Day 191: The Eucharist Changes Us (1391-1395)

• It’s Day 191!!

• We sometimes forget what happens to us when we receive Holy Communion

• That’s what we are talking about today

• THE FRUITS OF HOLY COMMUNION

• Kind of like how we talked about the 5 effects of Confirmation

• It’s really helpful to spell it out

• It roots us more deeply as sons and daughters of God the Father

• It unites us more closely to Christ

• We become even more filled with the gifts of the Holy Spirit

• Holy Communion not only strengthens and augments our union with CHrist

• It also separates us from sin

• It wipes away venial sins

• It preserves us from future mortal sins

• So let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we praise you, and we glorify you. We thank you so much for this day. Thank you for bringing us to this day. Lord, you give us life. You give us our love. And you pour it out into our hearts in abundance without measure. Lord God, you do not ration your Holy Spirit, but you pour out your Spirit upon us and into our hearts, into our lives. To whatever degree, we are willing and open to receive you. Please help us become more willing to receive your love. Help us to become even more open to receive your grace now and always. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• What are the fruits of Holy Communion?

• Paragraph 1391 says, “Holy Communion augments our union with Christ.”

• Paragraph 1392 says, “[Holy Communion] preserves, increases, and renews the life of grace received at Baptism.”

• Paragraph 1393 says, “Holy Communion separates us from sin.”

• Paragraph 1394 says, “[Holy Communion] wipes away venial sins.”

• Paragraph 1395 says, “[Holy Communion] preserves us from future mortal sins.”

• We need to approach our Lord in the Eucharist with OPENNESS TO CHANGE

• Many of us miss this part

• We can approach the Table of our Lord, that Sacrificial Banquet, and receive Jesus and REMAIN UNCHANGED

• Remember how we talked about getting into a shower with a raincoat on? (Go back and read Day 153: Sacraments Save in The Catechism in a Year Study Guide for a refresher!! https://www.thecatechisminayearstudyguide.com/day-153 😃)

• The graces are here

• AND YET…

• We are not open to them actually CHANGING US

• So what should our disposition be when we receive Holy Communion?

• Our disposition does not have to be perfect

• NONE OF US approaches the Lord in perfection

• Our disposition needs to be OPEN TO CHANGE

• OPEN TO CONFORMING OUR LIVES TO JESUS

• IN FACT…

• We have been crucified to the world and the world has been crucified to us

• Which means that the life we live is not OUR LIVES

• IT IS LIFE FOR CHRIST!!

• The DESIRE to have a life lived for Christ opens us to experiencing the fruits of Holy Communion

• Not perfection

• OPENNESS

• “Lord, do in me what you will. Turn me away from sin. Turn me more and more towards you. Help me become more and more like you.”

• And then with that intention and openness, here are the fruits:

• Paragraph 1391 says, “Holy Communion augments our union with Christ. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist in Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus.”

• Fr. Mike is telling a story about a FOCUS missionary

• FOCUS means Fellowship Of Catholic University Students

• Let’s listen…

• We are made for a relationship with Jesus 

• We are brought into this relationship through Baptism and faith

• AND YET…

• Every one of us is made to have INTIMACY WITH CHRIST

• Every human being has a body

• Therefore, we have only ever known or experienced love in and through our bodies

• Every time we have been loved, it has been love through our body 

• Whether it was someone feeding us, caring for us, being with us when we were sick, etc.

• The only way we have expressed love is in and through our body

• Whether we fed someone or clothed someone or said I love you

• We have only ever experienced or expressed or received love in and through our bodies

• God who is Love and yet God has no body 

• So how does God communicate His love to us?

• God did this miracle of the Incarnation 

• He took on a body so that we could know the love of God in an entirely new way

• Which is great for those friends of His for His 33 years while on this Earth

• BUT…

• We know that after His death and Resurrection, He ascended into Heaven and took that body with Him

• So how do we know the love of God well 2,000 years later?

• Something tells me you have heard this story

• The night before He died, Jesus, knowing that all was going to be fulfilled, took bread and said, “Take this all of you and eat of it. This IS my Body.”

