CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH

 

The Most Holy Eucharist and Religious Life

 

In my last couple of reflections I have hammered hard at the secularism that has crept into religious life. This secularism has so penetrated into the very fabric of religious communities that it has become something almost normal and expected of religious. People seem almost amazed that some of us new communities don’t have the luxuries that the much older communities have. When our sister community was moving into their new convent in Fort Wayne, an elderly gentleman from the parish stood there in tears and exclaimed “Sisters! Real sisters wearing the full habit! I’m just amazed!” This secularism among religious has become so universally accepted by the religious themselves that the laity have even stopped expecting them to be religious. They want them to be and act like religious, and look like religious, but it’s almost as if they have just come to accept that religious have surrendered to the culture.

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Fidelity to the Magisterium, fidelity to the charism, and the habit as an outward expression of the interior consecration are the first three hallmarks of a solid community. If any one of these three marks are missing than you can guarantee that the community is not going to be able to nurture and sustain a vocation. Over and over again, time after time, I have witnessed so many young men and women leave these communities confused, frustrated, and some, so hurt by the malformation, have even entered lifestyles that were immoral. Good and true vocations can get twisted and ruined by a religious formation system that does not rest on the basic principles of religious life and fidelity to the Church.

One of the other telltale signs of a solid community is devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, the Holy Eucharist. Since the Holy Eucharist is Jesus Christ, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, it only makes sense that religious, consecrated to Christ, would have a deep devotion to His abiding, true, real and substantial presence. This fidelity to Our Lord’s Sacred Presence can be seen in the Holy Eucharistic Sacrifice of the Mass being central to their lives as religious, in the communal adoration of Christ in exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in the most proper reverence shown to His abiding presence and in fidelity to liturgical law.

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Resting on the wisdom of the ages, the Second Vatican Council documents and post council documents have continually emphasized and re-emphasized the absolute centrality of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for religious communities. It is in the reception of Holy Communion that we are brought to union with Christ and through and in that union with Him, we are brought to a deeper union with one another. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass bounds the community as one and makes that union, one to another, real, strong and effective. Our consecration to Christ is renewed, strengthened and deepened. It only makes sense that a religious community not only attend Daily Mass, but even attend it together, as a family. Of course religious should celebrate the Holy sacrifice of the Mass with the wider community. However, the Church also teaches that it is important for them to gather as a community itself for the Holy Mass.

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The Church also teaches that Holy Communion leads to adoration. One naturally flows into the other and vice versa. Communion leads to adoration and adoration to communion. If what Jesus said is true, “My flesh is real food and my blood true drink”, and if we truly believe His words, “This is my body” then

why are we religious, who profess vows to this same Jesus, not on our knees before Him? Our faith is certain of our Lord’s presence in the Holy Eucharist. We are convinced of it, convicted of the truth and for two millennium men, woman and even children have laid down their lives for this truth. Why then are religious not making at least a daily Holy Hour?

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I personally know of a religious community that once had daily meditation before the Holy Eucharist. Sometime in the 70’s the community began to fall to the secularism of the day. One of the rooms in the basement was turned into a TV room. Soon enough the brothers were no longer at adoration. They were spending hours, many hours, before the television. One day one of the brothers came into the TV room carrying the sanctuary lamp candle. The other friars began to laugh and jeer at him, “What are you doing?” they asked. The simple lay brother responded, “Here is your God! Worship your God!” This rather prophetic action on the part of the brother was scoffed at and he was ridiculed for it. The other brothers missed the point. That house is now closed.

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As religious, and especially as diocesan priests, we are consecrated to the Lord and given to belong to Him and to Him alone. In our vow of chastity we commit the fullness of ourselves, the fullness of our heart, soul, mind and strength to the One who has first given His all to us. Our vow to love, that is contained within the vow of chastity, is a mere response of God’s own vow to be with us until the end of time. We should say that it’s not only His vow to be with us that calls us to a radical response, but also the fact that He continues and will always continue to give us the fullness of Himself to us in the Holy Eucharist.

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Truly, only in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass does our vow of chastity really make sense. When we realize the perpetual self-gift that the Lord makes of Himself, a loving self-gifted act, it calls for that radical response on our part to love as we have been loved. To put it plainly, if the Good Lord Jesus is going to give Himself, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, to me, should I also not give Him the radical fullness of my love? What should I hold back for myself? What should I hold back of myself? Perhaps, it would be best to quote from St. Francis’ writing on the Holy Eucharist, “Hold back nothing of yourselves, for yourselves, so that He who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally.”

As He desires to be received by us, so does He desire to receive us. For a religious, there is no greater renewal of the vows of self-gift than the daily attendance of Holy Mass. A religious who, without grave and serious reason, neglects to attend Daily Mass, is really neglecting the self-gift of themselves to God and, I dare say, rejecting the self-gift of God to them.

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Not all religious communities have the tradition of Eucharistic adoration. However, all have practiced some type of meditation before the tabernacle. In the light of our recent crisis of only 30% of Catholics believing in the True Presence and in light of Pope St. John Paul the Great’s call for the new millennium to be “intensely Eucharistic”, it only makes sense that those periods of meditation should be done before the exposed Blessed Sacrament. However, I would not ask a community to change or even alter their age-old practices. On the other hand, all communities, despite their traditions have grave need of spending time before our Lord’s true and abiding presence.

