Foreshadowing of the Eucharist
The Eucharist is at the center of everything we do as Catholics for Jesus Christ Himself is contained within it. It is the source and the summit of our faith. Consider the imagery around the room of the mountains. The peak is the highest point, it is
the goal, it is the summit. (CCC 1325-1327)

• Everything on a mountain leads to and comes from the peak just like everything in our faith leads to the Eucharist and stems from the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the goal of our faith and it gives life to our faith.
• The Eucharist is the greatest gift to mankind and is wrapped up in one of the greatest stories of all time. On the night that He was betrayed, Jesus took bread and wine and instituted this great sacrament of His sacrifice. He asked us to partake in the
Eucharist until He comes again. (CCC 1323)
• Even before the Institution of the Eucharist, there are multiple stories interwoven throughout Scripture that prepare us and foreshadow the Eucharist. • Bread and wine show the goodness of creation and the Creator who gives us the gift of food to eat and wine to drink to sustain us. (CCC 1333)
• In the Old Covenant, before Jesus came, bread and wine were offered in sacrifices to give thanks to God the provider. (CCC 1334, Genesis 14)
• Project an image of the first Passover. At the front of the room fashion a large cardboard box to look like a door frame. As the feast of Passover is explained use red paint to make a mark across the top of the door frame to give a visual of the blood of the lamb.

• The Feast of Passover is the greatest event in the Old Testament that foreshadows the Eucharist. God’s people were in slavery under the rule of Pharaoh. God heard the cries of His people and sent Moses to bring them out of slavery and to the land
He promised to them. Moses went to Egypt to ask Pharaoh to set the people free but Pharaoh would not. Through the power of God, Moses sent plagues upon the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to let the people go.
• After a series of devastating plagues Pharaoh still would not let the slaves go, so God sent one last plague. God sent the spirit of death over the Egyptians and the first born son of every household died. God protected His own people from this
particular plague by instructing them to put the blood of a lamb over their door and in doing so the spirit of death would pass over them. Pharaoh, who lost his first born son, finally conceded to let the people go and the Israelites were set free.
• This foreshadows the Eucharist because God saved His people from the slavery under Pharaoh and through Jesus sacrifice on the Cross God saves us from the slavery of sin. Jesus becomes the new lamb of sacrifice and when we receive His Body and
Blood the “spirit of death” passes over us, meaning we are given the promise of eternal life. (CCC 1334, Exodus 12)

• After the Israelites left Egypt, they wandered in the desert for forty years on their way to the Promised Land. Not too long in their journey, they became hungry and were without food.
• During that time, God gave them bread called manna to sustain them. The manna would appear each morning for the Israelites to collect and feed their families. There was always enough for everyone to eat and no one went hungry (CCC 1334).

• During his time on earth, Jesus also performed a lot of miracles involving bread and wine to foreshadow the Eucharist. He turned water into wine at the Wedding at Cana and multiplied loaves of bread to feed the crowds of people who came to hear Him preach. (CCC 1335)

THE INSTITUTION OF THE EUCHARIST
• The night before Jesus died He gathered together with His the twelve disciples to celebrate the Passover meal. But Jesus does something a little bit different this night. He changes the Passover meal to not just be a remembrance of what happened in Egypt, but He makes it something new.
Read Matthew 26:26-28.
• He transformed the bread and the wine into His Body and Blood which would be sacrificed for them on the cross. His Body and Blood become our everlasting food. He becomes the new sacrificial lamb and saves us from slavery and death. (CCC 1357,
1374-1375)
• This is the first celebration of the Eucharist. He commands His followers to “do this in memory of me” until He comes again at the end of time. (CCC 1339 - 1342) 
• By doing this He left the disciples “a pledge of love, in order to never depart from his own and to make them sharers in His Passover, He instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of His death and Resurrection and commanded His apostles to celebrate it until His return” (CCC 1337).

THANKSGIVING

• The word Eucharist literally means “thanksgiving” but there are also many other names for it such as The Lord’s Supper, the Holy Sacrifice, Holy Communion, and the Holy Mass. (CCC 1329-1332)
• Regardless of what it is called, the Eucharist is the greatest gift and we should be thankful for the opportunity to receive the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal life and freedom from the slavery of sin.
Read John 6:35
• When the Israelites ate of the manna in the desert or when the crowd ate of the bread that Jesus gave them after He preached, they would eventually be hungry again in a few hours. No matter how much they ate, their hunger could never be
totally satisfied.

