Priests preach on the Eucharist, saintly witness, and good soil
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Eight days of parish prayer vigils in the presence of relics of St. Manuel González García and Blessed Carlo Acutis included Mass at each parish.
With each Mass came a homily.
“For both of them, the Real Presence of the Eucharist transformed them, led them to prayer, and led them to love and serve other members of the Body of Christ,” said Father Daniel Merz, pastor of St. Thomas More Newman Center Parish in Columbia.
St. Manuel and Blessed Carlo came to know Christ by adoring him in the Holy Eucharist.
Their relics have been displayed in churches throughout the United States as part of the National Eucharistic Revival called for by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2021.
The purpose of the three-year Revival is to reinvigorate among Catholics the belief in and reverence for the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
Things to avoid
Father Dylan Schrader, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Westphalia and St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Folk, included a message of caution in his homily at Mass during the July 14 vigil in Westphalia.
“I am convinced that for most of us, what helps or harms our faith in the Eucharist is not so much speculative theology as our practical habits,” said Fr. Schrader.
“We can say to each other over and over again that the Eucharist is really Christ himself, truly present — but if we don’t act like it, it doesn’t sink in,” he stated.
Fr. Schrader pointed to two things he has seen that destroy people’s faith in the Eucharist: the habitual reception of Holy Communion in the state of mortal sin, and habitual irreverence toward the Blessed Sacrament.
“In other words, if we want to build up faith in the Eucharist, it’s not just a matter of teaching information, but of taking our belief seriously — of living it,” Fr. Schrader stated.
“This means proper spiritual preparation for receiving Holy Communion, including Confession when necessary, and proper attitudes of bodily reverence,” he said.
“Prepare our hearts”
Monsignor David Cox, pastor of St. Stanislaus Parish in Wardsville and St. Margaret of Antioch Parish in Osage Bend, offered a morning Mass and two Sunday Vigil Masses in the presence of the relics during the July 15 vigil in Wardsville.
At the morning Mass, he reminded the people that they are in the presence of the saints at every Mass.
“Having the relics of the saints with us is a visible reminder of what takes place in mystery all the time,” the priest stated.
He spoke of St. Manuel as a young priest filled with zeal going to his first parish with great expectations, but winding up disappointed with the indifference to the faith which he found.
“But, rather than becoming disillusioned and bitter himself, he told Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament that he would love the Eucharist for his people and thus began the conversion of that parish,” Msgr. Cox stated.
He described Blessed Carlo as an amazing young man.
“God is using him to point to Jesus present in the Eucharist!” he stated.
That evening, Msgr. Cox noted that Blessed Carlo and St. Manuel were “fertile ground” on which God sowed seeds that have produced a fruitful harvest.
“God sows generously those seeds of grace in the hearts of all of us,” the priest noted. “The ground on which the seeds fall depends on us. Are we preparing ourselves for those seeds?”
The saints remind Christians to approach the Eucharist with wonder, awe and love.
Each time a person receives Holy Communion it presents a new opportunity to grow in Jesus.
“If we prepare our hearts, our faith and love will grow,” said Msgr. Cox. “If we approach the sacrament with anger, indifference or in a state of serious sin then faith and love will not grow in us.”
Tilling the soil
Fr. Merz offered Sunday Mass during the closing vigil on July 16.
He began his homily with a succinct summation of the Gospel: “We were created for relationship, we rejected that relationship, and in Jesus alone are we restored to that relationship.”
He spoke of three things Jesus warned against that block people from receiving that good news: having a hard heart, having lost hope and belief due to suffering, and the lure of riches and pleasures.
Jesus also describes the “good soil” that receives the Word and produces fruit, receives the Gospel, dies to the old self, and is transformed into something completely different from that seed, but actually into what it was really created to become.
“Frequent Confession, frequent Communion, daily prayer, daily reading of the Bible — these things water and plough the soil of our hearts so the Word will transform us from seed to full grown plant,” said Fr. Merz.
He pointed to St. Manuel and Blessed Carlo Acutis as examples.
“They’re witnesses to us that the futility of this world doesn’t apply to those who sincerely follow Christ,” the priest stated.
“Today, let’s all open ourselves to receive the Good News again, but this time with a heart more vulnerable, less hardened, less choked, and less fearful,” he said.
