In the interest of full disclosure, I’m stealing this topic idea from multiple places I’ve seen it online and in print.
For the past few years, both locally and nationwide, there has been a Eucharistic Revival going on.
There are a lot of people, many Catholics among them, who do not know that the Holy Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of His dearly beloved Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
To say this is not good is an understatement.
We have people going to Mass and either don’t know why they are going to Mass or aren’t making the most of the liturgical experience.
We also have people who have no idea why it’s a bad thing they aren’t going to Mass.
A chance to experience Jesus Christ fully present? Who would want to miss out on that? Apparently a lot of people, so let us revive.
Now before everyone and their mothers go and run up to the Communion line to consume the bread and wine made body and blood, everyone needs to make themselves worthy.
“Eh?”
Yeah. Are you in a state of grace?
“Eh?”
Ready to receive
Our friend, the Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “Anyone who desires to receive Christ in Eucharistic communion must be in the state of grace. Anyone aware of having sinned mortally must not receive communion without having received absolution in the Sacrament of Penance.” (CCC 1415).
If you know you’ve committed mortal sins and you haven’t Confessed them yet, you’re not quite ready to receive the Eucharist.
It’s not that you’re being rejected or ostracized, you just need to be worthy to receive our Lord, lest you commit a sacrilege.
“Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” (1 Cor 11:27-29, NABRE)
Thanks, St. Paul.
I’m not going to list a bunch of mortal sins here, you know the biggies, up to and including not having gone to Mass in a long time.
How do we fix this? How do we both fix our souls so we can receive Jesus and how do we help to fix others and bring more people back to the Eucharist? Oh, some of you aren’t going to like the sound of this one.
Confession
You knew where this was going so here we are.
In order to make the most of the Eucharistic Revival going on, we have to enhance the acceptance of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Think of it as a pre-step before the grand step of taking part in the Eucharist.
I’m not a complete doofus. I realize that the human part of Confession can be something not all that
appealing.
You go into a confined area. You kneel (or sit) behind a screen (or in front of the priest) and you say “Bless me Father for I have sinned. It’s been [time amount] since my last Confession. Then, you proceed to tell “Father” all of the really bad things you did during “time amount”.
It’s not easy, but it’s worth it to receive God’s mercy.
Even more difficult is examining one’s conscience before going to Confession.
Yeah, there’s another step before the step.
I could write a whole piece on examining one’s conscience, but all I’ll say right now is just be honest.
Let’s have faith in both God’s mercy and that the priest literally has “heard it all” before and won’t be shocked by anything you Confess.
Making the most out of the sacraments
Our current Eucharistic Revival is a joyful and glorious (maybe luminous too) time of growing strong in our faith.
We can get even more out of it by making ourselves greatly worthy to receive it.
Think of it like tailgating before a big sporting event and making a whole day out of it — only a lot more important and better for the world and you (please do not set up barbecue grills in the church parking lot before a sacramental experience, I don’t want to get blamed for that too).
You owe it to yourself to be in a state of grace not just for yourself, but for everyone around you.
The more God’s goodness can work through you, the more you can be a light for others or help others find their way back to the Church.
Let’s appreciate the blessings that we get from both Reconciliation and the Eucharist.
God gave them to both of us so that we may have eternal life with Him someday.
It’s a shame so many are missing out on this.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.