Receive

“The blessing of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit accompanies us all day long, as we go about our simple, normal task of making holy all honest human activity. (Saint Josemaria, “Christ is passing by”, at 91).

Life of Christ (Gaudenzio Ferrari)

When I was a little girl and preparing to make my First Holy Communion, I was so excited.  For months we learned about the Blessed Sacrament.  We understood how to show respect for God.  We learned whether God is in the Eucharist entirely or in pieces.  I remember thinking that He was in pieces until my Year Two teacher asked, “So, if that is the case, and the priest breaks the Blessed Eucharist into pieces, does that mean that you will only eat God’s Arm or just His leg?”

Those sort of questions stayed in my mind as the image was so vivid.  I remember praying so fervently on the day that I received the Blessed Sacrament.  I was wearing my beautiful white dress and my mother had asked a hairdresser to come and style my hair.  I was wearing a little bit of eye shadow and lip gloss so that I could be my most beautiful.  My aunts and uncles told me that I looked like a little bride – a very very big compliment to a girly-girl in a long white dress.  They told me that the next time I wore a long white dress would be on my wedding day.

That day I felt more beautiful than I have ever felt in my life.  And I felt more special too.

I felt so beautiful that when I returned home for the lunch and party that my parents had arranged to celebrate, U immediately took off my Communion dress and packed it away because I did not want to ruin it and no amount of asking form my mother could persuade me to wear the beautiful dress when I might ruin the dress I had worn when I had first received the Blessed Lord in the Blessed Eucharist.

It is so easy to receive the Blessed Eucharist.  At no time in history has it ever been this easy.  We live in a country where we can practice our faith freely – and receive the Blessed Eucharist daily if we choose.  The rules of the Church do not prohibit the reception of the Eucharist as they used to – preventing people from receiving this Sacrament except for a few times each year

Christ made this possible – twenty centuries ago – in a small upper room during the Passover.  “We are going to receive our Lord. On this earth, when we receive an important person, we bring out the best — lights, music, formal dress. How should we prepare to receive Christ into our soul? Have we ever thought about how we would behave if we could only receive him once in a lifetime?  When I was a child, frequent communion was still not a widespread practice. I remember how people used to prepare to go to communion. Everything had to be just right, body and soul: the best clothes, hair well‑combed — even physical cleanliness was important — maybe even a few drops of cologne... These were manifestations of love, full of finesse and refinement, on the part of manly souls who knew how to repay Love with love.  With Christ in our soul, we end the holy Mass. The blessing of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit accompanies us all day long, as we go about our simple, normal task of making holy all honest human activity. (Saint Josemaria, “Christ is passing by”, at 91).

And it seems to me today, as I reflect on the judgements against God Himself, that I am quite overcome by all of the Sacrifices that He made for love of me so that I could know and love and serve my God and so that I could receive Him into my soul in the form of the Blessed Eucharist…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.