Having returned from Hawaii, just in time for Lent, I am reminded that we are in the middle of the three year Eucharistic Revival set forth by the bishops of our country to counteract the surprising fact that less than 40% of professed Catholics believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The poll was taken in 2019, just six months before the pandemic hit the world. One wonders what the number of believers would be today?
Sunrise over Mauna Kea- The Big Island Sitting in the warm Hawaiian sun which for me is so healing- having grown up in southern California, I suppose i have always been a sun "worshiper". Being back in the cold, damp Northwest, I long for warmer days, but know that the healing rays of Jesus in the Eucharist are far more effective that the brightest, warmest sun. The Eucharist nourishes, maintains and restores love in our soul. The Eucharist is the only way to keep our souls healthy.
In receiving the Eucharist, we bring our helplessness and pains to Jesus, asking Him to touch our body and our hearts, to give us the strength we bear what we feel we cannot of ourselves. We ask Him to touch our woundedness, our weaknesses, our infidelities, our sin, and all that keeps us from a relationship with Him and His graces of joy and love.
This Lent I shall try to focus on all the graces daily given from receiving His Body and Blood, and pray for all who do not believe in the healing warmth of His Presence.
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