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This past Sunday at church, after I had received Holy Communion and was praying, I saw the visiting priest put the Eucharist in the hand of a young girl. However, as he went to place it, she moved her hand and the Host fell on the ground.
I instantly gasped.
Quick as a flash, though, the priest picked up the Eucharist and consumed Jesus and then smiling gently, he placed another Host in her hand.
I told my son yesterday when we were doing his religion lesson that I gasped because I know what the Eucharist is—it’s Jesus. I’ve never gasped when ordinary bread falls on the ground.
Yesterday I received this comment from a guy who has recently shown up to make a “complete mockery of your claims.”
He said, “You are mistaken, your lifeless wafer isn't the Lord.”
Though he is always mistaken in his claims, he is right about one thing: He does mock Our Lord.
Now that I’m Catholic, it always amazes me how non-Catholics try to limit God’s power even though I used to do the same thing.
I used to see the Eucharist as mere bread, just a symbol. Nothing significant had changed from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Christ didn’t take it up a notch with the institution of the Holy Eucharist. Nope, it was purely symbolic—a nice remembrance gesture.
There I was limiting God. Christ had risen from the dead, performed numerous miracles, but turn bread and wine into His Body and Blood so that we could have His Divine Life in us? Nah. He couldn’t or wouldn’t do that.
Before becoming Catholic, in defiance, I went up one time to receive the Eucharist because, “nobody was going to tell me I couldn’t.”
The moment I consumed the Host in my pride and smug arrogance, I felt instantly horrible—physically, mentally, and spiritually. I couldn’t understand it. If it was a “lifeless wafer” why did I feel so awful?
Today, I know why. The Eucharist is Christ and I had taken Him not out of reverence, gratitude, and humility, but out of sacrilegious pride. That experience opened my eyes and I was humbled.
Thankfully, that led me into the Catholic Church where I get to receive Christ in the Holy Eucharist. May we always treat the reality of Our Lord in the Eucharist with reverence and gratitude, Catholic Pilgrims.
Be blessed this Thursday.
**Adoration Chapel at St. Matthew’s in downtown DC.
We aren’t the ones who elect the pope, Catholic Pilgrims. But, whether you are the laity, part of the clergy, or a Religious, we do have a job in this Conclave. It is our job to pray. Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our Cardinals as they discern our next earthly spiritual leader. Don’t pray stressed. Pray, instead, with trust that God will never abandon us and that, no matter what, His Church will stand until Christ comes again. Let’s pray boldly and with great Faith. St. Peter, pray for us!
Continue ReadingIn the early years of our marriage, whenever Dustin and I would get into an argument over Catholicism, I was always the angrier one. Even though I was wildly ignorant about Catholicism, I thought I knew it all. I’d yell at Dustin and always try to raise my voice to drown out his words. I’d cut him off as he was trying to explain why my arguments against Catholicism were wrong. I was trying to not let his words fall on my ears. The crowd stoning Stephen in our reading today from Acts 7, behaved just like me. As Stephen was trying to teach them about Jesus, they “cried out in a loud voice, covered their ears, and rushed upon him.” It’s the covering of the ears part that is so telling. It’s an attempt to protect your pride by not allowing the truth to penetrate you. It was hard for me to hear my husband prove me wrong. Everybody wants to believe that they are always right and it kills us to hear someone correct or admonish us. Most often, those that scream, yell, cover their ears, and seek to silence others realize they don’t really have the truth or moral upper hand on their side. However, they can’t stand the thought of examining themselves and considering a change of thought. When you won’t do this, bad things always happen, like Stephen getting stoned. Thankfully, my husband got through to me and once I actually listened, he gave me the keys to unlock the beauty of Catholicism and eventually come home. Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Tuesday, Catholic Pilgrims. *Painting is of St. Stephen. It’s in a Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Istanbul.
Continue ReadingI was telling someone the other day that I come from a generation where I can distinctly remember life before the internet and social media. They asked me, "Do you like now or then better?" "Then, for sure. Life was much simpler and not as distracting. Everywhere you turn now, someone's trying to make you mad or trying to cause fear." The Conclave to elect our new pope starts tomorrow. Since Pope Francis died, all forms of media have been in full-up distraction mode. Each day, there is something put out there to get us anxious, mad, or fearful. I'm not here to talk about all the tackiness and the sensationalism of it all. Quite frankly, I find it boring and just exhausting. It's all just so mind-numbingly ridiculous and it won't matter one bit six months from now. I'm not interested in wasting energy on any of it. Let's just have peace, Catholic Pilgrims. Peace of spirit. Peace of mind. Peace in our prayers. The devil wants us, as Catholics, to lose our peace over all this and it's just not worth it. Let's trust in the Holy Spirit to guide the cardinals and tune out the side-show circus all around us. What is needed right now is a laser-focus on lifting the cardinals up in prayer as we trust in God's Divine Providence. Have a blessed and peaceful Monday, Catholic Pilgrims.
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