Last night, I just finished reading the book, “Rome Sweet Home – Our Journey to Catholicism” by Scott and Kimberly Hahn. Scott was a Presbyterian pastor, so active since his high school years. Studying Protestant theology and targeting Catholics for conversions. He was an anti-Catholic. Kimberly shared his passion for the Word and theology. She was happy being a Pastor’s wife. They helped each other in their ministries until an unthinkable situation happened in their lives. As Scott searched for answers to his questions, he found them in the Catholic Church's doctrines and teachings. Gradually, God showed him the beauty and truth of the Catholic Church. He was converted to Catholic one Easter Vigil. Kimberly struggled within herself. Their marriage was almost ruined. But Kimberly felt the thug of God. She was converted five years later on an Easter Vigil, too.
What they were both so drawn to was the richness and Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Scott said, “I had fallen head over heels in love with our Lord in the Eucharist! His Presence to me in the Blessed Sacrament was powerful and personal….Day after day, witnessing the entire drama of the Mass, I saw the covenant renewed right before my eyes. I knew Christ wanted me to receive Him in faith, not just spiritually in my heart, but physically as well: onto my tongue, down my throat and into my whole body and soul. This was what the Incarnation is all about. This was the Gospel in its fullness.”
One day Scott said to Kimberly, “Ever since I began going to Mass at the University, I have ached, ached to receive the Lord in the Eucharist.” At one time in prayer, he said to God, “Father, I want to come home. I want to receive You, Jesus, my eldest Brother and Lord, in the Holy Eucharist.” He further said, “Ever since I started going to daily Mass, I’ve felt Christ calling me to Himself in the Holy Eucharist.” There was a time, he sensed the Lord saying to him, “Because of My gift to you in the Holy Eucharist, you can trust Me now more than ever. I Am now abiding in you, both body and soul, in a greater way than ever before.”
For Kimberly, she realized, “I was amazed how deeply the liturgy touched me….I started to ask the Lord to give me His heart and mind on the Eucharist and the other sacraments.” As the Lord worked in her, she said, “ ….I longed to receive His Body and Blood. For not only had Jesus humbled Himself on our behalf in taking on human flesh to be our perfect sacrifice; He had even condescended lower – to offer us the same flesh to be the life and food of our souls! All this so that we could have Him within us – not only in our hearts but in our physical bodies as well, making us living tabernacles. I felt that my heart would burst with so much joy!” For Kimberly, attending the Holy Mass is coming to the Lord’s table where Jesus is the food to feast on for our souls, and where families are united as one.
Wow! What an inspiring reverence of the couple!
Since a baby, I am a Catholic. I studied elementary and high school in a Catholic school which was beside a church. We often had scheduled Masses being in such a school. But, honestly speaking, I didn’t like attending them. For me, being young as I was by then and also having a handicap, I found it so stressful on my foot, tiring and so boring, though, I preferred it because we didn’t have classes.
During Sundays, my family would go to Church to attend Mass. I had no choice but to come with them. I wanted to go to Church but just to pray short prayers, a five to ten minute prayer would do for me.
In college, the tiring and boring feeling was diminished. I drop by the Chapel in school, but I seldom attend a Mass, even Sunday Masses. I only went whenever I felt like it. I had this notion that God would understand me, besides, I didn’t commit major sins in my life and I seem better than some who attended them but didn’t seem to be good Catholics. As long as I was doing my best to be a good person, that was okay.
When I was working, I was still the same, though at times, I would resolve to myself to attend Sunday Masses. I would be doing it for a month or so, then, I would just go back to whenever I felt doing it. Then resolve to doing it again, then….always the same thing.
But since mid-July of 2004, I had found myself attending Sunday Masses. It felt it was the right thing to do since I had committed to Jesus during that time. As months passed by I began to enjoy attending it on Sundays for I found myself more into it.
November 2004, our leader in our prayer meeting announced an Advent Recollection with Healing Mass in St. Francis Church, Shaw Blvd. I got a bit interested, but not enough to encourage me to attend. I just joined the group a month before, not much of a transformation yet in me.
Two weeks later, the morning of our prayer meeting, as I read the homily on Sabbath, a daily Scriptural reference guide, the last paragraph was about retreats and recollections which I used as an introduction in my sharing in our meeting that night. Again, our leader mentioned the recollection which will be held the next day. I ignored it again. On our way home, she gave me a ride and mentioned about it again.
Came that day, November 19, 2004, Friday, one of my sisters called me around 3:00 p.m. inviting me to attend the same recollection for they were asked to attend it because she and her husband were members of the lectors and commentators in that church. My brother-in-law would be dropping by at our house to get something from my other sister, so she said I could go with Him. He would be fetching His son in Lourdes School beside that church, bring him home, then he would be back in the church with my sister. I thought for awhile, but then, hey, okay, I said yes. I began to prepare myself in a hurry. He would arrive in fifteen minutes.
