Today we celebrate the Eucharist, it is one of my favorite feasts of the year. Really, the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is why I am still Catholic, and a big part of why I am a priest today. God is with us! I think a lot about the Eucharist, but also about the Eucharist as it relates to reception at communion - about how Jesus is distributed, about how people receive Him, about every aspect - a lot of thought, maybe too much thought. But then again it is the Source and Summit of the Christian Faith, so how can too much thought go into that? One blessing of the covid shutdown was the time to think, to examine why it is that we do what we do. We stopped distributing the Precious Blood from the chalice and we changed the way we did communion, one section at a time to reduce chance for exposure. Now that we seem to be on the other side of it all, I’d like to make a small change to better facilitate communion, while still limiting the number of ministers, but increasing the reverence.
I’ve put a little map in the bulletin, and I have experimented with this here and there, but I’d like to start doing this on a regular basis. So this is the first thing, it’s like the zipper method when driving and approaching a lane closure, that two lines form in the side aisles and we go back and forth, taking turns receiving. It actually goes pretty quickly, like it does in driving but the point is not the speed. In fact, I think many people were taught to try to speed up the normal line by taking a step to the right or the left and then consuming the body of Jesus. But what’s really more important? The speed of the line or carefully, reverently, and presently consuming the Body of Christ?
We know that the first step is the most important. Now I’d like you to think about your first step after the minister places the Eucharist in your hand. If you receive on the tongue then this doesn’t apply, but when receiving on the hand, I’d just like your first “step” to be from your hand to mouth. If you are wearing a mask, pull the mask down right there and consume, so that might be a pre-first step, but before you take a step with your feet, to the right or the left, consume the host. Part of my goal is just to do what the Church really asks of us, despite what we may have learned or what we may have been doing recently. This is how it is described in the Roman Missal, or the big red book: “As soon as the communicant receives the host, he or she consumes the whole of it.” So to me, “as soon as” means immediately, no other steps first. Another Part of my goal is to try to protect the Eucharist. Through covid and walking away and removing the mask to consume, it just feels like we got sloppy. And it just doesn’t seem like there is a need for people to consume while walking. The other problem with that is the person distributing can’t see who consumes when, sometimes it feels like they are half way back to their pew, and what I really want to prevent is, or make sure of, is that nobody is taking Jesus “to-go.” There were several instances of this that happened in Cedar Rapids where people were trying to steal the Eucharist for malicious purposes (witchcraft). So then suddenly after an email from the Archbishop telling us to be careful we are all a little more cautious, but it is difficult to try to tell if someone received or not.
My desire is that everyone would just receive the body immediately, and I’ll be able to see that more easily, and then take that step left or right, no reason to consume the Body of Jesus while walking away. I believe that doing that will make the reception of communion more reverent. And this is really my hope with a lot of the liturgy things we are doing, is just to increase the reverence, recognizing that this is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ the Lord, right here. Like the God of the Universe is right here! That He loves us so much that He would give His life on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, yet continue to be present in the form of bread and wine made His body and blood. This is truly a miracle much like today’s Gospel reading, the miracle that Jesus performed feeding 5,000 with just five loaves and two fish. This was not a miracle of sharing as some like to claim, that was a theory invented by a German rationalist who didn’t believe in miracles only about 150 years ago. Nothing in the gospel indicates sharing, and we do believe in miracles!
Now, receiving the Blood from the chalice may be available at one station in the middle, I don’t want to say it always will, and although it isn’t necessary because we receive the fullness of Jesus, body, blood, soul and divinity in the host, receiving from the chalice is a fuller expression. There’s enough room up here that I feel like everyone who wants to navigate to it will be able to do that okay. We used to have 8 stations at every Mass, 4 chalices, but limiting the number of chalices limits the chance of a spill. You might wonder, what’s the big deal? But again, the chalice contains the real Blood of Christ. A drop of what looks to us like wine is actually the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the God of the universe. It’s a HUGE deal. And it is my job as the priest to protect Him when He so vulnerably offers Himself to us.