St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

The Eucharist is one of many proofs that being a Christian means much more than just being nice. In the Eucharist Jesus Christ gives himself completely and unreservedly to each one of us. He comes into our lives! And when we receive him, we commit our lives to him. This is the heart of Christianity: a person-to-person encounter, inside the Church, with our God.      Nowhere is this heart to heart appeal of Christ more clearly sounded than during the Last Supper. Picture the scene:

                The Twelve are gathered with their Master for the most sacred meal of the year.  The stone walls of the upper room are lit with the warm light of flickering torches and lamps. The apostles and Jesus are reclining at the low table, eager to share the lamb, the bread, the wine, and the bitter herbs.  The Apostles sense the added intensity in Jesus' words and manner, and their own expectations rise to a higher pitch.

                When Jesus interrupts the Passover ritual by standing up, their eyes are fixed on him. Conversation ceases. Eating stops.    Jesus walks over to the large water jug, the silence deepens.   Slowly, deliberately, but still without a word, Jesus begins washing their feet. Only Peter breaks the silence, but he quickly quiets down.  Finally, Jesus gets up and once again takes his place at the table. The Apostles are turned towards him, their faces begging for an explanation.

He looks at each of them. At last he breaks the long silence: "... You call me ‘teacher' and ‘master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am..."  And then he begins his Last Supper discourse, the longest speech of Jesus recorded in the Gospels, the blinding revelation of his volcanic love. Extending through four chapters, it is even longer than the Sermon on the Mount.   Jesus has so much he wants to say to us, so much he wants to do for us and through us. Too much, in fact to put into writing, which is why he decided to stay with us and give himself to us directly, entirely, in the Eucharist.

A few months before his death Archbishop Fulton Sheen was asked in a television interview about who had inspired him (source: http://www.sign.org/articles/how-a-young-chinese-girl).   He replied that it was an eleven year old Chinese girl. He’d heard a story told be her pastor.

 When the Communists had taken over China they went into the girl’s parish (after locking up the priest in his house) and broke open the tabernacle and scattered the consecrated hosts on the floor. She’d witnessed it all, but the guards didn’t take notice of her.  For thirty-two nights she came back to the parish, snuck past the guard, and, after praying for an hour before the consecrated hosts, took one with her tongue (since laity at the time were not allowed to touch the Eucharist with their hands), and received Communion. On the last night, having prayer for an hour and having consumed the last consecrated host, the guard discovered her and killed her.

    After hearing that story Fulton Sheen started doing a daily holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament and promoted devotion to the Eucharist.