Jesus always comes to us in the Eucharist
From:National Eucharistic Congress (hello@eucharisticcongress.org)
Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens
Chair of the National Eucharistic Congress and Revival
Date:Saturday, June 10, 2023 at 10:13 AM CDT
Tomorrow is the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. It is also the anniversary of my first Mass as a priest 26 years ago.
Reflecting on the gift and the mystery of this feast is a source of great love for me as I respond to the Lord’s call to shepherd this initiative by the United States Bishops—this National Eucharistic Revival.
This feast of Corpus Christi is a day of joy for the Church in the United States as we begin the Year of Parish Revival, the second year of the National Eucharistic Revival. This year will be a year dedicated to renewing and restoring our parishes in Eucharistic culture and spirituality, bringing people deeper into the love of Jesus. I believe that grace is going to be poured out in abundance in this sacred year in parishes across our country. What a gift our parishes are to us—they nourish us with Mass, confession, adoration, and community!
In my last Companions email, I shared the story of how I knew I wanted to be a priest since the 1st grade, when my parish pastor invited me to make my first confession in the hallway and receive my first communion early so that I could serve Mass for him before he left our parish.
Similarly, the memory of celebrating my first Mass is ingrained in my mind and heart. The joy, the peace, the excitement of that day…
Interestingly, as I prepared for that day, I had a troubling thought. I had always believed in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist when someone else consecrated the bread and the wine, but would I believe in his true presence when I was the one to say those words: “This is my body…”?
This thought was with me even in the joy of that first Mass. I preached in the homily about the gift of the Eucharist and about the gift of my vocation. I expressed what I still believe, which is that I was destined from all eternity to be a priest, and it was the deepest desire of my heart to serve God in this way. In fact, rather boldly, I ended the homily by saying : “now I am going to do what I was born to do.”
As I approached the altar for the first time to offer the gifts of bread and wine myself, I received the chalice gifted to me from the same pastor, who meant so much to me years earlier. Around the rim of that chalice is printed in Latin the first words of the famous hymn of St. Thomas Aquinas: “O Sacred Banquet in which Christ is received”—words that St. Thomas wrote for the feast of Corpus Christi. That antiphon had been on the chalice since 1938 when Monsignor Barry received it for his ordination, and here I was, saying these same words that my pastor did so many years ago on the Feast of Corpus Christi.
I can honestly say that that day, when I said the words of Jesus over the bread, “Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is my body which will be given up for you,” and then I raised up the consecrated host for all to see, placed it on the paten, and genuflected, I had no doubt that I was genuflecting before the Lord of the Universe. All my doubts faded away and I knew I, too, was a priest of Jesus Christ forever.
Jesus comes to us in the Blessed Sacrament, whether or not we can always believe it.
The feast of Corpus Christi reminds us that the Eucharist is the most precious gift given to us by Jesus. His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity is present to us at every Mass, regardless of us! However, we are always invited to make an act of faith in his presence. We have the opportunity and gift to make acts of faith that God is who he says he is, and that he has fulfilled his promises and stands by his Word.
“This is my body, take and eat.”
“I am with you always, even unto the end of time.”
As we prepare to celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi tomorrow, and the beginning of this new Year of Parish Revival, may we make a renewed prayer, a new act of faith in the Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and allow him to reveal himself to us in a new way. Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist is not static but dynamic. He wants to come to us to change us in this parish year. He wants to change us into himself so we can be his presence in the world.
To learn more about what is happening and how to get your parish involved, I invite you to check out our website.
May many people come to know the love of Jesus present in the Eucharist and be transformed by it.
May we all be open to his Revival in our hearts.
In Christ,Bishop Andrew H. Cozzens
Chair of the National Eucharistic Congress and Revival
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