• He took a chalice filled with wine, “This IS my Blood.”

• God took a body and has given that Body to us as food

• Why?

• So that we can have intimate union with Jesus Christ

• We want more than just a relationship with Jesus

• We want INTIMACY WITH CHRIST

• Paragraph 1391 continues, “Not too are life and resurrection conferred on whoever receives Christ.”

• Paragraph 1392 says, “What material food produces in our bodily life, Holy Communion wonderfully achieves in our spiritual life.”

• Many people say that when we eat food, it becomes us

• Right?

• It gives us strength, it builds our muscles, etc.

• BUT…

• In this UNIQUE WAY when we receive the Eucharist, WE BECOME HIM

• WE BECOME HIM!!

• Paragraph 1393 says, “Holy Communion separates us from sin.”

• St. Ambrose says in Paragraph 1393, “If, as often as his blood is poured out, it is poured for the forgiveness of sins, I should always receive it, so that it may always forgive my sins. Because I always sin, I should always have a remedy.” 

• WHICH IS SO INCREDIBLE!!

• Paragraph 1393 also says, “For this reason the Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins.”

• THIS IS SO CRITICAL FOR ALL OF US!!

• Our venial sins should not prevent us from approaching our Lord in the Eucharist

• IN FACT…

• Paragraph 1394 says, “As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens our charity, which tends to be weakened in daily life; and this living charity wipes away venial sins.”

• If you have a venial sin, you can receive Holy Communion and trust that this reception of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist is MEDICINE FOR SINNERS

• Pope Francis (and others) have said, “Holy Communion is not a reward for the perfect, but is medicine for sinners.”

• THAT IS COMPLETELY TRUE!!

• HOLY COMMUNION IS MEDICINE FOR THE SICK!!

• Paragraph 1395 says, “[Holy Communion] preserves us from future mortal sins.”

• Holy Communion gives us power

• The grace of Jesus Christ Himself living in us, dwelling in us, gives us that strength

• Fr. Mike is making an analogy about carbs and running a race…since I hate running in almost all forms I shall abstain from writing this down so we can just listen 😉

• The Eucharist strengthens us to preserve us from FUTURE MORTAL SINS

• This is not like a magic thing

• It’s not like Popeye eating his spinach

• IT IS ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!!

• The MORE AND MORE we receive Holy Communion, the DEEPER AND DEEPER that relationship is made possible 

• Paragraph 1395 continues, “The more we share the life of Christ and progress in his friendship, the more difficult it is to break away from him by mortal sin.”

• That is not magic

• That is not Popeye’s spinach

• The more and more we approach Jesus and have intimacy with Him in Holy Communion, the stronger we are by virtue of the friendship that we have with Him

• It is not our own strength

• It’s not like we are more powerful because we have taken this medicine or eaten this food

• We are now more powerful because of the FRIENDSHIP we have with the Lord God Himself

• We are now STRENGTHENED by the fact that we have this deeper and more powerful FRIENDSHIP with the Lord of the Universe

• THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE!!

• Does that make sense?

• Remember that if we are aware of our mortal sin, we cannot approach Holy Communion without eating and drinking condemnation upon ourselves

• THAT IS SO SERIOUS!!

• So keep this in mind

• Paragraph 1395 says, “The Eucharist is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins-that is proper to the sacrament of Reconciliation.”

• So do not misunderstand the quote of saying the Eucharist is not a reward for the perfect, but medicine for sinners

• Yes it is medicine for sinners

• You give medicine to people who are sick

• But you do not give medicine to people who are DEAD

• That is the difference

• If we are in venial sin, we are sick and spiritually WOUNDED

• If we have mortal sin, WE ARE SPIRITUALLY DEAD

• God wants to come to us and meet us in our need and brokenness

• BUT…

• There is a proper way He wants to meet us

• He first meets us in our brokenness

• He first meets us when we are in mortal sin, in spiritual death

• He first meets us in the great sacrament of Reconciliation before he can meet us in the greatest sacrament of the Eucharist

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow!!