Once again the Holy Father show us the way to God.......through his Divine Son, Jesus - in hte Most Blessed Sacrament.
And once again, I can - and must - most sadly predict that this year will be marked by nothing but lip service on the part of all too many unfaithful priests and prelates, who will not obey Peter, because they do not know the Divine Master: Jesus Christ. And they love neither. And they will not hear the plaintive cries of His sheep......His people, who hunger for spiritual nourishment.
In the Most Adorable Sacrament we have the summation and perfection of all in scripture....of the passover supper of the Israelites. The Pascal Lamb - whose blood was smeared on the door posts as protection from evil......while at the same time it was eaten. This is a prefigurement of the Eucharist: in both its reserved form and in the sacrifice of the Mass. He is one and the same in both - never to be seperated, or one diminished in favor of the other. Both equally deserving of praise and adoration.
We have the Gospel account of Jesus feeding the multitudes with a few loaves of bread and a few fish. It is multiplied miraculaously until all are fed. Yet enough is left over adn gathered up to feed yet another multitude. Here again is the prefigurement of the reserved and sacrificed/distributed elements of Holy Communion for us to ponder.
He is the perfect sacrifice of atonement for our sins. He is the acceptable sacrifice, represented over and over to God - thousands of times.......day and night. At all hours. The sacrifice which never ceases. Yet like a miraculous car, which never runs out of gas, and takes us home where we are safe.....we never "run out" of Christ, and he is always there to take us home and keep us safe.
"An altar stands within the shrine, whereon, once sacrificed. is set, immaculate, divine, the Lamb of God, the Christ.
There rich and poor, from countless lands, praise Christ on mystic rood; there multitudes reach forth their hands to take God's holy food. "
Here then, in poetic form we have a magnificent decription of what the altar and tabernacle are - and are for, and the reality of the Eucharist as life giving spiritual food.
"O saving Victim, opening wide the gate of heaven to man below, our foes press on from ev'ry side. Thine aid supply, Thy strength bestow".
Here we see the tremendous spiritual power which is given to men through this sacrament. Power to overcome the world.
St. Thomas Aquinas describes the raw and utter faith which is require to understand the awful reality of the sacrament: "Taste, and touch and vision, to discern Thee fail; Faith that comes by hearing, pierces through the veil. I believe whatever the Son of God hath told; What the Truth hath spoken, that for truth I hold".
Awe and reverence before this sacrament. We read here from the Cherubic Hymn from the Liturgy of St. James:
"let all mortal flesh keep silence and with fear and trembling stand; Ponder nothing earthly minded, as with blesing in His hand Christ our God to earth decendeth, OUr full homage to demand.
At His feet the six-winged seraph, Cherubim with sleepless eye, veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry: 'Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Lord Most High!"
Some vain modernist liturgists dare to suggest that we should stand....filled with the primordial sin of Pride, in the Presence. No - a thousand times no. We must humble ourselves in the presense of Our King.
When the soldiers of the Jewish temple came to arrest Christ in the Garden, He asked them: "whom do you seek"? They answered: "Jesus of Nazereth". He reponded: "I AM he" - stating His true name, as God. Upon hearing that name, they fell flat on their faces, having no choice, but to adore the living God. They asked again, and the situation repeated themselves. He pronounced his name: I AM. They again fell flat on their faces, prostrate. They had no choice but to prostrate themselves in the presence of , and at the name of the Living God. Yet they knew him not - even so were they forced to prostrate themselves in his presence.
We are not forced to worship him; we are to do it out of love. So, to those bold and faithless liturgists who say we should stand, I say we should - and ought, of right, to prostrate ourselves in his presence. It is only due to space limitations, that we kneel.
Of right, every Catholic church should be open 24/7. Security? That is what the angels are for.
What is important is that the lost soul - the drunk, the runaway child, the philandering spouse, the frightened soul, the homeless, those who are in total dispair can find warmth in the Presence of Christ. And find that they are loved. And come home to Him who will heal all their ills.
That is more important then all the gold candlesticks in the world. One soul. The most precious thing in the sight of God......that one soul. That is what a church building is for. That one poor soul stumbles in out of the cold and finds God is worth whatever it costs to keep the doors open.
In light of that reality, then perhaps all Catholic churches need only have a simple sign on the outside of the building. Just one sign. Which does not state the mass times, the name of the pastor.....
Just a single sentance.
"I am waiting for you"
Until He is taken out of His hiding spot in the side vestibule and put back in the center of the Altar, should we actually expect any thing but lip service?
In the past 40 years without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the novus ordo has belittled the necessity of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. I'm not trying to be facetious but, why would anyone expect the people to all of a sudden change their beliefs just because the pope made a statement?
After all, without the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, "Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament" is something that only a few novus ordo Catholics even believe anymore. Most novus ordo folks either never even heard of or vaguely recall what "Benediction" or the "Divine Praises" even are.
If the "Year of the Eucharist" is to bare any fruit at all, shamefull as the reality of the situation is, the Church will need to begin a campaign to first educate what the Eucharist actually is, otherwise, lip service is all we should expect.
That's correct.
And if any Catholic truly believes that He is actually present in the Blessed Sacrament as the Incarnate Word, located anyway whatsoever in their city, and doesn't go visit Him... how much mercy will be allocated to those who know this and blow Him off?
There's a good book by St. Alphonsus Liguori called Visits the to Blessed Sacrament. From what I hear, even Walmart carries it; not sure if that's the case. Five bucks for the book, maybe.