When I'm up before the early bird....

Well, it was one of those nights. I turned the light off around eleven, slept somewhat fitfully, and was wide awake at 4:30. So what does one do (after making coffee) when it's still pitch dark out and absolutely quiet? (Even the early bird is still in bed.) Here's my answer: Read morning prayer in my Magnificat, sit down with the unread stack of Wanderers, and then write a letter to my granddaughter.

The first article in The Wanderer that caught my eye was a reprint of Fr. John Hardon's commentary on the Real Presence. So many Catholics no longer believe and my granddaughter is working as the Admissions Director at a Catholic high school. She will have many opportunities to witness to her belief that Christ is really there in the school chapel simply by her reverence and frequent visits. 

So I was going to clip the article and mail it.

It's a Sad Christmas for The Sheep in Exile at St. Peter's

In fact, it's a "sardine" Christmas since Fr. Tuck has eliminated one of the Masses (on a Sunday no less) so one can expect to be jammed into the pews with many folks standing in the aisles...unless, of course, they are in-the-know and choose another parish for Mass.

I confess at this point I think Fr. Grinnell has a problem with belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist. According to witnesses, he doesn't bend the knee at the Consecration. One would like to believe he has serious knee problems, but goes skiing on his vacation  so that's a little hard to believe. He eliminated Thanksgiving Mass altogether in favor of an ecumenical prayer service. And now, for Christmas which falls on a Sunday, he eliminates one of the usual Sunday Masses. On Christmas...when people who don't come the rest of the year crowd the pews!

When Christ's Church Becomes a Social Hall

St. John the Baptist, Front Royal, VA

My husband and I decided to attend Mass this past weekend at the parish up the road, St. John the Baptist in Front Royal. I like to go to Confession there because both priests give encouraging direction during the sacrament that always makes me reflect more deeply on my own spiritual condition. And they are obviously in demand because both lines are continuous during the entire hour and sometimes beyond. Long lines aren't the result of long confessions either. When I got in line there were about eight people in front of me and I waited about 20 minutes. I estimate the priests hear between 50 and 75 Confessions on Saturday afternoon. The parish also offers the sacrament every day after the morning Mass as well as the "Welcome Home" program of evening Confessions on Wednesdays. What a blessing for those parishioners!

Mass of the Lord's Supper

Thank you, Jesus, for instituting the Holy Eucharist so that we can say, not, Jesus DWELT among us, but, instead, Jesus DWELLS among us. How blessed are we who embrace the fullness of the faith so that we can receive Jesus daily in His Real Presence and be united with Him in the closest covenant on earth. 

Do You Want to Leave Me Too?

Today's gospel is from John chapter 6, the teaching on the Holy Eucharist, the "Bread of Life." Jesus' meaning is unmistakable for those "with eyes to see and ears to hear." Only by ignoring what He says, can anyone believe that He is speaking in symbolic terms.

Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit and listen to His words:

"I myself am the living bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread he shall live forever; the bread I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world.... [At this point the Jews begin to murmur and quarrel about His meaning so He reaffirms it.] Let me solemnly assure you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."

Does this sound like symbolic language? Jesus goes on becoming more and more explicit, "He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink. The man who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him....Unlike your ancestors who ate and died nonetheless, the man who feeds on this bread shall live forever."

One must be willfully disbelieving to think this language is talking about a symbolic meal. How can that be? Many disciples left Him because of his insistence that His "flesh is real food" and His "blood is real drink." Why would they leave if He was speaking symbolically? And why do so many Christians believe this misinterpretation when their own common sense should speak the truth to their hearts?

Jesus was not a liar. When He says He is the Messiah Christians believe Him. When He says He is the Son of God; they believe Him. Why don't they believe His profession that "My flesh is real food?"

This is the essence of the Catholic doctrine of the REAL PRESENCE and it is the meaning of the daily bread we beg from God in the Our Father. God loves us so much that He remains with us today on the earth in every tabernacle in the world and He comes down from heaven at the Consecration of every Catholic Mass. He invites us to become part of His mystical body by eating His flesh and drinking His blood so that we might become more united to Him and "live forever."

When He showed His wounds to Thomas the week after His resurrection Jesus said, "Be not disbelieving, but believe." Today He calls all men in the same way to have faith in His Real Presence on the earth. Won't you respond as Thomas did? "My Lord and My God."

"If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts."

Faith and Eucharistic Miracles: My Lord and My God

Fulton Sheen once said that those who have problems with faith almost always have a problem with the Eucharist. The center of our Catholic faith is Jesus Christ really present in the tabernacles of the world under the appearances of bread and wine. Jesus walked the earth (past tense), but He continues to live among us on the earth (present tense) through His divine presence. That belief is the fundamental reality of our faith

But God never asks for blind or mindless faith. When He walked with the apostles He gave testimony to Himself through His miracles. And throughout the centuries He has continued to do that even down to the present day.

So if you have doubts about the faith, study the Eucharistic miracles. If you have trouble believing that Christ is really present in the host, study the Eucharistic miracles. Look into the eyes of Christ and hear him say, as He did to Thomas, "Do not persist in your unbelief, but believe." What other response can one have to Jesus, but "My Lord and my God!"

Visit the Vatican exhibit: The Eucharistic Miracles of the World

And watch thees videos about a Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires, Argentina: