As I mentioned in my bulletin article for last week, it is my plan to dedicate the next several articles to the Eucharist, given our Sunday Gospel readings from the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6.  In particular, we will look to some of the Eucharistic reflections of our recent popes as they offer us some helpful insights into this great gift that Christ has left His Church.

It seems fitting to begin our series with our current Holy Father, Pope Francis.  As you likely know, an important theme for his pontificate has been mercy.  In one of his early statements about the Church, he spoke of the Church as a field hospital where those who are sick can come to encounter the healing offered through Jesus Christ.  An important medicine that the Church administers to aid in that healing is the Eucharist.  In his document Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel), he wrote the following:  “The Eucharist, although it is the fullness of sacramental life, is not a prize for the perfect but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.” (EG, 47)

Every one of us is weak in some way, thus we are all in need of the healing medicine that comes to us in the Eucharist.  This is an important reality to keep in mind when we come to Mass.  The Lord invites us to acknowledge our woundedness, where we are in need of healing, and invite His grace into those wounds to restore us by His strength.  Unfortunately, many have taken the words of Pope Francis to conclude that there is no reason that a person should not be able to receive the Eucharist.  For example, if somebody has committed a mortal sin, there is no reason they should not be able to receive the Eucharist, for they are in need of God’s healing grace more than anybody, right?  But is that really what the Holy Father is saying?

Jesus says the following in the Gospel on this point: “I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Lk 5:32)  Jesus is constantly preaching the important of repentance, which is turning away from sin and toward the life of grace.  If there is no willingness to change one’s ways, will this medicine truly be of benefit?  Mark Brumley, the CEO of Ignatius Press, in a column he wrote offers the following helpful clarification:

When Catholic Tradition understands the Eucharist as medicine for the soul, it does not mean the Eucharist heals even when the sinner clings to his sin. The Eucharist isn’t magic. It heals repentant sinners — people who have been raised to life in Christ through grace, even while they still struggle to grow in that life. We may fall into serious sin and cut ourselves off from spiritual life for a time, but through the gift of repentance — especially through the gift of the sacrament of reconciliation — the Spirit restores us to life in Christ.

There is nothing to suggest that Pope Francis is proposing anything contrary to this above point, but we all know how sound bites can take on a life of their own.  When we look at his words through the eyes of the tradition of the Church, we can appreicate how his words are not at odds at all with the need to be in a state of grace to receive the Eucharist, which is to have repented of any serious sin through sacramental confession and to desire to remain in relationship with Jesus.  Being in the state of grace is far from being perfect, for none of us will ever be able to achieve that status in this life, thus our need for His grace that comes to us in this powerful medicine that nourishes us in our weakness. 

Father Alford     

As many of us are aware, the topic of the Eucharist has been in the news quite a bit in the last couple of years.  In August 2019, a new study was released by the Pew Research Center which reported that just one third of U.S. Catholics agree that the Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ.  A few months later, as the global pandemic hit, Catholics throughout the world found themselves deprived of the Eucharist as public masses were suspended for fear of spreading the COVID-19 virus.  During the most recent election cycle, the question of the reception of the Eucharist by certain Catholic politicians was raised.  In their recent Spring meeting, the bishops of the United States discussed, among other things, the Eucharist.  They approved an action item “to task the Committee on Doctrine to move forward with the drafting of a formal statement on the meaning of the Eucharist in the life of the Church.”  They also discussed a program of Eucharistic Revival to begin next year to invite Catholics to a deeper understanding and love of the Eucharist.

Beginning next Sunday, the Gospels for the next several Sundays (except August 15 which is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) will be taken from the sixth chapter to St. John’s Gospel, known as the Bread of Life Discourse.  This chapter contains some of the most important scriptural foundation for the Eucharist, which the Church teaches to be the source as summit of our lives as Catholics.  With that in mind, I would like to devote the next several bulletin articles to this important topic in the hopes that all of us can get a jump start on this Eucharistic Revival to which our bishops are inviting us.

As I prayed about the best way to approach this topic, I decided to draw upon some of the Eucharistic writings from some of our recent popes.  These reflections will not be presented in any particular order, other than trying, where possible, to connect the liturgical cycle with certain papal reflections.  For example, in two Sundays (on August 1), I will look to Pope St. John XXIII, who wrote a beautiful document about St. John Vianney, whose Feast Day is August 4.  This Patron of Priests had a great love for the Eucharist and John XXIII has some nice reflections on the Eucharistic devotion that this great saint had.

I realize that we dedicated our January bulletin articles to the Eucharist, but with a topic so near and dear to us as Catholics, it should be not problem for us to delve deeper into this great gift.  I am excited to share with you some of the great insights of our popes over the next several weeks as we all strive to deepen our appreciation for the Bread of Life we are privileged to consume each Sunday, and in fact, every day if we do desire.

Father Alford