Last weekend and this weekend, (at the 5:00pm and 9:30am Masses), 85 of our young parishioners received our Lord in Holy Communion for the first time! This is a very important event in their faith lives as they now join with the rest of the believing community in participating fully in the Celebration of the Eucharist. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains so well:
The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch. (§ 1324)
“The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God’s action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit.” (§ 1325)
Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves to the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all. (§ 1326)
The Catechism goes on to explain that the “Mass is at the same time, and inseparably, the sacrificial memorial in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated and the sacred banquet of communion with the Lord’s body and blood” (§ 1382). As we just celebrated during the Easter Triduum, our Lord offered his sacred Body and Blood to us when he instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper and then He offered His life for us to our Heavenly Father on the cross. The Eucharistic celebration involves us in both of these mysteries through which we are able to offer to God the only gift worthy of Himself – that is, Himself – as the Son of God offers Himself to God the Father. At the same time, we are invited into the heavenly banquet at which Christ offers us Himself for our spiritual nourishment. The Catechism explains,
The altar, around which the Church is gathered in the celebration of the Eucharist, represents the two aspects of the same mystery: the altar of sacrifice and the table of the Lord. This is all the more so since the Christian altar is the symbol of Christ himself, present in the midst of the assembly of his faithful, both as the victim offered for our reconciliation and as food from heaven who is giving himself to us. (§ 1383)
It is so important for us to receive our Lord in Holy Communion. The Catechism continues: “The Lord addresses an invitation to us, urging us to receive him in the sacrament of the Eucharist: ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’” (§ 1384)
It is also important for us to receive the Eucharist worthily, as the Catechism reminds us: “To respond to this invitation we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: ‘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.’” (§ 1385)
Worthy reception of our Lord in the Eucharist brings us into union with Christ and his Body, the Church. The Catechism explains:
Those who receive the Eucharist are united more closely to Christ. Through it, Christ unites them to all the faithful in one body – the Church. Communion renews, strengthens, and deepens this incorporation into the Church, already achieved by Baptism. …“The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (§ 1396)
There are so many aspects of this sacred act that warrant our prayerful reflection. I encourage you to do so often and receive our Lord frequently with gratitude and joy because, when we do, we receive the spiritual nourishment we need to prepare us for the heavenly banquet to which our Lord invites all his faithful followers for all eternity. Again, congratulation to our First Holy Communicants!
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers of the parish and the mothers of all our parishioners! We all know how important our mothers have been to us as we grew up and so we join with our nation in honoring them today. Mother’s Day is not part of the Church’s liturgical calendar. In fact, liturgical directives state that “this secular observance must in no way diminish the primary focus of Sunday as the celebration of the paschal mystery.” Yet, this national holiday allows an opportunity to reflect on the essential role of a mother in everyone’s life. Every human being has a mother. No one is born except through a mother’s nurturing and labor. Even Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, had a mother. In fact, as Pope Saint John Paul II wrote so eloquently in his apostolic exhortation, The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World, “God then manifests the dignity of women in the highest form possible, by assuming human flesh from the Virgin Mary, whom the Church honors as the Mother of God” (§ 22). He went on to say that:
There is no doubt that the equal dignity and responsibility of men and women fully justifies women’s access to public functions. On the other hand, the true advancement of women requires that clear recognition be given to the value of their maternal and family role, by comparison with all other public roles and all other professions. Furthermore, these roles and professions should be harmoniously combined, if we wish the evolution of society and culture to be truly and fully human. …Therefore, the Church can and should help modern society by tirelessly insisting that the work of women in the home be recognized and respected by all in its irreplaceable value. (§ 23)
As we thank God for giving us the sacred vocation of motherhood, through which all of us have come to life, let us honor our mothers, thanking them for their many sacrifices as they have brought us into the world and cared and nurtured us throughout our lives!