Little Brothers and Sisters of the Eucharist Handbook

Order of Meetings

Gospel Sharing

The fraternity is the setting in which for each of us the drama of the Gospel comes down to earth. A short passage from the Gospels is chosen in advance so that each member has the chance to read and reflect on it throughout the days preceding the meeting. It is best if one person is delegated each time to start the ball rolling. Members share their thoughts on the Gospel in order to see what lessons and parallels can be drawn from if for their lives. This is not simply an intellectual discussion or Bible study but rather an integration of Scripture as it relates to each person’s daily life. We read and pray the Scriptures with the idea of putting our life and experience in dialogue with the Scriptures.

Brother Charles welcomed the Gospel like a child. As soon as he heard the Word, he preferred it to everything else, and tried to put it into practice, to live it out. ”We must read and re-read the holy Gospel in order to have before our minds the actions, words, and thoughts of Jesus so that we may think, speak and act like Jesus.” (Brother Charles)

Brother Charles’ way of going to the Gospel is not an abstract meditation but rather a loving study of Jesus whose life becomes the norm for everything he does, day in and day out. We approach the Gospels in the same way — integrating it into the dailyness of our lives. This loving reflection on the Gospels will keep our lamps lit and enable us to love not only in words but in deeds. We will become for others a ”Living Gospel”.

Adoration

Silent prayer before the Eucharist is an essential part of each fraternity meeting. Having made the celebration of the Eucharist and adoration a part of our dally lives, we come together as a community to celebrate and listen together in loving silence and waiting. This time of adoration together before the Eucharist allows us the opportunity to quietly carry one another in the stillness of our hearts.

Review of Life

For those in the fraternity the review of life is a common act of faith in which we talk about events in our lives and share our concerns, hopes and disappointments. The review of life is a way of making the connections, of translating and integrating the ordinary events of our lives in the light of faith and hope before Jesus and before each other. Review of life means laying our lives openly before each other to discover where and how the Lord is calling us.

All this demands great courage but our review of life is indispensable, for it is first of all to look with love at the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives and in our times. Whenever we make the review of life we are called to conversion. It opens our eyes to what is best in us. It keeps us alert to the Lord who may call us in ways we never expected. It helps us to find God, always greater than we thought or imagined, always different, so often disconcerting.

There is an overall unity between the review of life and other activities of the fraternity. Previous to the regular meeting, each one prepares their review of life by reflecting on now Jesus has been speaking and acting and how one has responded to the grace of Jesus’ presence. The review of life, thus, becomes a deep self knowledge and search for the truth of our lives.

The review of life is prepared preferably in the desert, always in prayer and if possible, is written. It is -better not to make a review of life at all than to improvise on the spot. It presupposes an atmosphere of prayer, of listening to the Word of God, of reverent attention to one another. We must have the courage to put questions to one another gently but frankly. We should not be put off by fear of possible tensions or clashes. False friendship is the death of a true review of life, and therefore, of the fraternity.

In the review of life a member may seek the objective ’ comments of the other members about a particular situation or discernment. Whatever the nature of the review, it should be an occasion for members to help each other to walk more closely in the steps of Jesus and of Brother Charles. The review should lead us as individual to greater faithfulness to the Gospel in all aspects of our lives, whether at work, at home, or within our parishes.

To achieve intimate friendship and complete trust between members takes time and the review may well seem difficult in the initial stages of a fraternity’s life. However, it should be a feature of the meeting from the beginning. The answer is to do at each stage as much as one feels able, asking the Holy Spirit to deepen the love and openness between the members.

Sometimes what Jesus speaks is hidden and veiled as it was for the disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). We are deaf and do not understand: we do not hear — we do not want to hear. This time together, our fraternity review of life, is a time to listen, a time to understand more clearly what it is that Jesus has been asking all along — a time to have our ears and eyes opened — so that we may recognize Him in the breaking of the Word — that is, in the breaking of the Word made Flesh in our dally, ordinary lives.

The review of life is the living out of the sacramental reality of Eucharist. We are bonded together, we become Eucharist to each other and we are able to utter: ”This is my Body. This is my Blood”.