O Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my God, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time. July 31st, 2011

Our Gospel today reminds us that there is only one thing in this world that will ultimately fill our greatest hunger. And this one thing that will fill our greatest hunger is the Holy Eucharist. Our greatest hunger is for love. And St. John tells us that God is love. And so our greatest hunger is for God Himself. Because the Holy Eucharist is God, the Holy Eucharist is Love Himself; our greatest hunger therefore is for the Holy Eucharist, approached with faith, adoration, hope and love.

Ultimately the greatest crisis in the world, according to Pope Benedict is a crisis of faith. Not just a crisis of faith in God, but a crisis in faith in the Holy Eucharist, especially among Catholics. This crisis of faith in the Holy Eucharist as the God who is Love among us has literally affected our whole world. And it has embolden the enemies of our faith. Our Catholic Faith is being attacked as never before, in the media, and even in our schools, colleges and university.

I don’t know if you remember this, but a few years ago, a biology professor at a prominent university in America desecrated the Holy Eucharist. He ran a nail through a consecrated host and called the Eucharist a cracker. After posting a picture of the desecrated Host he wrote the following:

“Nothing must be held sacred. Question everything. God is not great, Jesus is not your lord, you are not disciples of any charismatic prophet. You are all human beings who must make your way through your life by thinking and learning, and you have the job of advancing humanity's knowledge by winnowing out the errors of past generations and finding deeper understanding of reality. You will not find wisdom in rituals and sacraments and dogma, which build only self-satisfied ignorance, but you can find truth by looking at your world with fresh eyes and a questioning mind."

Meyers went on to say how amazed he is that many Catholics mindlessly believe this silly symbol of superstition. Of course by saying this he includes in this category, of the mindless, all of the great Saints of the ages from the Twelve Apostles, to Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas (arguably one of the smartest men that ever lived) St. Francis of Assisi, St. Dominic, St Ignatius of Loyola, St. John Vianney, St Theresa of Avila, St. Therese the Little flower, St. Padre Pio, Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta, blessed John Paul II, and the countless others who all, everyone of them, believed that the Eucharist was indeed Jesus, God among us. It is a fact, that the most brilliant minds the world has ever seen (ones a lot more intelligent than Dr. Meyer) have believed in the Holy Eucharist…

The attacks like this one and the attacks which continue to be on the rise were actually predicted by the Blessed Virgin when she appeared at Fatima. Even though this apparition of Lady happened in 1917, Fatima is just as relevant today as ever. Fatima was really a message for our times.

The message of Fatima is a message all about the Eucharist; a warning of a great loss of faith; in fact, a great apostasy of faith that would occur if men did not believe and turn to God and away from their sins. Fatima was a call to faith.

Fatima was a call to all Catholics, living then and now, to an increase of faith in the Holy Eucharist. Fatima was a call to faith in Mysterium Fidei-THE Mystery of our faith—the Holy Eucharist. It was a call to adore the Eucharist as God. And it was a call for Catholics to make reparation for the sins of the world, especially those committed against the Eucharist (like the act committed by Dr. Meyer, but most of all the sin of unbelief and indifference on the part of Catholics toward the Holy Eucharist).

And because we need the Immaculate Heart of Mary to lead us to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist, Fatima was also a call for us to make reparation for the sins against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Fatima was therefore a call to an increase of faith in, Adoration of, hope in and love for Jesus, Our Lord and Our God truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

As terrible as Dr. Myers actions were we may not have thought about how us Catholics can desecrate or dishonor the Eucharist. Let me go over just a few ways we can dishonor and even desecrate Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. First of we can do so by:

*Receiving Jesus without faith. Scripture tells us about the first person to
receive the Holy Eucharist without faith, without believing that it was really
Jesus in His human body. Scripture even give us this person’s name…it
was Judas.

*Receiving Jesus in the state of sin mortal sin.

*Receiving without pure souls made so by frequent confession.
Everyone, almost, goes to Holy Communion but many do not go to
Confession on a regular basis.

*Receiving Jesus improperly, irreverently (like we are receiving a cracker). i.e. hands low, not checking for particles, etc.

*Not participating fully, actively and consciously at the Mass both externally
by our actions and responses and interiorly by offering ourselves in love to
God at the Holy Mass.


Other ways, we can dishonor can Jesus in the Holy Eucharist

*Not attending Holy Mass. Shows a lack of love for Jesus in the Holy
Eucharist and a lack of thankfulness in His Sacrifice on Calvary, which the
Mass makes truly present) for our salvation. A failure of justice (what the
creature owes the Creator); and a failure of Love….no wanting to be with
the God who loves us, the God who is Love.

*Not Attending properly dress; not dressed in our Sunday best as for a
wedding because Mass is THE WEDDING.

*Leaving Mass early (without a good reason), constantly, habitually arriving
late.

*Talking in Church in the presence of the Holy Eucharist, which also interrupts those who are praying to Jesus.

*Complaining that Holy Mass is too long…St. Josemaria Escriva said… “Mass is too long because your love is too short.”

*Not respecting and obeying the sacred ministers, bishops and priests
with out whom we could not have the Eucharist.

*And probably worst of all; indifferentism, not caring one way or the other. (Caused our Lord the most suffering during His passion; why HE sweated blood).


