Following Pentecost and Trinity Sunday every year comes the
great feast of Corpus Christi. Today we
celebrate the Eucharist—that Our Blessed Lord is really present. Through the Sacrament of the Eucharist
instituted by Jesus himself at the Last Supper, he shares with us his real body
and blood to nourish our souls just as natural food nourishes our bodies.
We believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, not
because some medieval theologian said so, not just because the Church has
taught this from the very beginning, which she has, but because Jesus himself
said so. He said, this IS my body, this IS
my blood. My flesh IS true food, my blood true drink. And he commanded us to continue to celebrate
the Sacrament of his Holy Body and Blood when he said, “do this in memory of
me.” He died on the cross to give us the
Eucharist.
This doctrine is one of the main differences between
Catholics and Protestants. Catholics have the real presence of Jesus in the
Eucharist. Protestants do not. Some Protestants may have symbolic
representations of the Last Supper, where they pass around bread and cups of
grape juice. But in no protestant service are bread and wine truly changed into
the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
The whole world really has a hunger for God. And God is really present in the
Eucharist. As we heard in the Gospel
today, Jesus’ desire to feed multitudes.
And he has fed the multitude, the Church, through the miracle of the
Eucharist because he loves us and wants us to grow in holiness. The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Jesus’
love.
In 2007, Pope Benedict wrote to the whole Church, “I
encourage all of you to discover ever more fully in the Eucharist, the
sacrament of Christ’s sacrificial love, the inspiration and strength needed to
work ever more generously for the spread of God’s Kingdom and the growth of the
civilization of love”
St. Therese said if we truly understood the
Eucharist we would be flat on our faces because God is truly present here. Not just as an idea, not just as a symbol;
God, is here.
This is why, as Catholics we genuflect towards the tabernacle
as we enter and leave a Church. The end
of Mass doesn’t end Jesus’ presence with us; Jesus is truly present in the
tabernacles and monstrances of the Church around the world so that the Eucharist
can be brought to the sick and dying, and also, that the Eucharist might be
adored by the faithful.
This weekend, we commemorate, here at Saint Columbkille, the
one year anniversary of the opening of our chapel of perpetual adoration of the
Eucharist in the parish center chapel.
For our anniversary, we asked our adorers to submit a short
testimony about what the chapel has meant to them. And I’d like to share some of what your own
fellow parishioners have received from their time in adoration.
Many of the adorers described the peace they receive which
helps them in their busy life. One
parishioner wrote, “Adoration has been a source of renewal…Everyday life has
become so hectic, and at times, very stressful due to my job and the health of
some of my family members. When I go to
adoration I feel as if a weight has lifted.
The tension is lifted and I feel peace in the presence of God. It’s refreshing.” Another parishioner said, “life, with its
constant barrage of activities, distractions, and responsibilities, makes it
hard to focus on the one necessary thing” but the adoration chapel makes that
possible.
Another parishioner wrote, “I have been given the gift of
forgiveness. I never thought it would
happen because I am a stubborn person. I
have been praying about it for a long time, but I know that because I have been
praying before the Blessed Sacrament for the past year, Jesus has blessed me
and set me free.” That is the power of
the Eucharist, the power to set hearts free.
Another parishioner wrote, “I never entered an adoration
chapel before. So after St.
Columbkille’s chapel was opened and I was asked if I was going to sign-up for
an hour…I said no. I offered excuses,
some legitimate. After receiving Holy
Communion one day I was praying about wanting to do God’s will. Well, at the end of Mass, a parishioner asked
if I could cover her holy hour. I was
honored that she asked, or rather, God asked…God was asking me to join him,
like I had a date with God the next evening!
That holy hour changed my life, and after that day, I signed up to be a
weekly adorer, and after months of meeting weekly with the Lord I now often go
daily.”
A year ago, you might remember Fr. Joe Daluca visited our
parish to encourage us to volunteer for an hour a week. There are 168 hours in a week, and we
currently have 380 regular adorers and 40 people on the substitute list.
That means every hour for the past year we’ve had at least 1
person adoring, sometimes 2 or 3, not to mention so many of you who just come
to visit. The Lord truly blesses our
parish through the faithfulness of our adorers.
It is also important that we continue to have new
adorers. So today, there are volunteer
cards in the pews. If you are interested
in volunteering, even taking just an hour every other week, or even once a
month, or as a substitute adorer, please fill out the card, and place it in the
offertory. There is a core team of 28
people that help run and organize the chapel. They really do a wonderful
job. And they will help to find you a
place among the adorers.
And here is a
wonderful opportunity to fall in love with the Lord more deeply. You won’t regret signing up for an hour.
Pope John Paul II said this, "The church and the world
have a great need of Eucharistic worship. Jesus waits for us in this sacrament
of love. Let us be generous with our time in going to meet Him in
adoration."
Through the Eucharist, the Lord transforms us into the people
he made us to be, as he nourishes us with his very life. If you want peace like you’ve never known
before, if you want freedom, forgiveness, love, like you’ve never known before,
come and open your heart in adoration of the Eucharist for the glory of God and
salvation of souls.
So every pew should have the cards and pencils; please pass
them down your pew, and we’ll now take a moment. If today you hear God’s voice, harden not
your hearts.
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