• In this passage, Jesus isn’t talking about a physical hunger in their stomachs, but the hunger of their souls. Our souls are hungry for fulfillment, love, peace, joy, and purpose. We can snack on the things of this world: social media, Netflix, friends,
school, sports, and more, but the hunger of our souls will be only be satisfied by Jesus.
• Jesus knew we would be hungry so He made Himself to be eternal food. The Eucharist isn’t just any ordinary bread, this is the bread that gives life to our souls.

• When we have Jesus inside of us, He changes us. (CCC 1324).
• The Church has such a great love for the Eucharist. It’s why we genuflect towards the tabernacle when enter the Church, why we kneel during the consecration, why we reverence the Eucharist before we receive it, and why Catholics have an obligation
to Mass each Sunday.
• But the Eucharist is so much more than an obligation, it’s Jesus’ pledge of love. It is a promise that He will never leave us. When we remember His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, we are reminded of His unending love for us. Jesus gives us the
Eucharist because He desires to dwell within our hearts and satisfy the deepest hunger of our hearts. (CCC 1337)
• You are never alone, Jesus is always here with you and present to you in the Eucharist. He hears all your prayers and loves you so much that He humbled Himself to become bread and wine so that you can share in His life.

Wedding Feast at Cana:
Begin by reading John 2:1-10. Use the following questions for discussion and then give the youth an opportunity to come up with a skit to reenact this miracle:
• What stuck out to you most from this Scripture passage and why?
• How does this story relate to the Eucharist? (This represents the new wine that the faithful will drink in the Eucharist. (CCC 1335))
• This is the first miracle that Jesus performed in His public ministry and it was Mary, His mother, who prompted Him to do so. What does this reveal about Jesus’ relationship with His mother?

Multiplication of the Loaves:
Begin by reading John 6:1-15. Use the following questions for discussion and then give the youth an opportunity to come up with a skit to reenact this miracle:
• What stuck out to you from this story and why?
• How does this story relate to the Eucharist? (Jesus multiplies the loaves which represents the abundance of the Eucharistic Bread. (CCC 1335))
• What does this miracle reveal about God? Do you think He understands our human needs?

• The Sacrament of Baptism was foreshadowed from the very beginning of Creation and throughout the Old Testament.

• Through Jesus Christ, these prefigurations come to fulfillment.

• Our Lord calls us to share in the mission He gave the apostles - to make disciples of all nations, through Baptism.

• Each symbol and sign in the celebration of the Sacrament of Baptism has a deep and profound meaning, helping us to discover the deeper realities of the sacrament.

• God bound salvation to Baptism; however, God can work outside of the Sacrament of Baptism.

• Through Baptism we receive freedom from sin, become an adopted child of God, are called to serve the Church, and are given the mission to help make disciples for Jesus Christ.

SCRIPTURE
Genesis 1:1-2, 7:1-5; Exodus 14:10-31; Joshua 3:14-17; Matthew 3:13-17, 28:19-20
Matthew 6:5-15; John 3:5; Romans 8:14-17

CATECHISM
535-537, 1212-1225
1229-1274, 2767-2772

GOD’S GREATEST GIFT

God is the giver of so many good things, however, the most beautiful and magnificent gift He has given us is the Sacrament of Baptism. Baptism is the foundation for our life as Christians and gives us us access to the other sacraments. (CCC 1213-1216)

“To baptize” means “to plunge” or “to immerse.” At our Baptism, we were immersed into water, which symbolizes our dying with Christ and rising with Him into new life, as sons and daughters of the Most High God. (CCC 1214)

Scattered throughout the Old Testament are events, which all involve water, that are like Baptism; these events help us to understand the importance of this great sacrament. (CCC 1217)

THE OLD TESTAMENT
From the very beginning of creation, God used water as “the source of life and fruitfulness” (CCC 1218). We read in Genesis, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon
the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:1-2).

The Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit, moved over the waters making them holy, signifying life and fruitfulness. (CCC 1218)

This water that God makes holy in the story of Creation is a great symbol of the Holy Spirit making us holy through the waters of Baptism.

