Dear Parishioners,

Saturday (May 2nd), our second graders made their first Holy Communion. This is so great because Holy Communion is at the center of our faith. When Christ announced to the crowds in John 6 that you must eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man in order to have life within you, the crowd did not believe it. They believed He was a miracle worker and a great teacher. However, what He was asking them to believe now sounded like cannibalism and that it broke the commandments in the Old Testament that prohibited drinking blood. He did not care that this large crowd left Him over this teaching and He did not clarify Himself as if He was being misunderstood.

What Jesus taught at that time is the same teaching the Church holds to today. We do not believe this because we can know it by our own senses or even that it makes complete sense to us. We believe it because all things are possible to God and God Himself asserts it. To believe in the Eucharist is to trust in Jesus who is God made man. Because we do believe, we know that we should receive our Lord because it is the only way we have spiritual life. Furthermore, we should honor and love Him in the Blessed Sacrament because He is really present. We should even prepare ourselves to receive Him by going to confession and making sure our consciences are clean because as St. Paul warns us, if we eat and drink unworthily, we eat damnation on ourselves. (1 Cor 11:29)

We as Catholics are called to respond to any doubts as St. Peter did, “Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief.” If you are able to trust the Lord and worship Him in the Blessed Sacrament, you will find His presence and love in a more profound way than the world can give. You will be inwardly transformed into a new creation by becoming more like Christ. But you need to prepare yourself by making a worthy confession and praying before Mass. You need to focus on what is happening. Then after Mass, you need to thank Him for coming into your life.

I hope all of you reading this have fond memories of your First Holy Communion. May you reawaken that child-like faith and trust in the Lord with your whole lives.

God Bless!

Fr. Carter