The Eucharist is the summit of Christian life and worship.
When I was 11, I heard a priest telling me this:
“You are what you eat, and the more you partake of the Blessed Sacrament, the more you grow in God’s goodness.”
Of course I never understood it back then, but I used to get all excited because there would be fun, games and food every time the Feast of Corpus Christi drew near — my parish had her feast day on Corpus Christi because it’s called the Church of the Blessed Sacrament. The excitement I had as a kid growing up towards this feast day was merely for superficial reasons.
But if I come to think about it, for some strange reason I was always drawn to the Mass as a kid and would always sit down in front of the Blessed Sacrament in adoration whenever I had time. I don’t even remember why, but I just did. For a period of time, I did leave the Church (I wasn’t always faithful) but even when I left the Church, it was the Eucharist that drew me back.
I don’t think these are mere coincidences, and everyone’s got something that REALLY connects them with the faith. For some it’s a special devotion to Mother Mary, for some it’s a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. For me it has to be the Eucharist.
I am simply grateful.
A priest once said in his homily, and I will never forget this for the rest of my life:
“The greatest love story ever told lies in a white piece of consecrated bread.”*
God is love. And by taking on humanity, dying for us and asking us to participate in His Being by His presence in the Eucharist, it is God saying: “Be with Me; commune with Me. I would rather die than spend an eternity without you.”
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Originally posted at Catholic Rambles.
* paraphrased from Abp. Fulton Sheen.
