Dear St. Rita Parishioners,

            I invite you to consider committing to an hour of Eucharistic Adoration on Friday nights/Saturday mornings. We need more men and women to have the selfless generosity to pray for the parish, fellow parishioners, the world, and the Church. Your dedication will not only bring many graces to you and your family, but it will be source of strength and conversion for many. (Email Mike Cahill to sign up!) The Eucharist – the source and summit of the Christian life – is the Real Presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ, whose Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity are given to us under the species of bread and wine in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Without the Eucharist, we cannot live! The Eucharist is our strength, our food for the journey. Padre Pio commented that it would be easier for the earth to exist without the sun than without the Holy Mass, in which the Eucharist in confected. When Christ promised to be with us until the end of the age, He also had left us the Eucharist as a way of fulfilling that promise. He has done so because He thirsts for you and for me. He – God – has made Himself in a certain sense dependent on you and me, that you and I might respond in love to His need, and thus be satiated by Him, by feeding on His Flesh and imbibing His Blood. 

            Ponder, then, the wisdom of the saints regarding the Eucharist: 

“In this world it is impossible for all subjects to speak with their king. But everyone who wishes can find Jesus, the King of Heaven, in the Blessed Sacrament, and may speak with Him without constraint.” – Teresa of Avila

“A Holy Hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament is worth more than a thousand years of human glory.” – Padre Pio

“Do you realize that Jesus is there in the Blessed Sacrament expressly for you, for you alone? He burns with desire to come into your heart!” – Therese of Lisieux

“Each time you approach the Blessed Sacrament remember that Jesus has been waiting for you for twenty centuries for this personal visit from you.” – Josemaria Escriva

“Mankind’s humble adoration of God in the Holy Eucharist will be the weight that crushes the head of satan.” – Jesus to Ven. Sister Consolata Bertone

“Christians, this is the hour to defend your King and to keep him company in the profound isolation in which he finds himself. How few, O Lord, are the servants who remain faithful to you!” – Teresa of Avila

“On earth there is nothing more meritorious we can do than visiting Jesus often in the Blessed Sacrament” – Teresa of Avila

“To converse with You, O King of Glory, no third person is needed. You are always ready in the Sacrament of the Altar to give audience to all. All who desire You always find You there, and converse with you face to face.” – Teresa of Avila

            And the list goes on! In addition to Eucharistic Adoration, we ought to ponder how we comport ourselves when we receive the Holy Communion. This is not just a cute ritual that we perform every Sunday. We are approaching Calvary, the place and moment of the Divine Sacrifice that saves us from our sins. It is an exercise, and more than an exercise, in faith, hope, charity, piety, justice, worship, humility, gratitude, and many other virtues. When we approach the Sacrament reverently and appropriately, we are paying our due homage to God our Creator and Redeemer. How, then, ought we to receive? 

            You know that there are various options – standing (officially the norm in the US) or kneeling, in the hand or on the tongue – and it does us good to take a moment and ponder seriously: Am I receiving the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament in the way that most acknowledges and respects His Divine Presence in front of me? 

            We cannot be afraid of worshipping God too much, nor of overdoing our piety towards Him. We can’t actually overdo our piety towards Him, because we can’t repay our debt to Him. Therefore, I encourage you to be bold in your worship of Our Lord! Take the time to prepare for Mass. Ensure that you’ve fasted for at least an hour before Communion, and feel free to extend the fast a bit longer as well. Dress appropriately for Mass. Arrive early to pray and stay a bit late to make your thanksgiving to God after receiving Him. Reverently receive Him in Holy Communion, and proclaim by your deeds that God is present among us!

In Christ,

Fr. Christensen