St. Anthony the Abbot Catholic Church

Thanks to the St. Anthony the Abbot Family Ministry: JMJ Hernando for the great All Saints Festival.  Hopefully we can make it an annual event.

Every day we all have opportunities to help those around us get rid of the wrong idea of God and build up the right idea of God. We do this by showing forth God's goodness in the way we treat those around us.

A man named Kagawa was a famous Japanese convert to Christianity from last century. He tells how a missionary helped him to understand the love of God. Kagawa was recuperating from a sickness during his student days.    When he heard a knock on the door he asked the visitor not to enter: "Don't come in; I have a contagious disease."  But the missionary entered anyway, offering the following explanation: "I have something more contagious than disease. I have come with the love of God."  That act of selflessness convinced Kagawa that the Christian God was worth a second look.

In a sense, our life-mission is to do precisely that: to invest our talents in such a way that we bring the Good News of God's trustworthiness, forgiveness, and love to all the people who are sick and dying with loneliness, selfishness, and regret.

One of the best ways to continually purify our minds of left-over wrong ideas about God is spending time with Christ in the Eucharist. During Mass, at the words of consecration spoken by the priest over the bread and wine, Christ Himself becomes truly present. The fact that Jesus has chosen to remain with us in this way reminds us of what kind of a God He really is.  He doesn't want to frighten us with His power, intimidate us with His knowledge, or dazzle us with His glory.

Instead, He wants to strengthen our souls with His divine food, just as natural food strengthens our bodies - that's what Holy Communion is all about.  But He also wants to accompany us, to listen to us, to simply stay with us.

And so, after Mass, the Hosts that haven't been received in Communion are kept in the little gold box called the Tabernacle. And for the rest of the week, Jesus waits there, patiently, humbly, quietly. He is thinking of us all the time, continuing to offer himself as a sacrifice to the Father for our sake. We can come into the Church and visit Him at any time, for five minutes or for five hours, sharing our joys and sorrows, begging for His help, praying and meditating, or simply sitting with Him and letting His grace penetrate our minds and hearts.

He is always present for you in the Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. You can call the office or ask me after mass for the code. He is there waiting 24/7. Frequent Holy Communion and frequent visits to the Eucharist heal our suspicions of God, gradually transforming us into better followers of Christ, just as the words of consecration transform bread and wine into his Body and Blood.

Today let's thank Jesus for giving us this constant reminder of God's goodness and generosity, the Eucharist, and let's promise Him that from now on we will use it better than ever.

"...I would like to take the opportunity that today's solemnity offers me to strongly recommend to pastors and all the faithful the practice of Eucharistic adoration. I express my appreciation to the institutes of consecrated life, as also to the associations and confraternities that dedicate themselves to this practice in a special way. They offer to all a reminder of the centrality of Christ in our personal and ecclesial life.

I am happy to testify that many young people are discovering the beauty of adoration, whether personal or in community. I invite priests to encourage youth groups in this, but also to accompany them to ensure that the forms of adoration are appropriate and dignified, with sufficient times for silence and listening to the word of God. In life today, which is often noisy and scattered, it is more important than ever to recover the capacity for interior silence and recollection: Eucharistic adoration permits one to do this not only within one's ‘I’ but rather in the company of that ‘You’ full of love who is Jesus Christ, the God who is near us."  (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, 10 June 2007)