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Bread of Life
Making bread consecrated for Holy Communion is ministry at Blessed Sacrament Church
WARREN — “Put your hands to work and your hearts to God.”
The thought by Mother Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker sect, applies universally to many projects performed by believers of many faiths. And it aptly describes the unique ministry of making Eucharistic bread.
Members of Blessed Sacrament Church, 3020 Reeves Road N.E., met with Pat Campbell, director of music and worship, at 5 p.m. Wednesday to make bread.
“We make it for Advent, Thanksgiving, Lent and Holy Thursday,” said Campbell. The project has been part of the church for some 11 years, before Campbell took her position.
The bread made for Holy Communion on Holy Thursday seems even more special because the form recalls what might have been used by Jesus at the Last Supper.
“It’s significant because it’s more natural. You know it’s different, and the thought process behind it is different,” Campbell said.
But, she noted, regular Holy Communion hosts are also available.
“At one time, members took turns making the bread at home,” Campbell said. “Now it’s done as a group and involves fellowship time.
“I see it as my way of bringing people together,” she said. “And people have developed friendships because of it.” Connecting church members is one of the benefits of the project.
Campbell said the number of volunteers who show up at each bread-baking session varies; she said she had to make the bread herself only one time. “For people who want to do a behind-the-scenes project, this is a good one,” she said.
“The bakers have a sense of ownership ... being part of this ministry,” Campbell said.
Bread bakers this week were Melissa Chaves and Maddie D’Amico, both of Howland, and Patty Orsinelli and Joyce Tanase, both of Warren.
“I like food,” said Chaves of the bread-of-life ministry. She was interested in baking, but admitted she didn’t want to work with yeast. So making unleavened bread was perfect. “This makes you feel like you are doing something special and meaningful,” said Chaves, who has been a member of Blessed Sacrament since 1986. “You know you made the bread that becomes Holy Communion.”
Tanase said she got involved in the bread baking as part of her Lenten commitment.
“I came faithfully,” she said of the Saturdays of Lent in February and March that she spent at the church kitchen.
“I was a Eucharistic minister at another church,” Tanase said of her duty that included giving Holy Communion. “It was in my heart to do this.
“It’s wonderful to know what we made becomes the body of Christ,” Tanase said. She has belonged to the church for about a year.
In the Catholic service, the priest says, “ The day before he suffered he took break in his sacred hands and looking up to heaven, to you, his almighty Father, he gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread, gave it to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.
When supper was ended, he took the cup. Again he gave you thanks and praise, gave the cup to his disciples, and said: Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.”
Orsinelli said, “This brings us together as a community. It could be done at home, but it would lose the community aspect.
“I consider this part of the preparation for Advent and Lent,” Orsinelli said. “When it’s consecrated, I know I was a part of making it,” said the parishioner of some 30 years.
For Orsinelli, who also is coordinator of Eucharistic ministers, the Eucharistic bread making seems like a natural fit.
Eleven-year-old Maddie, who had come for altar service practice, was at the bread making for the first time.
“I just thought it would be interesting to help,” she said.
For weekend Masses, multiple batches are prepared; the batch for Holy Thursday was just one. It’s a simple recipe of 4 cups of wheat flour, 1 cup of unbleached white flour and 2 cups of hot water. “I think the key is the hot water,” Campbell said.
The volunteers take turns kneading the dough. Then it’s placed in a bowl, covered with a towel and rests for five minutes.
The large round piece of dough is cut into eight pieces, which are shaped into round, somewhat flat loaves. Each of the eight loaves are scored into small, bite-size pieces. “They bake exactly like they look,” said Campbell.
The loaves are then baked and cooled. The bakers put all the loaves in a basket with the best-looking one on top.
That’s the one held up by the Rev. Donald King, pastor, when he consecrates the bread during Mass.
The bakers agreed that seeing their bread in that light was a special moment.
Campbell noted that the sacristan, Joanna Landor, gets a count of the number of people at Mass.
That number translates into the number of pieces of Eucharistic bread that will be consecrated. Unused consecrated bread can’t be discarded; it must be consumed, Campbell explained.