All the above are really about a lack of faith. Again, Pope Benedict said that the greatest crises in the Catholic Church and in the world is a crises of faith. This crisis of faith has it very roots in the failure of so many Catholics who refuse to believe that the little white host is God, and so refuse to adore Him, trust in Him and Love Him.

If you really think about it, all of this is really not about what we should not do to dishonor Jesus in the Holy Eucharist but it is more about what we should do to show our love for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. A man in love surely is concerned about the “shall nots” but he is more concerned about how to show his love for the woman he loves. And so lets look at what we can do receive Jesus more reverently and so with greater love. We can:

*Receive Jesus with faith. Faith is a gift from God and so we need to beg
God to increase our faith in order to truly believe that the little white Host is
our Lord and God in His true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.

*Receive Jesus only in the state of grace; If we have committed a serious
sin, if we have purposely missed Sunday Mass or a Holy Day of obligation
we need to go to confession first before we receive Jesus…it is not enough
to make an act of contrition before receiving.

*If you are in an unlawful marriage, that is you have been married outside of
the Church, don’t receive Jesus until you take care of your situation. If you
need help please see me or Fr. William; we would be more than willing to
help you.

*Make a frequent confession, at least once a month at the least once every
other month.

*Receive Jesus in purity and love, with reverence; consider returning to the
age old practice which the Church most desires, that of receiving
Jesus on the tongue.
Our Holy Father Benedict has made known his wish for Catholics to return to that age-old tradition of receiving communion kneeling and on the tongue. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, you will watch the W.Y.D events on T.V., that the youth and I are attending. At the WYD Mass and all papal Masses you will see that all of those who receive communion from the Holy Father receive Jesus kneeling and on the tongue, unless they are physical unable to kneel; but then they still receive on the tongue. (By the way, it is good for Catholics to know, that Communion in the hand was merely an indult giving to certain missionary countries. It was never meant to be the normal way of receiving. (Show the Tee Shirt the youth made for the last W.Y.D. here… “If at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend…What about before the very person of Jesus?”). Kneeling again would be a great way to make reparation for all of those who don’t believe, adore, hope and love Jesus in the Holy Eucharist.)


*Adoration of Jesus at Mass offering our selves and all we have especially
our self wills in a sacrifice of love to Him and to the Father through Him.

*Proper behavior and dress in Church; silence in His presence; dress as to a
wedding for Holy Mass is the wedding of your soul with God’s.

*Adoration of the Holy Eucharist, Jesus, outside of Mass.
1 hour a day for those who can. At least one hour a week for others (Wednesday night adoration and all night Saturday night; Children and family adoration).
. About just coming to Mass early to adore Jesus as a preparation for
Mass. Or staying afterwards, just for a few moments, as a thanksgiving
for the gift of being able to be present at Holy Mass and receive Jesus in the
Eucharist (Mention St. Anthony’s here).

Adoration of Jesus is the best way to atone for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference of men like Dr. Meyers and others; especially the indifferentism of Catholics.

*Watch for desecrations of the Holy Eucharist at Mass. You have my
permission to stop someone who has not consumed Jesus in the Eucharist;
in fact, you have an obligation to do so. Do so however; with kindness and
love; don’t assume they are doing so intentionally.

*Finally, learn more our beautiful Catholic faith; study the Church’s teachings on the Holy Eucharist in order to grow in faith, hope and love for Jesus really present there. Study the Church’s teachings on the Holy Mass; read our Holy Father’s writings and come to understand why he is making the changes to the liturgy that He is. One of the reasons for the upcoming changes in the liturgy beginning in Advent is to address the lack of faith in the Holy Eucharist.

In the End, we all need to be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in our heart…People need the Holy Eucharist…all people, not just Catholics…If the Eucharist is really Jesus the God Man among us, then we should want everyone to come into the Catholic Church to be able to adore Him by sacrifice themselves to Him in love and uniting themselves to Him in Holy Communion. And we should ourselves pray before Jesus until all men believe that He is really there and so come as well to adore Him. Jesus in the Holy Eucharist is the pearl of great worth for all men… He is the only way to the Father and so the only way to salvation…unless you eat my body and drink my blood…He is the True Bread from Heaven…

Before Our Blessed Mother appeared in Fatima, heaven sent an Angel to the three Shepherd Children. The Angel suspended in the air a Host above a Chalice filled with the Precious Blood. The angel then prostrated on the ground, that is fell on his faith and prayed three prayers, three times each before the Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, thus teaching the children and us through the Children these same prayers of adoration.
My God, I believe, I adore, I trust and I love Thee! I beg pardon for all those that do not believe, do not adore, do not trust and do not love Thee.

O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernaclesof the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. By the infinite merits of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary I beg the conversion of poor sinners.

O Most Holy Trinity, I adore you! My God, my God, I love you in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

Our Lady then asked the Children to make say the following prayer as way to make up for sins against her Immaculate Heart and the Sacred Heart of her Son. This prayer, spoken sincerely, effectively allows any hardship, illness or pain in one's life to be offered as Acts of Reparation.

O Jesus, it is for the love of You, in reparation for the offences committed against the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and for the conversion of poor sinners [Some add here "that I pray/do this"].

You can find these prayers on page 3 of the St. Patrick Hymnal.