From last Friday to today, I've really learnt a great deal, and today's session on the Eucharist really summed up everything nicely... Soo here's a bit of a reflection:
"The Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic faith."
Personally I've often found it difficult to imagine this... From young it is grilled into us that the Eucharist IS the body and blood of Christ. Yet how many of us believe this? Do we really believe that that humble piece of wafer is the Bread from Heaven? I mean, often I didn't feel significantly different after receiving the Host. After YI, I came to understand the Adoration, yet ironically I still failed to comprehend the Eucharist. But today I realized that I was rather shortsighted, or just plain blind really. Because the very same thing, the flesh made bread, that we celebrate during Adoration, is the very same thing that we receive when we celebrate the Eucharist.
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"We must desire and be prepared to receive the Eucharist."
Basically we must be worthy/in a worthy state to receive Holy Communion. Oddly enough I had this analogy when I was a little kid in Primary 5-ish that on retrospect seems rather apt to describe this. Imagine our body and spirit as a seat. When we receive Holy Communion, Christ enters our body and spirit and takes that seat. Do we then, wish for that seat to be a dirty, old chair filled with cobwebs and dust, or a magnificent throne fit for a king?
Thus comes in the importance of having regular confession. Without confession, it's not so much as God not forgiving us -- He has forgiven even as, and even before, we sin -- but the sin hangs in our hearts as we cannot forgive ourselves. And thus that magnificent throne begins to gather dust and cobwebs and becomes a dirty, old chair eventually. But with sincerity and repentance, even the hardiest of grimes can be cleaned away, and again our bodies and spirits can become true temples of God -- and this is achieved through confession.
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"The Eucharist erases minor sins, and prevents us from committing grave sins."
I experienced this just 2 days ago, on Wednesday. Suffice be to say that I fell sway to temptation and sinned. So God, the divine judge, determined that I should go for mass, where he exposed all my very sins and chastised me straight from the scripture. It was a straight up note to me, "Even if no one else knows, I know what you have done, and I don't approve of it." I then felt compelled (never before have I experienced this) to actually go for confession (I haven't as of yet, but will tomorrow :) ), and when I received the Eucharist I made a pact there and then -- I will not fall sway to temptation again.
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So in short, we must be ready, eager and worthy to receive God in flesh and blood, as we celebrate the Eucharist. And to be worthy to receive Holy Communion, we must cleanse away our sins. Do we want to give the best, most magnificent of thrones to Jesus? Or would we rather have him sit in an unwanted, dirty chair? The choice is up to us.
Lord,
Help me to desire to be one with you in the Eucharist,
Inspire in me a hunger to live by your goodness and grace everyday,
And to understand, and thus truly celebrate, the
Eucharistic Sacrifice.
I ask this in Jesus' name,
Amen.
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And to all who are overburdened, trust in the Lord and hang in there! I myself had been feeling rather down for the past few weeks, but over the past week the Lord paid me back with dividends. Sow your seeds of faith, no matter how small and little, and reap the rewards many times over. I'll keep you all in my prayers.. =)
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