Humbled

 

I am humbled; I am in awe, kneeling but five feet from the monstrance – the vessel used to publicly worship and honor the Eucharistic Jesus Christ. Rays as of purified gold radiate and surround the body of Jesus within the monstrance.  It is like the Transfiguration of Christ – arrayed in dazzling brightness.

Since childhood, I have always been close to Jesus, especially in the Eucharist.  I recall my First Holy Communion picture as I waited to receive the Lord for the first time. In the early ‘80’s, I quickly rose out of bed at 3 a.m. to converse with and adore my Savior in Adoration.

The late Father J. Hardon, S.J. (1914-2000), catechist and prolific writer, spoke about “The Real Presence” in the Eucharist.  He explained, “We are to believe that the Eucharist is Jesus Christ – simply, without qualification. It is God become man in the fullness of His divine and human natures, body and soul, and in the fullness of everything that makes Jesus, Jesus.”

Dr. Tom Curran is the Director of Trinity Formation Resources, Federal Way, WA.  He proclaims in a four-part series, To Celebrate Worthily-Entering the Drama of the Mass, “As the priest’s hands are extended over the bread and wine, the Power of the Holy Spirit comes upon these gifts and transforms them into Christ’s body and blood.  Jesus entrusts all power to the priest during the Consecration…drawing the past of the Last Supper to the Present…actually, the Last Supper at the ‘Present’ moment…including His Death and Resurrection.”

Historically, a (1997) book written by Father Benedict J. Groeschel, C.F.R., and James Monti, In the Presence of Our Lord, examined the early Church Fathers, Doctors of the Church, and the lives of the Saints.  They presented significant evidence indicating Christ’s Presence within the Eucharist.  “The Great Presence,” which makes a Catholic Church different from every other place in the world, is really a most wonderful experience to see the Divine Presence looking on.    “I never knew what worship was,” said Cardinal John Henry Newman of England (1801-1890), “until I entered the Catholic Church.”  If a person is obligated to grant that God created all things out of nothing, “why doubt His power to change the substance of bread into the Body of His Son?”

“The Christ who faith tells me is here…is Jesus of Nazareth – Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity.  The Jesus of the Eucharist is the Savior of the world.” –Father Benedict Groeschel.

Dr. Curran summarized, the Mass is the “most dramatic event we will ever witness in our lives.  The Lord, Jesus comes literally into our being – into the very depths of our hearts.  Upon partaking of our precious Lord and Savior are the spoken words, ‘The Body of Christ…Amen.’  (This is) fascinating!”

 

--Originally published in Marysville Globe, May 02, 2007