No, this is
not a blog about the song by Cheap Trick, although it is an amazing song. This will be much better (hard to believe I
know), not because of my writing, but because of the subject matter, because of
our God!
Over the holidays,
I was blessed to have several people visit me in Rome. Adding to that greatness, I was fortunate
enough to be able to attend several Papal Liturgies with those guests. Going to holy sites in Rome, especially St.
Peter’s Basilica, with people for their first time is always a great joy for
me. It is wonderful seeing the
excitement in their faces when they get to witness the splendor of these
beautiful houses of prayer dedicated to the worship of God. One particular liturgy however became
particularly special when one of my friends shared her experience with me
afterwards.
For those
of you who have ever had the chance of going to a Papal Liturgy, you know what
the distribution of Holy Communion is like.
For those of you who have not been, imagine rows not big enough for two
people to pass blocked by barricades with people basically crawling over each
other to make it to a priest or deacon to receive Holy Communion. The process is not exactly efficient or
orderly. Several times, it has happened
that guys from the College were not able to receive Communion because of the
amount of people at a Mass and have had to return to the College to receive
from a priest there.
 |
| He is my Bigfoot...always blurry! |
After the
Mass, as we walked away from the basilica, one of my friends told me of her
surprise at how crazy the process of Communion had been. She said that she became worried at one point
that she would not make it to the priest in time and that she would not be able
to receive our Lord. She shared with me
how this was a good experience for her because for the first time she could
remember, she was afraid at the possibility of not being able to receive Holy
Communion. She expressed to me how badly
she wanted to receive our Lord and how determined she was to make it to that
priest.
Here it is in her own words...
"That experience was so powerful for me. I honestly felt anxious that I would not be able to receive the Eucharist, and it really hit me. It's a feeling I will always remember, and cherish. In that very moment of outstreching my hands and extending my body over several chairs I physically, emotionally, and spiritually longed to receive Christ. I didn't want to let anyone stand in my way of receiving Him. It's so beautiful because it really is what Christmas is all about. And against the backdrop of the nativity scene, it was even more powerful for me!"
What a
beautiful thing to reflect on during the Christmas Season. All of Advent leading up to Christmas is a
time of preparation for receiving our Lord anew at Christmas. We spend time in expectation in order to
prepare ourselves for His coming. We
spend time purifying ourselves and noticing areas where we have failed and
still need God’s help so that we can allow Him to come in and heal our
sinfulness. This waiting, this
anticipation of the coming of Christ should lead us to desire God all the more
just as the thought of not receiving Communion inspired my friend. How differently we would approach each
celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass if we took a few minutes to recall
this longing for Christ that my friend experienced. In the last days of the Christmas Season, let
us pray that God will continue to inspire us to draw near to Him and to desire
Him more and more. I pray that this
reflection will help you and me to realize the great gift we have in the
Eucharist and help us never to take it for granted.
In Christ,
Patrick
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