During a homily at Mass on Corpus Christi, my parish priest made a startling statement: Of the 50% of the Catholics who attend Mass, half of them do not believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist!
I was stunned and very upset by his words. He is not talking about Catholics overall – active and inactive – but those who do attend Mass and most likely receive Holy Communion. What has happened in our world and our Church that we have reached a lack of faith in what is the source and summit of our Christian life.
"The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life. The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ Himself, our Pasch” (CCC 1324).
Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, humbles Himself to become our food! Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, remains locked up in our tabernacles and is present on our altars in the monstrance waiting for us to visit Him. Jesus Christ, our precious God, loves us so much that He could not leave us orphaned, but has stayed with us in the Blessed Sacrament. We must do what we can to make this truth known so our dear sweet Jesus can be loved and adored as He so deserves.
To this point, I am beginning a series that is focused on parents and their grave responsibility to teach their children about the faith. I will focus on the sacraments of Matrimony, Baptism, Eucharist and Penance and what it truly means to be a part of the Family of God.
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“Through the sacrament of Matrimony, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children” (CCC 2225). As parents, our lives and our actions have a major effect on our children. Children live what they learn. What are we teaching our children about God, our Catholic Church and the sacraments by the way we live our lives?
We should shutter, when we think about standing before almighty God when He asks us how we have done in this area. This is a grave responsibility that has been given to us. This child of ours is also God’s child and a precious soul that we are given to return to Him some day. It is a sobering thought!
“Education in the faith by the parents should begin in the child’s earliest years” (CCC 2226). There are so many ways we can do this that are enjoyable to both child and parent.
Reading is an easy way to introduce God to your children. There are wonderful religious books that are age appropriate. Using your family bible with pictures allows you to tell the story behind the pictures. They usually have pictures of the mysteries of the rosaries as well!
You can spread thoughts of God throughout your child’s day by teaching them morning and evening prayers, grace before meals, the sign of the cross, as well as easy prayers, like the Our Father and the Hail Mary. You don’t have to do it all at once, but little by little. Children are sponges and soak in all that we expose them to – good or bad.
It is most important that our children see us praying. They need to know that God is an important part of our lives and not someone we just fit into our schedules for Mass on Sundays. When your child sees that God is an integral part of your life and someone you talk about, as well as talk to, He will become a part of their lives. God will become a person to them -- someone who loves them and they can rely upon.
“Children can contribute to the holiness of their parents” (CCC 2227). Children have a way of stretching and challenging us to grow in grace and virtue. They can also be the motivator of our growing in our faith. Because of them we begin to look at our faith in a new light and sometimes see things for the first time!
This happened to me when my oldest child was receiving her First Holy Communion. I found myself asking what I really believed about the Blessed Sacrament. Did I truly believe in the real Presence?
When a question arises about our faith, we can see it as a crisis or an opportunity. Having questions about our faith is not a bad thing. God allows us to question our faith to discover the truth and bring us to a deeper level of faith, as well as into a deeper relationship with Him.
This is what happened to me many years ago. Though the prodding of the Holy Spirit, I was led to books that enabled me to KNOW that Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament. It was a graced moment and I often thank God for the effect parenting has had on my faith and the role it continues to play.
In order to be able to talk about the sacraments to our children, as well as others, we need to realize and appreciate the gifts that they are. We have in our possession, a chest filled with treasures but unfortunately, many of us fail to know its value.
A story is told of a poor family many years ago, that was coming over to America. The father had sacrificed, scrimped and saved, in order to purchase tickets for the voyage. All he was able to manage to buy were tickets in the hull of the ship. They brought what little belongings they had and packed dry crusts of bread to eat. They could smell the food that was served in the dining room and longed eat their fill.
One day, during their long journey, the man’s little boy wandered to the upper part of the ship and discovered the dining room where people were feasting. He was so hungry and wanted so much to be part of the feast. He asked the porter just who was allowed to partake of the banquet. The porter told him anyone who had a ticket could come to the dining room. Excited, the little boy ran down to his father. “Papa! Papa! He cried. Throw away those crusts of bread and come and enjoy the banquet!”
The father in the story wanted what was best for his family. That was quite obvious from the sacrifices he had made to purchase the tickets in the first place. But he didn’t realize what his purchase had entitled them to receive.
Our Father in heaven loves us more than any of us could love our children. Through Baptism, we have purchased our tickets for our voyage of life. Like the father in the story, if we do not realize the nourishment that awaits us in the sacraments, we too could be eating dry crusts and giving them to our children – when we could instead be filled with a feast! Sometimes God will use the love that we have for our children to lead us to see what is truly good for us. “And a little child shall lead them” (Is 11 vs 6).
Continue on this journey, as we explore the treasures that we have right here in our Catholic faith!
Thank you Avia Joy, what a great analogy. We must take advantage of our ticket and joyfully partake of the banquet our dear Lord has prepared for us. I'm looking forward to the rest of the journey!!!
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