When I entered the church, there were still a few people. So I chose a convenient spot and sat there, praying and observing. While I sat there alone, I got to ask myself what was I doing there. That was the first time I would be attending such a recollection with a Healing Mass. I wondered how I ended up in that place because I had no plan at all in going there….little did I know God wanted me to be there.
As the recollection started, we worshiped and praised God with songs. Then Fr. Joey Faller, the healing priest whom I didn’t knew back then that he was famous, began the teaching. I became so interested in it. I even took down notes. It was about Advent and the Holy Eucharist. He explained each and every part of the Mass in detail. He said:
The Holy Eucharist is a sacrament which is a vital source that nourishes our faith and enthusiasm. It is always a Healing Mass. It strengthens our relationship with God and His family. It is also an authentic agent for our transformation. The Holy Eucharist was born on a Holy Thursday during Passover.
It has two aspects. First is the sacrifice aspect which is a memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus. It is mysterious and involves participation. The second is the heavenly aspect where transubstanciation occurs. It is the mystery of the Real Presence of Jesus actually taking place in the Eucharist. This happens by a matter of faith.
The Mass proper has two parts. First is the Liturgy of the Word. At the beginning, we use the Name of the Holy Trinity as we make the Sign of the Cross – In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – the Name of God has power. We are gathered together to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in the Presence of a powerful God. During the Liturgy of the Word, we pray that we confess because we have sinned. Through it, we are commissioned to forgive and be forgiven. There is healing.
Then, we sing the “Glory to God” where we praise and glorify God not just by words but with our whole selves and by our lives. Next, silently, we are invited to pray and the priest lifts those prayers. We unite our hearts with these prayers.
Lastly, the Good News is proclaimed. This is where God speaks to us through the Scriptures and the homily. We should not focus on the priest and on how he delivers the teaching, but rather focus on the message that God wants us to listen to. The Word of God is a double-edged sword. When it strikes us, meaning, if we are affected, it means the Word of God is alive in us and she is telling us to change or she advises us. Priests are instruments of God as each of us is. They are here to proclaim the Good News. There is power in the Word. It is alive. Listen to it. During creation, when God said, “Let there be light!” There was light! God’s Word and action is one and the same.
When you open your heart. The Word is alive in you. Every part of the Mass is healing. When you attend the Mass do the following: Expect by asking yourself what the Gospel will tell you and expect for an answer. God answers; Carry by putting in your heart the Word of God and His message; Decide by resolving on what you will do about it. As James 1:22-25 says, “Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to His Word; instead, put it into practice. If you listen to the Word but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like. But if you look closely into the perfect law that sets people free, and keep on paying attention to it and do not simply listen and then forget it, but put it into practice – you will be blessed by God in what you do.”
The second part of the Holy Eucharist is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. In the offertory, we should offer our best times, our prime times, ourselves, our hearts, even our sufferings and pains. The Consecration is the peak of the Holy Mass and of Christian healing. When the bread and wine are lifted, we should visualize with faith that they will become the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus. God is making Himself available to us, not only spiritually but also physically, at this moment. During the communion rights, pray and believe there is power in it. The most complete prayer is Adoration, Contrition, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Believe that nothing will happen to you that is against God’s will. He will protect you and take care of you.
When we receive the Body of Christ during communion, we become like Him. When we eat His body, He is within us. We should give importance to His Holy Presence within us. This unites us with God. We are in communion with Him, as well as with His family for we receive the Eucharist with the community. Finally, in the concluding part, God is sending us to spread the Gospel and be His children of good values. We should constantly give thanks for all that we have and all that we are. Be Eucharistic people of God. The Holy Mass is life. It is a challenge for us to be missionary people in our home, workplace and community. We should offer spiritual gifts God has given us in service to others. We are the hands and feet of Christ.
I had attended Masses, and later I thought I knew its depth….but I was wrong. Wow, I never realized the essence of a Holy Eucharist until that afternoon. God made me experience its depth.
That moment, I realized the true meaning of a Holy Eucharist. I knew before that it was the highest form of prayer and worship. I also knew that the bread and wine turned into the Body and Blood of Christ during consecration by faith, but I only knew those facts by mind….not by heart.
When we celebrated the Holy Mass in that November recollection, I found so much meaning in it from the very beginning to the very end. During the consecration, I really felt in my heart the Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and I found myself close to tears because of my unworthiness to be so blessed and so loved by God. As I approached the priest during communion, I was a bit apprehensive. I would be receiving Jesus’ Body and Blood. Who was I to receive such a Holy Part of a Mighty God. When I received it, as it melted upon my tongue, it felt it was Jesus. When I knelt, all I could pray were praises and thanksgiving. A tear or two escaped my eyes. That was the very, very first time in my whole life that I felt such emotion during a Mass. I experienced God’s embrace. I experienced His Holy Presence. God loves me so much. No matter how much unworthy I am, He lifted me up. He made me a part of His family and gave me a chance to serve Him. I had never imagined that a Holy Mass had that kind of depth….that God Himself and His Word is so much alive in it.
God really amazed me on how He worked in my life. Several times I ignored His invitations to me but He made sure they hit me even when I didn’t get it the first time, the second , the third or more than that. He never gave up on me even to the last minute.
That night before I went to sleep, I reflected on what had just happened to me. God wanted me to be there in that recollection. He wanted me to experience the Holy Eucharist in the whole sense of its meaning. He wanted to impart to me its depth. During the last minute, He prompted my sister to invite me and her husband gave me a ride from the house to the church and vice versa. That was why before we parted, I thanked them and told them that God would bless them more because they had let Him use them for His purpose on me.
I agree with Kimberly Hahn. The Holy Mass is Jesus' celebration and when we accept His invitation, we come to the Lord’s table, celebrating with Him, becoming one with Him in the whole celebration and the climax, as Fr. Joey Faller said is the consecration....During this time, a dear friend said to me once that as the wine is lifted up and turned into Jesus’ Blood by faith, I can consecrate my heart or somebody’s heart for transformation, conversion, for cleansing and healing. I took her advice. Each time I pray, "Dear Jesus, I consecrate my (or I mention a person/s name/s) heart to Your Holy Blood. Transform me, oh Lord. Cleanse me and wash away all that is unholy in me. Protect me, dear Jesus with the embrace of Your Holy Blood, from my head to my toe. Amen." Believe it or not, I sense something powerful in that and I saw wonderful results because of this.
I also agree with them that when we eat the Holy Host....Jesus enters us not only spiritually, but also physically….I am one with my Beloved Lord Jesus. I am His tabernacle, a carrier of my Lord and His love. Isn’t it the Mass is such a wonderful gift, a grace given by God to commune with us and our brothers and sisters, His family, our family in Christ! How happy God must be as He sees us glorifying Him together in the Holy Eucharist.
In one Mass I attended, my eyes were closed and I’m contemplating on the celebration. Then, I had the impression that as it started, the roof of the church seemed to banish. There was a bright light covering us. The angels were singing, playing their instruments. The saints and all holy beings were singing praises, the Father was seated on the throne, on His right side was Jesus. How pleased God may be every time we come to the Lord’s table and receive fullness of the Gospel and Christ Jesus Himself. In the Holy Eucharist, we are renewed, we are embraced by God with His unconditional love....how can we not respond to the goodness of the Lord?
The Breathtaking Union
My eyes are closed, my palms unite
I am on my knees….
In full reverence to Jesus,
The bread is lifted up
By the grace of God and by my faith
The bread becomes Flesh,
The Flesh of the Most Holy One
Who suffered because He loves me so much.
The wine is lifted up
By the grace of God and by my faith
The wine becomes Blood,
The Blood of the Most High
Who died on the Cross for my own salvation.
As I approach to receive
The Holy Flesh and Blood of my Savior,
I felt so unworthy, and yet,
So blessed and so loved by my Almighty God
In my imperfect self, in my unworthiness,
He found a cherished child
Whom He lifts up and He embraces.
As Jesus’ Holy Self melts upon my tongue
He and I become united.
A living portion of the Great One
Is within me. Not just by spirit, but also physically
What can I do but lavish Him with
Praises and worships, thanks and love
He so deserves.
The Most Holy One is within me.
He is so filled with joy to be in me
As I am to have Him in me……….
A breathtaking union
Taking place only
In a Holy Eucharist
With my Beloved Jesus.
-luisadelacruz 120104
When the hour came, Jesus took His place at the table with the apostles. He said to them, “I have wanted so much to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer! For I tell you, I will never eat it until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.” Then Jesus took a cup, gave thanks to God and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. I tell you that from now on I will not drink this wine until the Kingdom of God comes.” Then He took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my Body, which is given to you. Do this in memory of Me.” In the same way, He gave them the cup after the supper, saying, “This is God’s new covenant sealed with my Blood, which is poured out for you. LUKE 22:14-20 (also MARK 14:22-26)
Jesus said to them, “I am telling you the truth: if you do not eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you will not have life in yourselves. Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood have eternal life, and I will raise them to life on the last day. For My Flesh is the real food; My Blood is the real drink. Those who eat My Flesh and drink My Blood live in Me, and I live in them. The Living Father sent Me, and because of Him I live also. In the same way whoever eats Me will live because of Me.” JOHN 6:53-57
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