Our American bishops have us now in a three year Eucharistic Revival. I offer the following.
Eucharist is...
- The gracious act, the abiding presence of our Lord Jesus; the communion in holiness of the saints; the body and blood of Christ; the Church.
- The one source, focus, and goal of a Catholic life. As such it far outweighs all our other loves, longings, engagement, aspirations...all added together.
- The incomparable presence, the en-fleshing of God on earth, completely, in every mass, tabernacle, and reception of communion.
Eucharistic Abandonment and Indifference
American Catholics in large numbers have "apostasized"...left the Eucharist, like a man might leave his wife and children. Majorities no longer believe in the Real Presence; majorities no longer go to mass on Sunday. The tragedy of the American Church of the last half century can be accurately described as "The Great Eucharistic Apostas" means abandonment.)
Those of us who do attend mass, (let's be honest), are prone to distraction, monotony, and quiet indifference. Our liturgy does lend itself to routine and boredom. Evangelicals, who lack the Eucharist, compensate oftentimes with lively preaching and music. For example, I myself, during the one hour at Sunday mass, find myself spending perhaps 15 minutes writing my next blog essay, 15 minutes in random rumination, 15 praying for my intentions, and 15 minutes of listening to the Word and adoring our Lord. And so if the average Catholic who attends mass spends half an hour in real prayer, that is less than one half of one percent of our waking hours.
How Do We Develop a Eucharistic Heart?
The following is offered as a comprehensive, promising program. We need our love for Christ in the Eucharist to permeate our entire life, and then culminate at the liturgy. Perhaps several elements will work for you.
- Visits to the Tabernacle. We do well to seek out open churches and chapels that are open for visitation. We are fortunate that our parish Church here in Bradley Beach is open all week. For almost 50 years in Jersey City we benefited from St. Anne's Nursing Home which welcomed us to its chapel. There are schools, institutions, and parishes with open doors and yet our Lord's presence is ignored. Along with this: participation in public adoration whenever there is Benediction and Exposition in the monstrance.
- Reverence Toward the Tabernacle. Cultivate silence in Church; bring conversation outside. Make sign of cross when passing a Catholic church. Upon entering a church, identify tabernacle by red, sanctuary, votive light and genuflect on right knee; bless yourself with holy water. Outside the Church you might pray to Christ in the Church, especially if you are nearby. Elizabeth Ann Seton, while in the process of converting to the Church, would sit in her Episcopalian church and find herself praying to Christ present in the Catholic church across the street. Another good practice is coming to mass early and staying after to pray. (Full disclosure: I do not do this; I am resistant; I have to pray about this now that I am retired and have leisure time.)
- Confession. This is an invaluable, incomparable partner to participation in the Eucharist. My grandfather used to say: "Just go to confession every other week. As a habit. You don't think about it." For many, monthly is adequate. For us men there is urgency here since sins of chastity, starting in adolescence, are surely the strongest factor keeping men away from mass. It is possible, but unlikely that a red blooded male (aged 15 -75) develop a Eucharist heart without confession of sin.
- Daily Mass. As much as your schedule allows and your ardor urges: your ambition can be daily communion and liturgy, but not as routine habit, rather as tender, reverent, intense devotion. This is, of course, the working of the Holy Spirit, whom we implore.
- Prayer with The Word. Jesus the Word is Jesus who lived and died is Jesus risen and sending the Holy Spirit is Jesus present in every mass and tabernacle. Our liturgy is first the reception of the Word and then the Sacrifice, fulfilled by communion. Listening to the Word, in Scripture, is intrinsically related to reception of his Body and Blood. So: daily reading of Scripture is essential to a Eucharistic heart. A good practice is daily prayer, outside of Church, of the daily or Sunday mass readings as in the Magnificat or the Word.
- Rosary and Devotion to Mary. There is a mystical, ineffable connection between devotion to Mary, who gave Jesus her body and his body, and reception of his body in the Eucharist.
- The Poor. Jesus in the thin, weightless host is small, poor, powerless, ignored, vulnerable, humble and He has a preferential love for the small, poor, powerless, ignored, vulnerable, humble. The Eucharistic heart is downwardly mobile, seeking out the suffering.
- Simplicity and Silence. Jesus in the host is utterly simple, uncomplicated, and absolutely silent. Reception of Him requires and communion with Him entails the aspiration for the simple and the quiet.
- Priests. Without priests we have no Eucharist. They bring us Jesus in this way along with confession, the sacraments, the Word, governance of the Eucharistic community, and they embody for us in their lives (albeit imperfectly) the very person of Jesus.
- Communion in Holiness. Our union with the sacramental Jesus flows into and out of our friendship with the "holy ones." This means that we seek and enjoy the companionship of others with a Eucharistic heart. It means we read and imbibe the lives of the saints.
- Receptivity. We conclude with consideration of the primacy of receptivity. As creatures, our being, our very existence, is received. We are "creaturely." (A word favored by my mentor Joe Whelan S.J. and his mentor Baron von Hugel.) Our action, all we do, flows from our being; and our being is received. Our human drama is first and foremost a Mystery of Receptivity. Our Eucharistic Christ hungers to give Himself to us in the Host: He wants us first and foremost to receive. Such a giving elicits, not passivity, but a most tender, ardent receptivity. Out of such receptivity, we overflow, we fructify, we become radiant. Quintessentially in the Liturgy, but in every moment...every encounter, trial, suffering, joy, love affair, aspiration...it is primary for us to receive. The Eucharistic heart is receptive, of all that our Lord desires to give us...the joyful, the luminous, the sorrowful and the glorious.
On offer here is a lifetime program. An impossibility, except for the Holy Spirit. It is yours, offered generously by God, but only if you passionately desire it!
Eucharistic Lord, make us receptive...docile, pliable, "disponible," responsive, grateful, obedient, fruitful, generous!
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