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Jesus wants you back
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March 1, 2023I’d venture to say that every single one of us has been impacted in some way by the events of the last three years. As I write this article now and look back, in some ways it all still seems a little unreal. To think that for a month, the entire world essentially shut down. I vividly remember driving back to St. Thomas Aquinas in Thibodaux on the day it was decided that the public celebration of Masses would end. I began thinking of many of the parishioners who so faithfully attended Mass there every single day, knowing that I was about to celebrate Mass with them for the final time for the foreseeable future. As I thought of them and what they’d feel at hearing the news, and as I sat with all the emotions in my heart as everything still seemed so unknown, I just cried as I drove home. That final Mass is one that I’ll remember for a long time.
As we all tried to wrestle with how to spiritually minister to the people during those weeks, it didn’t take long for the livestream Mass to become the main method. All you needed was a smartphone and a Facebook page, and you were good to go. It was the best way that we could manage to ensure that our people still had some access to their parish community, to their pastors, and to the Mass that they longed for. I think we’d all agree that, especially in those early days, it took some getting used to. People watching Mass in their living rooms, priests celebrating Mass in an empty church with a phone in front of them – it all felt so strange. It was clear to everyone that this wasn’t how it was supposed to be. Something was missing that was incredibly important, despite the truth of the reality of Jesus’ presence with us always and the graces of making a spiritual communion.
Another Mass that I’ll remember for a long time is that first Mass we were able to celebrate together, albeit outdoors, on that 2020 Mother’s Day weekend. Hundreds of people gathered in the field next to St. Thomas, eager to be together and to receive the sacrament of Jesus’ body and blood for the first time in a long time. The experience of witnessing people receive Jesus with such joy, often with tears in their eyes, was an incredible grace for me. What was once missing was now restored. It was clear to me that this is how it was supposed to be. Our hearts just instinctively knew it. The virtual relationship with our faith, although it was the best we could do at the time, just didn’t cut it.
It’ll take many years before we fully grasp the full impact – both positive and negative – that COVID-19 had on our society. I remember one of the many graces that I heard from people was the experience of slowing down and really relearning how to live. Our pace of life had gotten so frenetic, so scattered and frenzied, that we were often just going from one event to the next with no end in sight. The lockdown provided many families with the opportunity to just be together and rediscover what it meant to really spend time together. Three years later, I’d venture to say that most of us, myself included, have pretty quickly snapped back to that frenetic pace of life.Except now, there’s a difference: We now have a much more prominent digital dimension to our lives than we had before. A meeting that might have required me to spend an evening driving to be present for could now be a recording that I could watch whenever I wanted. “Hopping on a Zoom” is commonplace now for groups that once would have gathered in-person. I think that digital dimension is a big reason why many of us snapped back to the frenetic life – now that I don’t have to “waste time” having to go somewhere, I can get more done in my day, and just watch the recording whenever it’s convenient for me.
I don’t mean to imply that this digital dimension post-COVID is all bad, but I do think there’s an important way that it can influence the practice of our faith that goes against the experience we had that 2020 Mother’s Day weekend. When we have so many other weekend commitments, it’s easy to settle for “just live-streaming” Mass whenever I have time, as opposed to prioritizing driving to a nearby parish. It’s better than nothing, right?
While it could perhaps be a good thing that some meetings and obligations have shifted to the digital realm, that can never be the case with the Mass and the sacraments. One of the core truths of Christianity is the fact that God himself truly became man in the person of Jesus Christ. He didn’t just appear in a vision, nor did he choose to simply be spiritually present with us, as he was in the Old Testament. He chose to take on our human nature, assume human flesh, and live a fully human life. Jesus Christ wanted to show us that both his desire and our destiny is that we be united with him always in our very bodies.
It’s true that Christ is present to us in many ways. The Catechism of the Catholic Church lists some of them: In His word, in the church’s prayer, where two or three are gathered in His name, in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned (cf. CCC 1373-1374). But only in the Eucharist is Christ substantially present in his body, blood, soul and divinity. And only by receiving the Eucharist into our bodies is that substantial presence of Jesus united to us. It’s a truth that can never be forgotten. God certainly provided for us during the time when sacramental reception of the Eucharist wasn’t possible, and he certainly continues to provide for all of those who cannot physically attend Mass for health or other grave reasons, but those realities cannot trump the importance of what the Eucharist means for us and our faith.
Live-streaming Mass and attending in person can’t be seen as two equal ways to practice our faith, nor can live-streaming be a valid option when I am “too busy” to attend Mass. It is, in fact, a grave sin to miss Mass in-person on purpose through our own fault. The reason for this isn’t because God wants to be demanding or the church wants you in the pew to fill the collection basket. Rather, it’s to show just how essential the Eucharist is in our lives. It’s because Jesus loves you so deeply that he wants nothing to get in the way of uniting himself to you. It is in the Eucharist that we are closest to our Lord, and it is from the Eucharist that the healing work of his grace can touch us most deeply. Jesus chose to reveal his love for each of us precisely in the gift of the Eucharist. He didn’t want this gift to remain only a spiritual reality, but wanted it to be incarnated and tangible. It was the way Christ wanted us to remember and experience his love. That’s why he told the apostles at this Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me.” Receiving the Eucharist allows us to receive that love, poured out over 2,000 years ago, anew every time we attend Mass. In ancient Jewish worship, the priest would take the Bread of the Presence (a prefiguration of the Eucharist), and show it to the people, crying out, “Behold, God’s love for you!” That’s a beautiful representation of what the Eucharist means to us. Behold, God’s love for you, his body broken and his blood poured out – all for you.
With any other relationship, if we only interacted with the other person digitally, it would be clear that something was missing. We’d want to be together with that person, to be in their physical presence. Zoom and FaceTime are great on occasion, but nothing could replace being together with a loved one, a friend or a family member. Why would it be any different in our relationship with Jesus? In just the same way, he longs to be with you, not only spiritually, but also by his sacramental presence in the Eucharist.
Maybe you’ve drifted away from going regularly to Mass, or maybe going to Mass just feels like an empty ritual of obligation. Maybe the Mass is at the heart of the practice of your faith. Wherever you find yourself, I’d invite you to stay with this reality of what the Eucharist truly means for us, to receive God’s love poured out for you and given to you in the Eucharist. This is a love every single one of us was created for and every single one of us longs for. Don’t let anything stand in the way of the single most important relationship of your life.
(Father Patrick Riviere is the administrator of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Church parish in Chackbay and priest liaison/Sunday specialist of the diocesan Office of Parish Support.)