The Eucharist

April 18, 2010

The Eucharist

In the most blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church.
-Vatican II, Presbyterorum Ordinis, 5.2

This past weekend we began welcoming our second graders to the Lord’s Table. I look into their faces and think what a gift we have in Jesus. I am also remembering Fr. Moran who would make every child feel special to Jesus and to him.

The Eucharist is one of the three Sacraments of Initiation, the other two being Baptism and Confirmation. In the early Church, Baptism was followed by Confirmation and then First Holy Communion. The Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith and is the culmination of Christian initiation. You may be asking yourselves, if this is true, why is Confirmation after Eucharist? In the early Church, the faithful would get their children baptized and then would wait for the Bishop to come around to confirm their children. This could be months or perhaps years between visits to the parish. The end result was that fewer and fewer persons were confirmed because parents couldn’t always get their children to the bishop and thus very few Catholics were receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Eventually, it was decided that to get more people to the Lord’s table that parish priests could allow the Sacrament of the Eucharist to precede Confirmation. This is where we are at today in most parishes.

At the Second Vatican Council, the bishops restored the original order of Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. There is a movement in some parts of the world to restore the Sacraments into their proper order to mirror the intentions of the early Church.

This week I would like you all to reflect back to your First Communion. What did it mean to you to receive Jesus for the very first time? What was it like for you when you first experienced the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist? Today, as we receive the Eucharist let us thank Jesus for His Holy Sacrifice and to pray for all our young children as they encounter Jesus on a personal level for the first time. And, in memory of Fr. Moran, who so loved celebrating the Eucharist with children, let us welcome each child as he did: “Jesus loves you… and so do I.”
God Bless… Holly Clark