Project a slide of the Great Flood and have a Core Member dress up like Noah and give this portion of the talk.

In the story of Noah’s Ark, we read about Noah and his family who were righteous people in the eyes of God. God warned Noah about an impending flood which was going to wipe away all the evil and unrighteous people in the world. When the flood
came, Noah and his family were saved because they followed the commands given by God. (Genesis 6:5-13)

Through the flood waters, evil was conquered, which gave way to new beginnings of goodness. When someone is baptized their sins are washed away in the water and they, in a sense, die to their old life and start a new life of holiness as a son or
daughter of God. (CCC 1219)

Project a slide of the Crossing of the Red Sea and have a Core Member dressed up like Moses and give this portion of the talk.

Later on in Scripture, God’s people, the Israelites, find themselves in slavery to the Pharaoh in Egypt. God desires their freedom and He sends Moses to set them free. One of final moments of their journey to freedom is when Moses parts the Red Sea
and the people are freed once and for all from Egypt. Through the crossing of the Red Sea, the Israelites found freedom - the freedom to worship God and follow His mission. (Exodus 14:1-25)

Just like the Israelites were freed from slavery by the waters of the Red Sea, we also find freedom from the chains of sin and death through the waters of Baptism. It makes us free to worship God and carry out His mission (CCC 1220-1221).

Project a slide of the Promised Land and have a Core Member dressed up with items that represent milk and honey give this portion of the talk.

Although the Israelites were free from the Egyptians, they now needed land to call their own. God promised to lead them up to a “land flowing with milk and honey,” which is an expression that referred to a perfect and very fruitful place to live (Exodus
3:17).

The Israelites did not find this land right away. They wandered through the desert and, after many decades, the Israelites entered into the Promised Land by crossing through the waters of the Jordan River. It is through the crossing of these waters,
that the Israelites were able to receive God’s gift of land. This story of entering the Promised Land is an image of the eternal life, the land that is our own, that we receive through the waters of Baptism. (Joshua 1:1-5, CCC 1222)

BAPTISM IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

When we look at all these events together - creation, the Great Flood, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the entering of the Promised Land through the Jordan River - we are able to see a wonderful and mysterious story that God uses to build up to and foreshadow the Sacrament of Baptism.

In order to fully understand and see the beauty of Baptism, we must move from the Old Testament into the New Testament. It is in the New Testament that we are able to see how all these stories prepared the way for the Sacrament of Baptism, which
gives us spiritual freedom and new life (CCC 1223).

Jesus humbly asks John the Baptist to baptize Him in the waters of the Jordan River. This is significant because Jesus was born without sin and never sinned, so technically He did not need to be baptized. However, it is through this great act of meekness that Jesus is accepting God’s mission for Him.

In being baptized Jesus is not only revealed as the Son of God, but He also becomes our example. He shows us the way to eternal life and ties it to His death and new life on the Cross which we participate in through our own Baptisms. (CCC 536, 1224 - 1225)
Baptism and the Good News of freedom of death and sin are not meant for just a few people to experience. Jesus commissions us to share this news and to bring others to be baptized.

In the moments before Christ ascended into heaven, He gave the apostles this mission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that
I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). (CCC 1223)

THE MISSION

Before God ever spoke creation into existence, He had a plan to free us from sin, make us adopted sons and daughters, and offer us the gift of everlasting life. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, we are able to see that God’s plan was always to give us “the most beautiful and magnificent gift” of Baptism (CCC 1216).

Christ gave His Church the mission to baptize, which she is still carrying out today. In every nation, people are coming to the waters of Baptism and are receiving the sanctifying grace of the sacrament.

For many of us, we are already baptized (and probably have been for most of our lives), but that doesn’t mean God is done with you. Through your Baptism, you are an adopted son or daughter of the Most High God; you are loved and cherished and
called to greatness.

 

• Do you remember anything from your Baptism or have you seen a video of it? What
stood out to you? If not, have you ever witnessed a Baptism? What do you remember
about it?
• When you think of a father, what virtues or qualities do you think of?
• Do you see God as your Heavenly Father? How?
• What are some practical ways that you are able to serve the Church?
• What can you do in your daily life to show God’s love to those you know who don’t have
a relationship with Him?