Scurry to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament!

Bet you have had a similar experience. You are reading a passage from Scripture –
one that you have read many times in the past. Suddenly from the page leaps an
insight that had heretofore escaped your grasp.

I had just such an experience early one Monday morning when I filled in for an
Adorer who was stranded some distance from our Chapel due to a significant snow
storm.

Let me set forth the familiar words of Mark’s Gospel (Mk 6:53-56) that prompts this
post and reflection:

“After making the crossing to the other side of the sea,
Jesus and his disciples came to land at Gennesaret and tied up there.
As they were leaving the boat, people immediately recognized him.
They scurried about the surrounding country
and began to bring in the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. Whatever villages or towns or countryside he entered, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak; and as many as touched it were healed.”
(From the Revised Standard Version, emphasis added)

The great tragedy of our times is the fact that so few Catholics believe that Jesus is
really, truly and substantially present here with us in the Most Blessed Sacrament,
Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – the same Jesus the people in Mark’s Gospel
immediately recognized and approached with expectant faith.
Why don’t we recognize Him here in our midst? Why don’t we scurry around our
communities and gather the sick and present them to Him? Why do we lack the
expectant faith of those depicted in Mark’s Gospel?

No doubt there are multiple explanations that could be offered in response to these
questions. But the fundamental answer is that we are too proud!

We have made things unnecessarily complicated. We have added expectations and
hoops to jump through that our loving Lord never intended when He decided to
remain among us until the end of time.

Like Naaman, the Syrian army commander and leper who initially out of pride
thwarted God’s desire to heal him of his leprosy by refusing to wash in the Jordan
seven times as the prophet Elisha’s messenger had directed him to do (see 2 Kings
5:1-19), we refuse to recognize that the same Jesus described in Mark’s Gospel
remains physically here with us in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

He waits there for our visit and our adoration.  That’s all.  In exchange for that act of
love, gratitude and faith, He will heal us, the ones we love and those for whom we
intercede, maybe not in the exact manner which we request, but in the most perfect
way - the way that will assure eternal life for us and those for whom we pray.
Don’t be like Naaman and refuse to take a dip in the Jordan. It really is simple. Scurry
to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament where He awaits you with loving and healing
arms. Go there expecting to be healed.

And please do not forget to bring those others also in need of His healing touch with
you, if not physically than in your heart.

​I am blessed to be a Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed on this blog are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole. I am neither responsible for, nor endorse content (e.g. banner ads, pop-up ads, etc.) that may be linked to this blog.

We appreciate the ongoing efforts of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to foster greater awe, amazement and belief in our Lord’s Real and Substantial Presence here among us in the Eucharist. 

The number of Eucharistic processions that have taken place throughout this nation have been heartening. The excellent homilies, posts, videos and testimonies of priests, religious and lay Catholics that our bishops have shared on social media have also been inspiring - no doubt countless souls have been touched.

We pray that the Church’s current efforts are reaching not just the choir but the millions of non-believing Catholics and former Catholics who inhabit this great nation.

How are we going to assess the success of these efforts?

Simple: If those professing to be Catholic believe that God is really, truly and substantially present in the consecrated hosts in our tabernacles, they will flock to be with Him – He who loves them and awaits their visit. They would never miss Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

The reverent silence in our Churches evidencing such belief would be apparent and deafening. Parishes would increase the opportunities for hungry souls to make Holy Hours and adore their Lord. True believers would never leave Him abandoned and alone. Our Churches would never be empty! Someone would always be with our Lord, every hour of every day. 

Every parish in the world would have chapels of Perpetual  Eucharistic Adoration - the dream and request of our late and beloved St. John Paul II. 

​Does this describe the Eucharistic Revival which you are experiencing in your parish? If not, there are more souls to reach - more work to be done.

https://harvestingthefruitsofcontemplation.blogspot.com/2024/12/monday-musings-do-you-really-believe.html

​I am blessed to be a Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed on this blog are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole. I am neither responsible for, nor endorse content (e.g. banner ads, pop-up ads, etc.) that may be linked to this blog.