For the last couple of weeks we have been reading from the sixth Chapter of St. John on the Holy Eucharist. These readings should have moved us to beg our Lord for a deeper faith in the great mystery of the Holy Eucharist, a mystery that most of Jesus disciples denied in his day, and most Christians deny today. Let’s do a short recap what we heard thus far.
We started this Chapter a few weeks ago with the miracle of multiplication of the loaves and fishes. We learned that he gave them bread as a sign of a greater miracle. But the crowd misunderstood and wanted to make him an earthly King, a political leader to fill their earthly bellies, their earthly desires. He confronts them for their lack of faith, for not looking for Him in faith, he tells not to look for earthly food but for the bread of eternal life. Instead of believing Jesus in faith, they appeal to Moses as the one who gave them bread from heaven. Jesus tells them it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven but my Father you gives you the real bread from heaven. And then Jesus gives them a shock by telling them all that He, himself is the true bread come down from heaven-the bread of life sent by his father for the for the life of the world and that all who believe in him will have eternal life.
Today, we hear that the Jews murmured amongst themselves, refusing to believe that Jesus is the bread that satisfies our deepest hunger, which is for love. Our day is no different, there are still those who murmur amongst themselves and deny Jesus teaching of the Holy Eucharist, that Jesus is the Holy Eucharist. They deny the Holy Mass is that event which by the power of the ordained priesthood makes sacramentally present the true bread of life, which is Jesus. Sadly, there are those even within the Church herself who murmur and deny this teaching trying to make the Holy Mass into a event where we built merely a human community (not a supernatural one) by coming together to remember what Jesus did for us and sharing in the bread and wine—a special action of course, but only in meaning not in reality, a mere human action. They, like the Jews, want Jesus as an earthly king, denying any supernatural action in the Mass and closing off their hearts and minds to Jesus’ desire to come truly and deeply into their hearts. They deny the sacrificial nature of the Mass, that it makes present in reality Calvary to us, and that the bread and the wine are transformed through the miracle of transubstantiation into the physical Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus, his whole self. These folks fail to listen to the Holy Father when he correctly interprets the Second Vatican Council’s proclamation that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” In the Encyclical on the Holy Eucharist John Paul explains this when he says, that, “the most Holy Eucharist contains the church’s entire spiritual wealth: Christ Himself, our Passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men. Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.”
We need to beg our Lord to increase our faith in the great gift of the Holy Eucharist. Maybe we don’t deny outright this main truth of our faith, but do we mummer against Jesus by being too familiar with the Mass and lose sight of its great mystery and sacredness, failing to see that it is the sacrifice of Jesus. Do we in our actions, in our hearts treat the Holy Mass more like a gathering of the community in a restaurant, gathering around the table and eating bread and wine, talking about ourselves and upcoming events instead of adoring Jesus by offering ourselves on the altar and then in return partaking in Jesus’ flesh and blood so that we may be one with him.
Do we mean the words of the preface we pray just before we kneel for the changing of the bread and wine into his flesh and blood, when the priest tells us to, “lift up your hearts, and we respond, “We lift them up to the Lord.” Lifting up our hearts means that we offer them to the Lord, we offer our whole selves- everything in sacrifice to God—this is what adoration truly means--this is what the Vatican council really meant by full and active participation in the Liturgy. What could be more active than offering ourselves in union with Jesus through his sacrifice on Calvary to the Father? This should cure us from boredom- our being too familiar with Jesus at Mass. Adoration is an offering of our hearts to God and a dying to self and our will; it is recognition that God is the source of our being and our goal in this life and the next, that we are absolutely dependent on him for everything.
How about our preparation for the Holy Mass? Do we come to Holy Mass dress for a day in the park instead of for Calvary? We should dress for Mass better than we dress for any event of our lives, for it is the most important event of our lives. Do we humbly prepare ourselves, our hearts for Mass in prayer? Or do we show up for Holy Mass just in time or even late instead of coming early to prepare our hearts, asking the Holy Spirit to help us to adore our Lord by adequately examining our conscience, asking for forgiveness? Do we pray during Mass or just let our minds wonder, failing to realize that we are truly present at Calvary at the foot of the cross? How would we act if we were present there two thousand years ago? Well the Holy Mass makes it possible for us to be at Calvary, not just by remembering what Jesus did for us, but by the power of the Ordained priesthood which makes present in reality the once and all sacrifice of Jesus for our salvation. Then do we reverently receive Holy Communion, not only realizing what we are receiving, but more importantly whom we are receiving--Our Lord and Our God?
How about our thanksgiving after Holy Mass for receiving the Holy Eucharist? Do we sit around and visit and forget to thank Jesus for the total gift of himself to us in the Eucharist? Do we talk and murmur in Church after Mass interrupting those who are praying and thus failing to realize that this space is Holy and Sacred, that because Jesus is still truly present in the tabernacle that the Mass is still in a sense going on. This space is a space for adoration, not visiting. Community, unity and family is not built by talking in Church but it is built by adoring Jesus in the Holy Eucharist firstly and primarily, then when we meet at the appropriate time and space for visiting with one another in the narthex or at coffee and donuts. We will never have true unity until we recognized that we must keep the sanctuary of our churches as places of adoration. This space is not the space to visit, it is the place to adore Jesus, offering ourselves to him, begging him to fill us with his love so that we can love one other, not just with our imperfect human love but with his perfect divine love. Then we can go out and truly visit, building a community in the love of God and become one family united in Christ. True community and family are only built through Adoring Jesus first. This is the first commandment, to love God with your whole heart, mind and soul so you can love you neighbor as yourself, with the very love of God. For those of you who read the article in the Northwest Herald, this is why the Church in its General Instruction on the Roman Missal and in other documents is reminding us of the reverence we need to have in the presence of the Holy Eucharist. In the last 40 years there has been some confusion over these matters, even with some priest. However, now the Church is clearing up this confusion, so we all, including myself, must take a look at any bad habits we might have and change them.
Let us in this Mass truly open our hearts to the gift of Jesus in the Eucharist. We don’t have to be perfect in order to do this, we just need to become like little Children trusting in God for what we lack. We can come to the Mass in our brokenness and our sins in order to receive what we need to change, to grow in love. Jesus will change our unworthiness, increase our love, by taking our human hearts and replacing them with His Sacred Heart so we can love with a divine love and be truly happy. But we must repent of our sinfulness and our stubbornness; we must freely give him our hearts and our will. Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to help us lift up our hearts in adoration to the Lord, in others words to offer our hearts in union through the Heart of Jesus, with the heart of Jesus and in the heart of Jesus in the unity and by the power of the Holy Spirit, giving all glory and honor to the almighty Father by offering ourselves along with Jesus in sacrifice of adoration and praise. Let us make this offering of ourselves to our Heavenly Father who gave us the great gift of the Eucharist in order that we could give him back the gift of our lives, of our very self to be with him in eternal happiness beginning right now at this Holy Mass and for ever and ever. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment