Revolution

“If we Christians really lived in accordance with our faith, the greatest revolution of all times would take place. The effectiveness of our co-redemption depends on each one of us. You should meditate on this.” (Saint Josemaria, “Furrow”, at 945).

The Sermon on the Mount (Cosimo Rosselli)

Saint Padre Pio is one of my favourite Saints.  He is the sort of Saint who was so devout and so simple in his piety that there was no room for distraction or misunderstanding.

Once, Saint Padre Pio said that if Catholics understood the true value of the Eucharist then the queues and riots around the outside of the Churches would be so extreme that the police would have to patrol the Churches at all times to control the crowds.

And I have never forgotten that expression.  After all, the Saint understood the significance of the Eucharist in perhaps a way that I have never been able to understand it.  He could see Christ – hidden as He is – in the Eucharist (and indeed in all the sacraments) and He could understand how Christ’s presence is the presence of God and in knowing and understanding that, Saint Padre Pio could marvel at the magnanimity of God in that form.

Saint Josemaria wrote in a similar manner when he said that “If we Christians really lived in accordance with our faith, the greatest revolution of all times would take place. The effectiveness of our co-redemption depends on each one of us. You should meditate on this.” (“Furrow”, at 945).

He was able to see the enormity of God’s love for us and the enormity of God’s dedication to us, that God will wait quietly and in silence in the dark inside a Tabernacle inside an empty Church so that we can come inside every now and then and spend a few hasty seconds in His presence while our minds are buzzing with distractions.

When I was a little girl, my school chaplain once said to us that he was often terribly saddened to watch the children and parishioners return to the pews inside the Church after receiving Holy Communion, only to sit there and watch the flies buzzing around.  He explained that the very fact that for a short time after receiving the Sacrament, Christ – God Himself – was present in our souls in a special way and instead of venerating and adoring our God, we were distracted with meaningless things, was a torment to him.

And though I was very little I never forgot his words.

The other day, I was having a it of a bad day.  And when that was happening, I continued to attend Holy Mass as I liked because I found a lot of comfort in the Sacraments even when my faith is being tested.  And I sat in the Church and offered what I could that day – which was very little at all.  And I sat there with all the thoughts inside my head buzzing around like flies, and I thought of my God who was with me in that special way at that time.  And it occurred to me that if I really and truly understood the nature of the Grace I was receiving, I would have started a revolution such as the world had never known. 

And I pray for the Grace of such a revolution as that…

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