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)

 

Monday Musings - Now Is The Time for our Bishops to Stand Up for The Truth and to Save Souls and Human Lives

Last October, this simple man's attempt to address the issue of dissident Catholic politicians receiving the Eucharist was, for the most part, ignored.

Now that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco has taken public action and defined the battle - the salvation of souls and the end to public scandal and sacrilege - I thought it appropriate to  try one more time.

Our bishops must speak and act as one.  No Catholic figure who publicly opposes any of the immutable teachings of the Catholic Church (and most certainly that on abortion) may receive Holy Communion until they confess their sin in the sacrament of reconciliation and publicly repudiate their support for abortion. Nancy Pelosi is just one of far too many Catholic politicians who should be barred from the reception of Holy Communion.

The Archbishop has spoken the Truth. There is not an alternative Truth or option for other bishops or priests to advance. There is no "pastoral" exception to God's Truth. 

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone had to do what he just did. His brother bishops and priests MUST do the same with respect to other errant public Catholic figures within their jurisdictions.

I trust you will find the following imaginary interchange between an attorney and unnamed bishop an interesting explanation of the Church's actual teaching on this subject. 

While this post is much longer than what I generally publish, I URGE ALL WHO READ IT TO POINT OUT TO ME ANYTHING IN THIS INTERCHANGE BETWEEN ATTORNEY AND BISHOP THAT IS NOT TOTALLY CONSISTENT WITH CHURCH TEACHING. I DO NOT WISH TO MISLEAD A SINGLE SOUL. I JUST WANT TO JOIN THOSE COURAGEOUS SHEPHERDS WHO ARE TRYING TO SAVE SOULS AND PROTECT HUMAN LIFE.

(Photo by Sylvain Brison on Unsplash)

 

 

Judge: Counselor would you like to cross examine his Eminence?

Counselor: Yes, indeed. Thank you, your Honor. Bishop we all know how difficult your responsibilities are and the many challenges you face each day ministering to your flock. Even Solomon would be sorely tested.

Bishop: Thank you, counselor.

Counselor: I am going to ask you a series of questions. None of these are trick questions They all have clear and unambiguous answers. All I ask of you is that you respond to each question truthfully.

Bishop: Certainly, I would not do otherwise.

Counselor: I am sure of that. As a Bishop in the Catholic Church, do you believe everything that the Catholic Church teaches?

 

Bishop: Absolutely – “every issue on faith and morals that is doctrinal in nature and is solemnly or formally proposed by the Church.”

Counselor: You would feel bound to follow Scripture I assume?

Bishop: Without hesitancy.

Counselor: You would consider the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) and the Code of Canon Law to be authoritative and binding also, am I correct?

Bishop: Of course.

Counselor: In fact, when you were ordained a bishop, you took an oath, did you not, to “maintain the observance of all ecclesiastical laws, especially those contained in the Code of Canon Law”?

Bishop: Yes, I did.

Counselor: Now let us get a few essential Truths of the Catholic Faith on the record before we proceed further.

Bishop: Fine.

Counselor: Am I correct that the primary mission of the Catholic Church is the salvation of souls?

Bishop: Yes. That tenet is embodied in the Code of Canon Law in Canon 1752.

Counselor: Would I be accurate to conclude then that nothing is more important to you as a Bishop than the salvation of every soul?

Bishop: You would be one hundred per cent correct.

Eucharistic Reflection - Be His Consoler!

"We see Christians despise Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament and His Heart which has loved them and which consumes Itself with love for them! To despise Him, they take advantage of the veil which hides Him. They insult Him with their irreverences, their guilty thoughts and criminal glances in His presence. To insult Him, they avail themselves of His inalterable patience of, of the kindness which suffers everything in silence as it did with the impious soldiery of Caiphas, Herod and Pilate. They blaspheme sacrilegiously against the God of the Eucharist. They know that His love renders Him speechless. They crucify Him even in their guilty soul! They receive Him! They dare take this living Heart and bind it to a foul corpse; they dare deliver it to the devil who is their Lord! No, never even in the days of His Passion, has Jesus received so many humiliations as in His Sacrament! Earth for Him is a Calvary of ignominy.

In His agony He sought a consoler; on the Cross He asked for some one to sympathize with His afflictions. Today more than ever, we must make amends, a reparation of honor, to the adorable Heart of Jesus. Let us lavish our adorations, our love on the Eucharist. To the Heart of Jesus living in the most Blessed Sacrament, be honor, praise, adoration, kingly power forever and ever!"

(St. Peter Julian Eymard from In The Light of the Monstrance)

Eucharistic Reflection - The Contempt To Which He Exposes Himself

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

"Before instituting this Sacrament of love, He knew very well to how much scorn and contempt He was exposing Himself. O my Savior, why not remain in heaven after your return there! There, at least, the Angels will love you with a pure and perfect love: but in the Eucharist, the Jews will pierce you again with nails, wicked Christians will receive you unworthily, some without contrition, others without the wish to correct themselves, others perhaps with crime in their hearts. 

