Time to Celebrate!
These, therefore, are the festivals of the LORD which you shall declare holy days, in order to offer as an oblation to the LORD burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and libations, as prescribed for each day. Leviticus 23:37 | NABRE
TGIF! In your mind, you can’t wait, you might anticipate some types of celebration, birthday, wedding, anniversary, retirement, graduation…, today or in the next couple of days. How do you prepare for it? What about the Eucharistic celebration? Do you take as much time as you anticipate in these secular celebrations? I wondered how many of us even think about renting a limousine or choosing your favorite outfit to meet Christ at the Eucharistic celebration. As God’s people, we are invited to celebrate His loving presence among us in the ordinary events of our lives and on special occasions. The book of Leviticus chapter 23 tells of the Lord speaking to Moses and instructing him as to which days are to be designated as holy and celebrated with a sacred assembly. God desires to be present with his people, in times of trouble and in times of joy. Do you want to meet Him? What prevents you from meeting Him? Too busy! Really? “There is nothing so great as the Eucharist. If God had something more precious, He would have given it to us”, said St. John Vianney. What does He offer us at the Eucharist? St. John Vianney offers us this thought. "What does Jesus Christ do in the Eucharist? It is God who, as our Savior, offers himself each day for us to his Father's justice. If you are in difficulties and sorrows, he will comfort and relieve you. If you are sick, he will either cure you or give you strength to suffer so as to merit Heaven. If the devil, the world, and the flesh are making war upon you, he will give you the weapons with which to fight, to resist, and to win victory. If you are poor, he will enrich you with all sorts of riches for time and eternity. Let us open the door of his sacred and adorable Heart, and be wrapped about for an instant by the flames of his love, and we shall see what a God who loves us can do. O my God, who shall be able to comprehend?" St. John Vianney also said, “When we cannot come to church, let us turn towards the Tabernacle and make a spiritual Communion. A wall cannot separate us from God.” Here is the prayer for Act of Spiritual Communion. “My Jesus, I believe that You are in the Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things, and I long for You in my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. As though You have already come, I embrace You and unite myself entirely to You; never permit me to be separated from You.”
Let us celebrate today and every moment of our day in the present of our loving and compassionate God who desires to be with us first. “If people would do for God what they do for the world, what a great number of Christians would go to Heaven.” St. John Vianney
Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, pray for us.
Peace always,
Father Vincent Vuong Nguyen