Serra Club Vocations Essay

St. Peter Julian Eymard’s example leads student to love of the Eucharist

(Editor’s note: The Indianapolis Serra Club’s annual John D. Kelley Vocations Essay Contest ordinarily awards prizes each spring to winning essayists in grades 7-12 in the archdiocese. This week, we begin with the winning entry in the seventh grade.)
 

By Brendan Ellis (Special to The Criterion)

The holy Eucharist is an important part in my and many other people’s lives.

Many people may know that when the Eucharist is present, so is Jesus. This is true and in fact, in John 6:35, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

This statement proves that Jesus is truly present in the holy Eucharist. The importance of the Eucharist helps guide me in my call to holiness in my parish, school and family.

My parish helps me see the importance of the Eucharist by offering many opportunities to grow in my faith. One of those opportunities are the sacraments that are offered to anyone in the Catholic Church and others who are interested in becoming a Catholic.

My parish also offers a Bible study in which people can read and learn about Jesus and the Eucharist. My parish, like others, offers daily Mass so that people can receive and experience the holy Eucharist.

It also offers monthly eucharistic adoration, where people can have the opportunity to reflect on the Eucharist and pray.

My school helps me see the importance of the Eucharist by offering many chances to grow in my faith as well. One of those opportunities is our schoolwide Mass every Wednesday. This occasion helps me see the importance of the Eucharist by allowing me to learn about and receive the Eucharist.

My school also allows me to participate in adoration at our parish. We make time in our schedule to participate in adoration. Adoration provides me with a time to reflect on Jesus and his life in the Eucharist, and moments in my life where I can feel his presence.

The Eucharist guides my family and I as well. I was baptized as a baby and have been brought up in the Catholic Church ever since. It is our faith that encourages us to go to Mass every week to seek Jesus out in the Gospel and the Eucharist. We pray before our meals to reflect on Jesus being the bread of life and being thankful for our blessings. I feel Jesus’ presence every day in my family life through our daily practices.

Through all of the efforts made by my parish, school and family, I have realized that I am quite fortunate to have been raised as a Catholic and blessed to attend a Catholic school. And Jesus, like the Eucharist, is something people need.

Jesus told us this in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them, will bear great fruit because apart from me you can do nothing.”

In conclusion, we cannot grow like the branches apart from the vine, Jesus.
 

(Brendan and his parents, John and Jill Ellis, are members of St. Anthony of Padua Parish Parish in Clarksville. He is a seventh-grade student at St. Anthony of Padua School in Clarksville and is the seventh-grade division winner in the Indianapolis Serra Club’s 2024 John D. Kelley Vocations Essay Contest.) †