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May 5, 2019Easter Greetings!
Eastertide is surely the most beauti ful season of the liturgical year, even surpassing the joy of Christmas . While Christ is born at Christ mas, we are reborn in His Resurr ection on Easter morning. Further, the entire treasury of grace is op ened to us in the Sacraments of the Church, born from the wounds of Jesus. In fact, you’ll remem ber that Divine Mercy Sunday is a celebration of this reality: the blood and water f lowing from the side of Christ on the cross are signs of The Most Holy Eucharist and of Baptism, the saving and sustaining Sacraments o f fered through Christ’s Church.
For this reason, it’s common to celebrate with our children who have achieved the age of discretion (which, in Canon Law, is the age of 7) the reception of their Fi rst Holy Communion. This is the fi rst dose, if you will, of what St. Ignatius of Antioch calls “The Medicine of Immortality”. For th is is what we believe about The Eucharist. It not only brings us together as Christians partaking one holy food, but because it is Christ’s Body and Blood really and truly, also has the power to communicate grace to the soul. The grace it gives is that which makes us more and more like Jesus, it elevates our mortal nature more and more towards immortality. That which Baptism begins is sust ained by regular reception of Holy Communion.
Interestingly enough, for many centuries it wasn’t common for children (or anyone for that matter) to receive Holy Communion every Sunday. There were customs in place that, perhaps out of a desire to maintain the importance of the Eucharist, all but forbade Catholics to present themselves for Holy Communion more fre- quently than once annually! Begi nning in 1905, Pope St. Pius X encouraged more frequent rece ption of the Eucharist, as o f ten as daily, providing that a person was not conscious of serious (mortal) sin. This is, of course, why we st ill today celebrate First Reconcilia tion with our young before their First Communion and continue to require Sacramental Confession be fore presenting themselves to receive the Eucharist. Over the next few weeks as we observe these little ones, o f ten dressed in white and adorned as th ough for a wedding, that we are called to remember our own fi rst encounter with Jesus in the Eu charist. For this is a true wedding of the pure, young soul to Jesus. It is a joining of our mortal nature to the immortality of Christ. It is a sure reminder to make sure ou r souls are properly disposed to receive The Lord, that we may desire above all things to remain with Him not only at Mass, but also in the world where we encoun ter much that is not of God. Congratulations to all of our young people and also to you their parents and guardians, who are called to guard their hearts still against the glamor of evil. May your families grow stronger and more beautiful with The Eucharist in the center of your lives!
Christus Resurrexit Sicut Dixit , Alleluia!
(Christ is Risen as He Said, Alleluia!)