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As a priest, I am often in awe of how the Lord humbles Himself in my own hands. I think of how He has bound Himself to transubstantiate bread and wine into His very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in my hands and at any time I celebrate the Mass and say those simple yet powerful words “This is my body”, “This is the cup of my blood”. As Jesus made Himself obedient to the Father unto death, death on a Cross, so too does He remain obedient in the perpetual self-offering of Himself to the Heavenly Father.

 

When we reflect upon the Lord’s own obedience, especially in His obedience in His perpetual gift of Himself to us, an obedience He so lovingly, willfully and generously fulfills, so the Holy Mass reminds us of our own obedience to God. The Holy Mass reminds us that we too are called to lovingly, willfully and generously give ourselves to God, to community and to our ministry. The perpetual self-gift of ourselves, like our Lord’s gift in the Eucharist, must be a complete and total gift of body, blood and soul. We repeat again the words of St. Francis’ reflection on the Eucharist, “Hold back nothing of yourselves, for yourselves so that He who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally.”

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The “condescension” of God in the Most Holy Eucharist is no small matter. As religious, our constant reflection on Our Lord’s “self-emptying”, His absolute Humility is a call for us to always renew our poverty. As Christ so humbles Himself to become food for man, so we too need to be free of all earthly attachments so that we may receive the fullness of God and become attached to Him. Daily the Lord reminds us to die to self. Live for Him and to trust in the Heavenly Father who never ceases to give us “our daily bread”. The Holy Mass is such a reminder to us of how we must, in imitation of Christ, live out, in a most practical and sublime way, our radical religious call to poverty.

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So much more could be said about the incredible ways that the Holy Eucharist influences the life of religious. It’s everything to us because it is Jesus Christ, “The Way, the Truth, and the Life”. We are vowed and consecrated to Christ and so it only makes sense that we are, in fact, vowed and consecrated to The Holy Eucharist who is Christ. This is why it is essential that every religious order, community, congregation or society have at its center the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and an intense

devotion to the True Presence through adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or serious prayer time before the Tabernacle. Any religious community that does not have the Holy Eucharist as the “source and summit” of its life is destined for death.

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As you yourself pray and discern God’s will for you and your life, you should yourself be praying before the Holy Eucharist. If you can, get to Daily Mass. If your schedule doesn’t permit that, then at least one more day than Sunday would be extremely helpful for you.

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Also, see if there is a perpetual adoration chapel in your area. One thing that our friars have shared as one of the biggest helps to their vocation discernment has been Eucharistic adoration. The Lord is the One Who calls you. He alone has designed you to reach perfection through your vocation. So doesn’t it just make sense to discern your vocation before Him? If you don’t have a perpetual adoration chapel near you, then get to a local Catholic Church and spend some time before the Tabernacle.

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As you continue to discern various and vast communities of religious orders out there, you must be cautious and be sure that the community is truly Eucharistic in its approach to the religious life. This includes, as an extremely important point, fidelity to liturgical law. Any community that messes around with the Holy Mass is not a place where you want to be! Fidelity to the liturgical law is intimately connected to fidelity to the Magisterium and true devotion to Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist. It would be good for you, if you haven’t already done so, to read the last encyclicals of St. John Paul the Great regarding the liturgy. Also, there is nothing stopping you from reading the actual rite of the Mass. Know it and be sure that the community you are discerning is not straying from it. In the Missal for priests, our instructions are in red and the prayers are in black print. The old adage is “do what is in red, read what’s in black-nothing more or less!” There is another old adage which will be very telling of the orders dedication to the Eucharist. In Latin it goes, ”Lex orandi, lex credendi”. As you pray, so you believe. If the liturgy is done in fidelity to the Magisterium, it is sure to be fruitful. If the liturgy is unfaithful to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal then the community is sure to also be unfaithful and, therefore, not worth your time. Continue to discern by asking these tough questions of the vocation director and other members of the community:

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1. Does the community celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as a community daily?

2. Does your community have, as a practice, daily Eucharistic adoration or communal meditation before the Eucharist?

3. (If a men’s community) Do your priests celebrate the Holy Mass on their “days off”?

4. Are the members of your community required to go to Daily Mass when they’re on their “day off” or on vacation?

5. Does your community, as a whole, follow the liturgical rubrics faithfully, according to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal?

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These and other questions like them should help you to discern a community’s fidelity to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Remember, as you make your way to the day of your profession, you are looking to give your all to Christ. The gift that you make of yourself is only a response to Christ who has already made Himself self-gift to you. As you prepare to consecrate yourself to Him, continue to reflect on just how perfectly He has consecrated the bread and wine into His own very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity so that He might bind Himself to you forever. Seek that perfect union with Christ in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. One day, you will be able to say to Jesus, “This is my body given up for You!”

 

 

Lectio for Chapter the Sixteenth

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John 2:1-12

On the third day there was a marriage at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast.” So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

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After this he went down to Caper′na-um, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples; and there they stayed for a few days.

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