Welcome, friend!

Sunday, June 22nd we observed the Feast of Corpus Christi, celebrating the central mystery of our Catholic Faith: The Real Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

In this video, Fr. Freeh reflects on God’s great gift to us:

Sometimes I wonder…what is the human soul, that we are best fed by God Himself? This blog post was harder to write than usual. Not for lack of things to say, but from sheer overload of everything I could say about the Eucharist, hailed by Pope St. John Paul II as “the source and summit” of our faith.

I find it disturbing that the average Catholic doesn’t understand, or believe in, the doctrine that distinguishes Catholicism from every other Christian denomination. Especially since, for the first fifteen hundred years, Christianity was unanimous in declaring the Eucharist to be truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ.

Those Christians who have abandoned this truth are now split into countless denominations. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church, adhering to this truth, is still “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.” Despite our very human failures to live up to all we are called to be, we find our unity as a church, and our unity with God, in our faith in the Eucharist.

But for as long as there has been faith, there has also been doubt. We all need a regular reality check…which is why we have the annual feast of Corpus Christi. This is our opportunity to reconnect with our faith in the Eucharist in a deeper way. We need to ask ourselves, What do I believe? And how much do I believe?

My own faith in the Eucharistic has been revitalized by three experiences in the past year.

First, a friend lent me Scott Hahn’s book, The Lamb’s Supper. In clear, direct language, Dr. Hahn examines the powerful liturgy of the Mass, using the Book of Revelations to explore its biblical nature, and highlight why Pope Saint John Paul II described the Mass as “Heaven on Earth,” explaining that what “we celebrate on Earth is a mysterious participation in the heavenly liturgy.”

The second experience: Friends lent my husband and me a DVD called Signs from God: Science Tests Faith. Australian journalist Mike Willesee (think the Aussie version of Mike Wallace) investigates claims of Eucharistic miracles. What he finds causes his reversion to his lapsed Catholic faith: a consecrated host, discarded in a candle rack at an Argentinian church, was placed in a shallow dish of water and kept in a tabernacle until it dissolved for appropriate disposal. Except the host didn’t dissolve. It began to bleed. The local cardinal, Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio (you know him better as Pope Francis I) authorized an investigation. The forensic scientists who examined the sample–not knowing where it came from–verified Catholic truths they couldn’t explain.

The third: Another friend sent me an email during the last days of Lent inviting me to spend 60 seconds with Christ crucified, stripping away the iconography to reveal the very human agony beneath, the price Jesus paid for our salvation. Send me a request at gnspirituality AT gmail DOT com, and I’ll send the email on to you.

Looking at the paragraphs above, I notice I’m blessed in my friends. I also noticed I cheated, keeping this post short by pointing you to other resources. But in cheating, I also have a point to make. There’s a lot more material out there for you to read and study. Celebrate this feast with more than a ten-minute video and a 625-word blog post.

Take the time to deepen your understanding of the priceless gift of the Eucharist. Learn more about how much Jesus loves you, and let Him lead you to love Him in return.