During a conversation I had with a parishioner last week, a wonderfully dedicated medical doctor, husband, and father, he complimented the diocese on how we handled the whole challenge of COVID.
He thought we had struck the right balance between prudential safety protocols and gathering restrictions on the one hand, and a firm commitment to keeping our parishes and schools open and functioning on the other.
As we emerge from the pandemic, I compliment and thank our priests, principals, staff, deacons, volunteers, and lay faithful on their steady leadership and generous cooperation during these very difficult and long months.
Many of our people were profoundly grateful for the opportunity to watch Mass online and offer their prayer to the Father every Sunday in these past months.
As good and helpful as this pious practice was, its limitations reminded me that the Church, Her sacraments and Her life, are not virtual.
Watching Mass is not the same as being present at one. Conducting a Bible study on Zoom is not as satisfying as sitting in the same room. Praying with someone over the telephone is not equivalent to holding the hand of the sick person in their home.
Being present is essential
These are important points to iterate, especially as we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi.
I have heard some folks say during these months of challenge that tuning into Mass at home and making a spiritual communion is just as good as going to church.
No, it is not!
Being fully present for the Eucharist, gathering with the priest and fellow believers, and receiving Holy Communion is essential for the sacrament to be authentically experienced.
For the same reason, one cannot go to Confession over the telephone or receive the Anointing of the Sick from a distance.
The incarnational nature of our faith demands a physical presence in the sacraments, both in terms of the integrity of the sacrament offered and the person receiving it.
To save us from sin and death, the Son of God assumed human flesh and entered into the world in real-time.
The crowds heard God speak in His preaching; the sick felt God’s touch in His healing; they could see the compassion of God in the face of Christ. Jesus made God visible, tangible, audible, approachable.
This truth is a central tenet of the Christian faith and serves as the theological grounding for the physical nature of the sacraments.
The water poured in Baptism, the bread and wine used in the Eucharist, the Chrism anointing the Baptized, Confirmed, and ordained all speak of the wonder and mystery of the Incarnation.
This full and true reality of God who becomes present and active in the physical form of the sacraments is a great consolation to us and the means by which we receive sanctifying grace.
In addition to the sacraments themselves, sacramentals are one of the beautiful aspects of Catholicism that many people deeply appreciate.
The faith impacts us on all of our sensory levels and human apprehension.
Catholicism is the taste of the Eucharist on the tongue, ashes on the head at the start of Lent, candles around the throat on the feast of St. Blase, the crackle and heat of the Easter fire in the darkness of Holy Saturday, the aroma of incense wafting up at Benediction, the sound of chanting and music in the liturgy, Rosary beads in the hand and a scapular around the neck, statues in shadowy niches, and processions in the burning sun.
The divine inspiration of the Catholic imagination consecrates all that is human, natural, and good to the service of God’s praise and our salvation.
Grow in belief and understanding
As we ponder and celebrate the Most Holy Eucharist this Sunday, I pray that all Catholics, including myself, grow in an ever-deepening belief and understanding of this Blessed Sacrament.
Since the beginnings of the Church, Catholics have believed in the Real Presence, that Jesus Christ in His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity is fully present in the Eucharist.
Despite charges of cannibalism, superstition, and idolatry, we affirm the truth of this great mystery.
I am convinced that if every Catholic understood and believed in the Eucharist, our churches would be overflowing, not just on Sundays, but indeed every day of the year.
The Real Presence keeps Jesus from simply becoming the pious memory of the Lord who lived 2,000 years ago.
On the contrary, Christ is present in the Mass, all of the tabernacles spread throughout the world and in the depth of our own hearts when we worthily receive the Eucharist.
I love to ponder the startling truth that God visited our planet two millennia ago and loves us so much that He chose to stay in the astonishing yet simple, sublime yet humble form of the Most Holy Eucharist.
This abiding Presence becomes the impetus for all of the charitable and social activity of the Church, as we seek to affirm the life and dignity of every human person.
In this way, the communion we experience at Mass extends itself into the world of culture, politics, economics, education, healthcare, the life of the family, and the building up of a civilization of love, justice, and compassion.
As we emerge from COVID, now is the time for all Catholics to renew their Eucharistic faith, understanding, and practice.
How saving, loving, gentle, mysterious, silent, and transformative is this Eucharistic Christ who will sustain the Church on her pilgrimage to the Father’s house until the end of time.
As St. John Paul wrote, “When we receive the Eucharist, we digest the great secret of the Resurrection.”