He knows it: but all that does not hinder His love. “O city of Sion, exclaims the Lord, by the mouth of the prophet Isaiah (xii, 6) cry out, thrill with joy, because your God dwells in the midst of you.” Jesus Christ has chosen for Himself the humiliations and at this price has assured to us forever the happiness and benefit of His presence."

                                                                           (Saint John Marie Vianney from The Eucharistic Meditations of the Cure D'Ars)

Worth Revisiting - Sacrilege Should Not Be Suffered in Silence

Thank you, Allison Gingras at Reconciled To You  and Elizabeth Riordan at Theology Is A Verb  for hosting Worth Revisiting each week. It is a privilege to share our work with you and your followers.

Here is my contribution:



Sacrilege Should Not Be Suffered In Silence

(Originally posted on March 17, 2016)

 

No one should ever encourage, facilitate or condone sacrilege.

 "Real sacrilege," according to the Catholic Encyclopedia,  "is the irreverent treatment of sacred things" and "can happen" by the reception of Holy Communion "in the state of mortal sin". Such "irreverence towards the Holy Eucharist is reputed the worst of all sacrileges".

It follows then that if we care about the salvation of souls, we would instruct and fraternally correct the ignorant [the thousands who come to Mass only once or twice a year, as well as those public figures who by their conduct and words reject the teachings of Christ's Church] who approach our Eucharistic Lord in a state of mortal sin.

Such conduct is an insult to and causes unspeakable pain and suffering to our Loving and merciful Lord. If left unconfessed, eternal damnation is the penalty for those who commit such a sacrilege and for those charged with the duty of teaching and saving such souls but who refuse to do so and thereby silently facilitate their sin.

This is such an unnecessary and egregious sin, since all of us sinners  have available the gift of mercy and forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation through which our sins are forgiven and our souls cleansed.

Why then cause our Lord so much pain here and guarantee unspeakable torture and loss of His love in eternity?

How insane and unloving it is to remain silent about such sacrileges during this Jubilee Year of Mercy.

Our loving and merciful Lord minced no words on this subject when he told St. Bridget:

Better a few "hurt feelings" now than a multitude of tortured souls suffering for all eternity.

Monday Musings - Dear God Forgive Us!

I have been treated as a spiritual leper over the years for simply sharing this basic Truth - we Catholics do not treat our Lord with the reverence, dignity and respect He deserves!

I am shocked at any priest who would line up multiple chalices on the altar and irreverently fill them with water and wine as if he were competing in a bar contest to see how quickly he could do so.

How can I remain silent when a priest drops the consecrated Host with such force, from such a height and with such apparent disregard for Whom he had been holding in his hands, that I can,  from my seat in the last pew in the Church, hear the Body of Christ as it violently crashes onto the bottom of the paten?

Who would not be upset with any priest who distributes the Body of Christ mute, refusing to voice the Truth that what I am about to receive is the Body of Christ?

All of these horrid abuses occurred last week in a parish I visited while traveling away from home. But tragically, these and countless other Eucharistic abuses, take place in far too many of our Churches. Is there any wonder that so few claiming to be Catholic actually believe that Jesus is present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity?

The Eucharist is supposed to be the source center and summit of our faith.  In practice, it is not. My educated guess (supported by the reports of numerous lay Catholics) is that increasing reverence for and belief in the Eucharist rarely, if ever, appears as the number one priority for parishes and dioceses. The trail of closed and locked Churches and empty pews every Sunday corroborate this tragic and sad reality.

There is no more important change needed in our Church than to promote and rediscover a sense of awe, belief and reverence for our Lord and Savior, Who is really, truly and substantially present in the Holy Eucharist.

We must treat Jesus as if we actually believe He is in our midst to be worshiped and adored and to be given as spiritual food to transform and sustain us along our temporary earthly journey .

Our failure to do so is offensive to Our Lord.

We can no longer wait for our priests and bishops to address this problem. We, as individual practicing and believing Catholics, must end God's suffering now - one soul at a time.

Love God as we ought and as He deserves!

Eucharistic Reflection - A Night Devoid of Love

That night of the betrayal [by Judas] was also a symbol and image of another night, now twenty centuries long, filed with betrayal, ingratitude, perfidy and sacrilege. Is this not indeed men’s answer to the gift of God? Is there even one day when, nowhere in the world, a sacrilege is committed?

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Many Christians live as if there were no Eucharist. Many spend months and years without receiving Jesus, without paying Him even a short visit. And when, perhaps to avoid being pointed out by fellow Catholics, they do assist at Mass, they single out the shortest one, hear it with little attention, and feel irritated if it ‘lasts too long.’ For any pretext they omit it altogether. Many, in a whole lifetime, receive only the First Communion and perhaps, Viaticum. Is this not a night devoid of love, but full of ingratitude?

(From The Holy Eucharist by Father Jose Guadalupe Trevino)