Although polling information varies, there is likely somewhere between 68 and 70 million Catholics in the U.S. and (shockingly) another 30 million or so who identify themselves as being "former" Catholics.
Other polls claim that more than 70 per cent of those who claim to be Catholic no longer attend Sunday Mass and 70 percent of those who do attend Mass no longer believe that Jesus is really, truly and substantially present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Sacred Eucharist. What a tragedy, if true, that so very few people who identify themselves as Catholics believe an essential dogma of their faith. What an affront to our Lord who remains far too often an ignored and unappreciated prisoner in the tabernacles of His Churches.
Instead of cursing this darkness, ignorance and disbelief, let's do something affirmative this Corpus Christi (Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ) to console Our Lord, to reinstate a sense of the "sacred" and to rediscover a sense of "awe and amazement" in this gift of the Eucharist, as Blessed John Paul II and Benedict XVI have so frequently urged us to do.
It will take a little time, but why not look at this and this and even this. If you find these videos inspiring and if they have stirred a spark of "awe and amazement" within your heart, pass them on to family and friends, particularly those who have absented themselves from the Mass and the Eucharist for some time. Maybe your act will be the spark to draw them back. Better yet, follow up with a phone call and ask one of those family members or friends to accompany you to Mass this Sunday as the universal Church commemorates the great gift of the Eucharist.
Come on! Don't be afraid! You can do it! You should do it! You must do it! You will do it if you love your Lord and the family and friends He longs to see and whose souls He seeks.
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