Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We are so extraordinarily blessed in the Catholic Church to have the gift of the Holy Eucharist. My fear is that way too often many of us take it for granted. As Catholics, we can receive the Body of Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, every day if we want to. We can pray in front of Jesus’ physical presence in Adoration. We can receive Jesus when we are sick or dying, and the Church’s representative brings us the Bread of Life. We are so blessed. The Eucharist is the number one reason to be Catholic. I don’t know how other Christians live without it. It is that much of a strength and help. Indeed, it is that hunger for the Eucharist, that hunger for Jesus in your life, that has led many of our brothers and sisters to the Church through RCIA. I pray that the love and respect of the Holy Eucharist continues to grow in all of our lives. Here are some things for all of us to think and pray about this week, as we desire to grow even closer to the Lord in His Holy Body and Blood…

#1 - Am I aware of any serious sins in my life, that I should get rid of first through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, BEFORE I go to Communion again? To receive Holy Communion in the state of serious sin, is itself a serious sin. All of us need to examine our conscious before we come to Communion. As Catholics today, we have become very bad at this. We are so used to getting up and getting into that Communion procession that we don’t think about whether or not we SHOULD be going to Communion. And there are times that all of us should not be going to Communion. Serious sin breaks our relationship with God. That relationship needs to be healed, needs to be reconciled, BEFORE we come down the aisle to receive Communion. Sometimes people mistakenly believe that it’s better to go to Communion when we have sinned seriously to get the help and grace to do better. Going to Communion is NOT going to Reconciliation. Communion is not healing the rift that exists between us and God. Only the Sacrament of Reconciliation can do that. Going to Communion in a state of serious sin only makes things worse. The union that Communion signifies is not there because our sin has broken it. Sometimes, we should not be going to Holy Communion.

#2 - Have I observed the one hour fast from food before Mass in recognition and preparation for Holy Communion? Going to Mass and going to Communion are unlike anything else that we do. It’s not like going to a movie or a ballgame. We have to be prepared. We have to get ready. The Church still asks that all of us fast for an hour before Mass, as part of our preparations to encounter Jesus at Mass. Vatican II did not do away with this fast, as many Catholic mistakenly believe. This is just part of the recognition in our life that when we are getting ready to go to Mass, we are getting ready to receive Jesus. It is something to look forward to and to prepare for in every way possible. We don’t fast before a movie or a ballgame, because we are not going to receive Jesus there. The Mass is different. The Mass is awesome! The Mass is as close as we can be to physically encountering and touching Jesus in this world. The fast includes gum. Many of us are forgetting this. Myself and Fr. Dale and Deacon Steve and the Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are seeing way too many people coming to Communion while chewing gum. Gum breaks the fast. In fact, for healthy people, only water and medicine do not break the fast. It’s one hour, folks. It wasn’t so long ago that this fast was much longer.

#3 - Have I done everything that I could to prepare for Mass? There are so many other things that we can do as individuals and as families to get ready for Mass. Do you read the reading for Mass ahead of time? There’s a reason we publish the readings for the whole week in the bulletin. Nothing gets you ready for Mass quite like reading the readings in advance. It’s like a preview of coming attractions! Have you and/or your family been to Adoration lately? Nothing makes us hunger for the Eucharist quite like praying in front of it in Adoration. Do we center ourselves in the moment, leaving behind all the worries and the busyness of what we were doing before Mass? This is particularly hard to do when we run into Mass late or at the very last minute.

Let us think about these things this week. We can all do better and the better we all do, the more we are going to get out of Mass! Try it.

In Christ,

Fr. Kevin

The smallest good deed is better than the grandest good intention.