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A real
encounter with our Lord
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
The feast of Pentecost celebrated last weekend brought the Easter Season
to a conclusion. Apart from Ordinary Time, Easter is the longest season
of the liturgical year. Focused on the sacraments of initiation, it is a
time of excitement. That certainly was the case for me as I traveled the
diocese to administer the sacrament of confirmation. The last spring
confirmation will be at the cathedral on Trinity Sunday. More than 1,000
individuals from 40 parishes have completed their baptism by receiving
the sacrament of confirmation this spring. I have now been privileged to
confirm more than 22,000 people.
This weekend, of course, the Church celebrates the feast of the Holy
Trinity. Homilists will share a variety of reflections on the Scriptures
assigned to Trinity Sunday. The theme that I find uplifting is
introduced in the first reading from the Old Testament Book of Exodus
which tells us that God is slow to anger and rich in kindness and
fidelity.
The Trinity is a great mystery. The Catechism of the Catholic Church
notes that the Holy Trinity is at the very root of the living faith of
the Church as expressed in the Creed. “The mystery of the Trinity,” it
states in its glossary of terms, “is inaccessible to the human mind and
is the object of faith only because it was revealed by Jesus Christ, the
Divine Son of the Eternal Father.”
It is consoling to know that this God who is beyond human comprehension,
nonetheless allows us a margin of error. There is nothing more beautiful
than the scriptural assurance that God is lovingly faithful to us.
We gather for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass week after week (it is not
an option to those who are serious about Catholicism) to recall that we
are loved, that we have a history and a future to share with one
another. Our history is both graced and messy. We can truly be said to
be stiff-necked, not unlike our Old Testament ancestors. But, God is
slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithful to us in spite of our
weaknesses and sins. Wow!
While the glories of the Easter Season, Pentecost and the feast of the
Holy Trinity are fresh in our memory, the Church calls on us to
celebrate the Body and Blood of the Lord (Corpus Christi) on May 29.
Corpus Christi should have special significance this year since it has
been designated a Year of the Eucharist.
The Year of the Eucharist began last October and will conclude on Oct.
29. Our Local Church will have a grand celebration on Oct. 16 at St.
Alphonsus Church in Zionsville. Mass will be celebrated at 2 p.m. It
will be followed by a period of adoration and an outdoor Eucharistic
Procession. Meanwhile, parishes are observing the Year of the Eucharist
in a variety of ways.
After a quarter century of teaching, writing and traveling, the late
Pope John Paul II thought it was important to go back to basics with a
renewed focus on the Eucharist. In 2003 he wrote what proved to be his
last encyclical letter (Ecclesia De Eucharistia), extolling the
Eucharist as a source and culmination of the Church’s life. The 48th
Eucharistic Congress of the Catholic Church was held in Guadalajara,
Mexico, last October. A Synod of Bishops on the topic of the Eucharist
will take place in Rome in October.
The late pope was convinced that unless Catholics have a firm
understanding of the Eucharist, the Church’s many missionary and social
activities lose meaning. He emphasized that the Eucharist is not merely
a shared meal or a symbol, but a real encounter with Christ. He urged
obedience to liturgical norms, including those on the reception of holy
Communion, and suggested that every parish use the Eucharistic Year to
study in depth the Church’s rules on proper celebration of the liturgy.
He stressed that the respect shown the Eucharist as the Real Presence
should be evidenced in such things as tone of voice, gestures and
moments of silence during the Mass or Eucharistic adoration.
In his first address to the cardinals and the Church, Pope Benedict XVI
spoke of the centrality of the Holy Eucharist for the life of the Church
and for the salvation of the world. “The Eucharist makes the risen
Christ constantly present, Christ who continues to give himself to us,
calling us to participate in the banquet of his Body and his Blood. From
this full communion with him comes every element of the life of the
Church, in the first place the communion among the faithful, the
commitment to proclaim and give witness to the Gospel, the ardor of
charity towards all, especially towards the poor and the smallest.”
During this Eucharistic Year, it has been my hope the Catholics of
Northcentral Indiana will give special attention to the gift and mystery
of the Holy Eucharist in their (our) lives. High on any list should be a
renewed sense of fidelity to Mass on weekends. One also needs to
consider the value of prayer in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament.
Christ, of course, is present to us in a variety of ways: through the
Sacrifice of the Mass, in the person of the minister of the Eucharist,
in the words of Scripture and the assembly of faithful gathered in his
name. However, his presence in and through the Eucharistic species is
the supreme form of his loving presence. Our belief in the Real Presence
of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament is one of the great blessings of our
Catholic faith. There is always consolation when the votive light is
seen burning in a Church, be it at a side altar or in a special
Eucharistic chapel. That light provides assurance that the Lord is truly
present with us and for us. It should beckon to us to take time to be
with him, resting in his presence, listening for his voice and speaking
to him “heart to heart.”
Adoration was a huge part of the lives of many saints. Blessed Teresa of
Calcutta is a recent example. Contemplating the Lord present in the
Blessed Sacrament for an hour each day gave her spiritual adrenaline and
strength to minister in extraordinary ways to the poor and needy. John
Paul II also spent time daily in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
Those who do attest that it brings them ever closer to the Lord and
evermore appreciative of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with its mission
to “wash” the feet of our brothers and sisters.
If you have not done so, I invite you to enjoy the great gift of being
with the Lord, adoring his presence, be it in the tabernacle or
exposed in a monstrance, especially during the Year of the Eucharist. |
