By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
The Eucharist is the Lord’s invitation to Christian authenticity. Living in a state of grace so as to receive the Lord and grow in grace is the definition of the faithful Christian life with eternal salvation in view as a goal and source of hope.
Some of our parents abstain from reception of the Eucharist for extended periods of time while attending Holy Mass with their children, ostensibly for the purpose of raising them in the faith. Our faith teaches us that the presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is given to change our lives. Our children, however, cannot be expected to believe that the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist will change their lives if our parents are unwilling to change their lives in order to receive the Eucharist.
The answer includes preaching more frequently about the relationship between Confession and the Eucharist. The idea of receiving Christ truly present can perhaps seem intimidating for some. Confession makes the approach to such an inestimable gift seem less daunting because we are approaching the Lord humbly and, having accounted for our faults, particularly of mortal sin as is required before reception, we can be confident that we do as He wishes and truly receive the gift of grace which is His desire in giving Himself.
There are occasions when the priest must approach individuals and simply tell them one on one that they are in an objective state of mortal sin because they have refused to attend weekly Mass with their parents as opportunity offered. Weak parenting skills when it comes to Sunday mornings that somehow don’t come into play on school mornings or when getting to soccer games are confounding and certainly contribute to the dilemma.
The fact remains, however, that if a child or parent has by choice absented himself from Sunday Mass and then shows up for a special event such as a Confirmation or First Communion, the opportunity for a teaching moment as well as requirement for proper sacramental practice should not be lost or eschewed. Hope is born through consistent encounters with truth, which is the sign of the presence of charity in Christ.
After offering the option for reception of the Eucharist while kneeling, through use of our altar rail at my parish for nearly four years, I remain baffled at the low number of parents who opt for this manner of eucharistic reception for their children on a weekly basis. It is not a good pedagogy to go back and forth from kneeling to standing with the vestigial “bow,” a liturgical nod to the norm of kneeling which often ends up being no more than a nod of the head.
If it is ever good to kneel for reception of the Eucharist, then it is always good to kneel for reception of the Eucharist. There is no more powerful way to confess with the witness of one’s actions that one believes in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is appointing a delegate who as of August must approve all speakers for any events of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). The congregation has highlighted the strange ideas surrounding a “consciousness evolution” that the LCWR has adopted as a kind of corporate modernist heresy. In pushing this agenda, they have proven unable to supervise themselves as a self-professed Catholic order of women religious.
The prefect of congregation, Gerhard Cardinal Mueller, has bluntly stated that they have crossed the line from Catholic teaching into open heresy. The new requirement for approval of speakers at conferences is offered in the hope that these women religious can be restored to and kept in unity with the Church. The Church’s concern for authentic teaching is based on the fact that there cannot be true unity in the Church without common profession of the Deposit of Faith.
Authenticity in Christ means living and professing the truth in oneness with the Lord we truly receive in the Eucharist because we believe what we do. Reception of the Eucharist makes us truly members of His Mystical Body on earth as begun for us in Baptism. Knowledge of and assent to the truth in faith and morals simply reflects the eucharistic reality of life in Christ.
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(Follow Fr. Cusick on Facebook at Reverendo Padre-Kevin Michael Cusick and on Twitter @MCITLFrAphorism. E-mail Father at mcitl.blogspot.com@gmail.com.)
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