Eucharistic Reflection - Father Donald H Calloway, MIC Is Spot On!

"What would it be like to see your favorite Saint praying before the Blessed Sacrament. It would probably move you to tears. A saint’s devotion, reverence and silence before the Real Presence would leave no doubt in your mind that Jesus is truly present in the holy Eucharist. Shouldn't this be the case with all Catholics? Shouldn't this be the case with all clergy? What about you? Are you reverent in church? Are you quiet in church? Would someone who saw you praying before the Blessed Sacrament be inspired by your example of Eucharistic piety?

If you are doing these things, praise God! Many are not observing these things in church. Too many people arrive late for Holy Mass and leave immediately after Holy Communion so as to get out of the parking lot before everybody else. Before holy Mass in many parishes people are conversing in and over the pews, the choir is rehearsing and those involved in various functions at Mass are running around doing last minute tasks. Some of these things are unavoidable, of course, but it does not seem that silence before and after Mass is rare these days. With so much noise, are people truly able to prepare their hearts for the celebration of holy Mass? Are they able to give thanks and pray in silence after Mass? In many parishes, people would find a peaceful and quiet preparation and Thanksgiving very hard to do.

Sometimes the priest himself is busy as a beaver before Holy Mass, offering very little witness to recollection and prayer. Priests don't need to be stoic in a corner praying, of course, but your average person in the parish rarely sees their priest at prayer before, after or outside of Holy Mass. When is the last time you saw your priest on his knees before a Tabernacle praying? Have you ever seen him pray before or after Holy Mass? Most people have never seen this from their priests. What would happen if people came to church and saw their pastor kneeling before the Tabernacle in prayer preparing for Holy Mass? Silence. That is what would happen. That silence would change everything. People coming inside would stop talking and imitate the priest, their father, kneeling down to pray and recollect themselves in preparation for Holy Mass Do not all children imitate their parents?

What about after Mass? What would happen if instead of going outside the church to shake hands with everyone and wish them a great day, the priest returned to the sanctuary knelt down, and prayed in Thanksgiving for the Eucharist? He doesn't have to make a grand display about it, but his actions would undoubtedly spark a Eucharistic revival in that parish. No useless committee work needed. No strategic planning required. No funds spent."

(From 30 Day Eucharistic Revival - a Retreat with Saint Peter Julian Eymard by Father Donald H Calloway, MIC. Use with permission)

Pondering Tidbits of Truth - August 22, 2024

Pondering Tidbits of Truth is my simple and inadequate way of providing nuggets of spiritual wisdom for you to chew on from time to time.

Father Donald H. Calloway, MIC

"Many saints have claimed to see angels during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and during Eucharistic adoration. The angels are God's servants and do His holy will. They pass unnoticed before our eyes, yet, when we attend Holy Mass or Eucharistic adoration, we are surrounded by armies of holy angels. They have no self-interest; their one desire is to serve and worship God. Like soldiers on a battlefield, they fight for God and constantly await their marching orders. It should be the same for you."

(From 30 Day Eucharistic Revival – A Retreat with St. Peter Julian Eymard)

 

St. John Chrysostom

"There is nothing to be dreaded in human ills except sin—not poverty, or disease, or insult, or ill treatment, or dishonor, or death, which people call the worst of evils. To those who love spiritual wisdom, these things are only the names of disasters, names that have no substance. No, the true disaster is to offend God, to do anything that displeases Him."

                                              (From A Year with the Church Fathers)

 

Dom Lorenzo Scupoli

"No creature ever loved Jesus Christ more ardently, nor showed more perfect submission to His will, than Mary, His mother. If then, this Savior, immolated for us sinners, gave His mother to us, an advocate and intercessor for all time, she cannot but comply with His request, and will not refuse us her assistance. Let us, then, not hesitate to implore her pity; let us have recourse to her with great confidence in all our necessities, as she is an inexhaustible source of blessing, bestowing her favors in proportion to the confidence placed in her."

(From The Spiritual Combat)

 

Monday Musings - There Are Only Two Loves

 

Eucharistic Reflection - The Unworthy Reception of Holy Communion

[If you have not read (and completed) Father Donald H. Calloway's  30 Day Eucharistic Revival - A Retreat with St. Peter Julian Eymard - go get a copy now and begin! Father courageously writes the Truth - Truth that too many others have been unwilling or afraid to speak - Truths upon which authentic and lasting Eucharistic Revival must rest.

Read this excerpt and you will understand:

“…God’s goodness should not be taken advantage of or abused. In our times, some in leadership positions, warn people not to ‘weaponize the Eucharist’ and offer very confusing messages by seemingly encouraging everyone to receive Holy Communion, regardless of the state of their soul. For example, people living in unnatural relationships, those committing intrinsically disordered actions, and those who are in adulterous relationships are encouraged to receive Holy Communion. This is wrong. Such thinking is very dangerous and destructive to souls and their ultimate well-being. We must never forget what Saint Paul told the early Christians in Corinth about sacrilegious reception of the Holy Eucharist see 1 Corinthians 11:26-30). Our Retreat Master [Saint Peter Julian Eymard] makes a very strong point on this matter: ‘Sinners who receive Him unworthily crucify Him in their soul and unite themselves to a demon, who are their own sovereign master’.

Without a doubt, the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect. Every devout Catholic understands that. Every pious follower of Jesus also knows that the Eucharist is nourishment for the weak and a powerful medicine for the soul, but they also know that Holy Communion is not food to be given to those in mortal sin. Unworthy reception of Holy Communion does no good to a person who receives it in a state of mortal sin. In fact, it does the opposite. Unworthy reception of the Eucharist greatly harms the soul and their relationship with God and the Church. Unworthy reception of Holy Communion does not heal a person but rather compounds sin leading to confusion and scandal. That is not what God wants, and people should not take advantage of God's goodness in such a manner.

God's goodness is meant to be respected and treasured, not abused and insulted. This is why God's goodness provides us with the ability to go to Confession. Repentance through the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) is the medicine applied first for the soul in mortal sin, not Holy Communion.  God's goodness in the Eucharist wants to be consumed, but in the proper order and manner. Good medicine applied to the wrong wound does no good. Confession reconciles those in mortal sin to God and puts them back in the state of grace so that they can partake of the goodness of God in the Eucharist. It doesn't work the other way around.”

(From 30 Day Eucharistic Revival – A Retreat with Saint Peter Julian Eymard by Father Donald H. Calloway, MIC)

 

Eucharistic Reflection - God Is Not Loved!

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

“Think about it: If a person treated his friends the way so many Catholics treat the Holy Eucharist, they would soon find themselves having no friends. Yet how many Catholics receive Holy Communion in the haphazard way? How many commit a sacrilege by receiving Holy Communion in mortal sin? How many priests and bishops allow liturgical abuses, idols and false gods to be set up in sanctuaries, immodest attire in church and tabernacles to be placed in closets or locations where nobody can find Him? Has Jesus done something wrong that His Real Presence in the tabernacle is so often banished to corridors and corners of the church? Why has He been hidden behind a wall out of view of the entire congregation? It's horrible what has taken place in recent years. Love is not loved!”

(Father Donald H Callaway MIC from 30 Day Eucharistic Revival Retreat – A Retreat with St. PeterJulian Eymard)