Categories All For several months at Sunday Mass, I noticed a middle-aged gentleman quickly walk out of the Church as soon as the congregation approached the altar to receive Holy Communion. He left before anyone inclined to approach or speak to him was able to do so. I do not know why he would not approach our Lord; there could be countless reasons. Maybe he simply didn’t believe that it was Jesus he was walking away from.
To date, all I have done is pray for him. However, after Mass one day, I read an article written by Father Denis Lemieux, entitled “Who Will Be Saved?” This thought-provoking column appeared in the July-August 2018 issue of Restoration, the newspaper published by Madonna House. The good Father offered a possible explanation for this man’s reluctance to receive Communion that shook my soul; he made it quite clear I must offer this man much more than my prayers. Here is the relevant excerpt from Father’s article: “Those of us who do know what the Bread of life truly is, who know at what Table we can receive the very life of God in a fashion that is concrete, physical, touchable, tasteable, literal food and drink that bears God’s innermost being into our innermost being, have a deep responsibility to not merely receive Communion, but to be indeed taught by it. We have a responsibility to be formed by it and shaped by it so that our lives are truly indistinguishable from His, that the way we live is in fact a perpetual and ongoing Eucharist, love poured out, life given for the world. I am afraid that so many people never find their way to the sacred Table to receive that most sacred Food because so many of us who do, show so little sign of it in how we live our lives. We eat and drink God – do our lives reflect that fact?” What kind of sign have you and I been?
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