will and to act according to the will of God. We need to be men who draw our strength from the table of the Lord, who seek the nourishment of the Word and the Eucharist, who unburden ourselves in the confessional and march boldly into the arena of life carrying the truth of the gospel.
In order to act on God’s behalf, we need to yield our self-centered ways to the sacrificial love of Christ. It is his voice alone that we must follow. That voice speaks to us in subtle ways, leading us to daily victories, great and small. It helps us to band together with our Catholic brothers and to act according to the great paradox of Christianity: to lose everything we hold dear to gain eternity in heaven. Every word we speak and every deed we do will leave a lasting legacy upon this earth. As Catholic men of action, we must draw our strength from the God who forgives our faults and draws us ever homeward, one faithful step at a time.
I invite you to read this study and to activate it daily by all you say and do. Be a loud, proud, bold Catholic man, unashamed of his faith, and always ready to build the kingdom, to raise up your brothers and to live sold-out lives for the glory of God!
Week 1
Table Manners
Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.
1 Corinthians 11:27–29
The Eucharist is central to our lives as Catholics. It is not simply a representation of the Last Supper; it is, as Pope Francis has said, the Last Supper itself. When we attend Mass, we literally experience the Passion and redeeming death of the Lord.1 As Jesus himself said, the Eucharist is “true food” and “true drink” (Jn 6:55). We have been given a great gift in the Eucharist. It satisfies our deepest desire for peace, feeds our most profound hunger for purpose, and stirs us to great joy.
Do we understand what we receive in Communion, Sunday after Sunday? Do we recognize the Body and the Blood of the Lord as we receive the Eucharist? Do we come with clean hearts and open hands, ready to participate fully in the Sacrifice of the Mass and to be sent out into the world to spread the Good News of Jesus by our words and deeds? Or do we come with broken spirits, hardened hearts, and closed minds, unable to set aside our selfishness and take on the task of spreading the gospel? As Catholic men, we must be willing to give ourselves over to our Savior, allowing him to lead us to the table of his Body and Blood with resolve and understanding.
In our call to follow Christ, to take up our crosses and walk the walk of self-surrender, we must become like Christ. That means we are to be broken bread and poured out wine for the world. The Eucharist gives us the strength to be men after God’s own heart, to sacrifice ourselves in the service of the gospel for our families, our Church, and our world. The beauty, power, and presence of the Eucharist are absolutely foundational to our lives and actions as Catholic men. In fact, all of our actions should flow from our encounter with the Eucharistic Lord.
How do we allow the Eucharist to transform our every action? The sixth chapter of the ospel of John has the answers. This week we will focus on five key points from this important gospel:
1. The Eucharist gives life.
Jesus says that he is the true bread that comes down from heaven to give life to the world (cf. Jn 6:32–35). His sacrificial death on the cross provides our salvation, and we relive that saving act every time we receive the Body and Blood of the Lord.
2. The Eucharist is about abundance.
The Bread of Life Discourse in John 6 takes place after Jesus feeds the 5,000. The people wanted the miracle of the loaves to continue. Jesus offered them a much greater abundance — he promised eternal life in him.
3. The Eucharist is about satisfaction.
Those who partake of the Body and Blood of Christ will never hunger or thirst again (cf. Jn 6:35, 58). Even more importantly, in the Eucharist we know that Christ has made complete satisfaction for our sins. There is no further need for sacrifices because the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ on the cross is complete satisfaction for humanity’s sins, and we are allowed to partake in that sacrifice whenever we receive the Eucharist.
4. The Eucharist is about making an eternal decision.
We are asked to give our “Amen!” when we receive the Eucharist. Part of this assent is accepting Christ’s offer of salvation through his death on the cross. We can say yes to his call, or we can murmur in disbelief like those who rejected the truth of the Eucharist as a “hard” saying.
5. The Eucharist is about love.
Jesus knew that many would reject him because of the Eucharist, but still he offered his love to the world. Like Peter, each of us can return that love by acknowledging that only Jesus has the words of everlasting life and by giving our lives fully to him.
This Week’s Call to Action
As Catholic men, we must stand firm in our faith in the Eucharist so that we can bring the presence of Christ to a hurting world. Past, present, and future come together in every celebration of the Mass, as the priest speaks the words of Consecration over the bread and wine. This is a moment so profound that our only response should be one of thanksgiving and awe. The bread of the earth and the fruit of the vine become the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ!
This means that the way in which we partake of the Eucharist is very important. We cannot become witnesses to the world if we sin against the Body and Blood of the Lord through hearts hardened by selfishness and sin. As we receive, so we are sent out into the world, to be broken bread and poured out wine for all those who hunger and thirst for Jesus.
This week consider how you will live out this incredible truth. Allow Christ to transform all of your actions through the power of the Eucharist, so that you can be a true servant of the kingdom. As you interact with others, particularly other men, find ways to share the life, abundance, satisfaction, commitment, and love of the Eucharist in all you say and do. Speak truth into other men’s lives. Give generously of your time and talent to meet their needs. Commit to praying for and supporting these men throughout this study and beyond. Share with them the sacrificial and life-changing love of Jesus Christ.