“A student of mine once asked, ‘If it is true that the
host at Mass is not just a symbol of Christ, but really Christ himself,
how can we just walk up there and receive him? I mean, we aren’t good
enough for that.’ There are so many things that could be said in answer to that
wonderfully humble and thoughtful question, but the first and most obvious
answer is, ‘You are right!’
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| (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons) |
Apropos is the saying attributed to St. Francis
of Assisi: Man should tremble, the world should quake, all Heaven
should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of
the priest. None of us is worthy to approach God, much less receive
him. None would dare to even think of it, were it not for the decree of
our Lord himself: ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you’ (Jn 6:53). And so, at each
Mass, when we hear repeated the words of Jesus at the Last
Supper, “Take this, all of you, and eat of it,” humbly and
gratefully, we obey.
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