Holy Thursday
Chrism Mass
“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
THURSDAY, April 14th Jn. 13: 1-15 Psalm Response: “Our blessing cup is a communion with the Blood of Christ. ”
Jesus is about to be crucified—to suffer, die, and be buried, and then rise from the dead only to ascend into heaven! The Last Supper can be likened to His Last Will and Testament. What does Jesus leave us? The Greatest Miracle: His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity under the appearance of Bread and Wine in the Most Holy Eucharist. “Take and eat, this is my Body.” “Take and drink, this is my blood.”
GOD’S GREATEST GIFT: THE HOLY EUCHARIST by Fr. Ed Boom, OMV
Filled with fear and dread of being murdered, the Prophet Elijah fled from the wicked Queen Jezebel who planned to murder him because Elijah killed the false Prophets of Baal. After a days’ journey on foot, heading towards the Holy Mountain, the mountain of God, Elijah was consumed by the spirit of desolation and discouragement and fell into a deep slumber, not even close to arriving at his destination. (I Kings 19: 4-8)
GOD’S ANGEL. Concerned about the Prophet and his long journey, God sent an angel to comfort, encourage and motivate Elijah and in this fashion. The angel woke Elijah from his deep slumber encouraging him to keep on as his journey was long.
THE BREAD AND NOURISHMENT FOR THE JOURNEY. With words of encouragement, the angel offered Elijah some bread to eat because the journey indeed was going to be a long and grueling one. Elijah ate the bread but instead of rising and undertaking his long trek, he returned to his slumber. Once again the angel woke Elijah insisting and encouraging him to eat the bread and to walk until he arrived at the holy mountain where he would find safety, security and a sure haven in the presence of God.
ELIJAH OBEYS, EATS AND WALKS! Obedient to the angel, Elijah for the second time eats the bread offered to him from the angel. From the strength that was derived from that bread—which he ate not once but two times—Elijah gets up and walks. The distance was long, he walked forty days and forty nights from the energy and strength that came from the encouragement of the angel of God but also from the bread that filled him with new life!
HOLY MOUNTAIN. Elijah’s destination was the holy mountain of God. God spoke to him not in the hurricane, not in the fire, nor even in the strong impetuous wind. Rather, God spoke to Elijah in the gentle and sweet breeze. This holy mountain is symbolic of our eternal destiny: heaven! Once arrived, we will be with God forever and able to talk to Him as our best of Friends, face to face for all eternity. Like Elijah, we should all strive to undertake the long and grueling journey to arrive at the holy mountain where God awaits us for all eternity.
ELIJAH AND OUR OWN LIVES. Like the Prophet Elijah, we all have our struggles, our battles, our dreary days, our temptations, our moments of desolation—those times in which we simply want to throw the towel in and give up! The key is that we must rise up and eat, not from a plain or ordinary bread, rather we must nourish ourselves on the Bread of Life. Not once or twice but as often as possible. Indeed, if it is within our means, to nourish ourselves on the Bread of Life every day!
Let us enter into a topic that has a transcendental value and importance in our lives in the short time we have in this earthly pilgrimage to our eternal destiny. We will take the Biblical passage and person of Elijah as our model and example. If we really desire to arrive at our eternal destiny which is heaven then we must nourish our minds, hearts and souls on the Bread of Life as frequently as possible, but also as fervently as hearts and souls can exert.
Therefore, this short literary work will focus upon how we can upgrade, improve, and magnify the effects of the reception of Holy Communion in our lives. In a word, the most important action that we can carry out this side of eternity is to receive Jesus, the Bread of Life, in the Sacrament of the most Holy Eucharist. No action of the human person can supersede it in importance. This being the case, let us set up action points and guide-lines to receive Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Holy Communion with increasing faith, devotion, fervor and love.
1. FAITH IN THE REAL-PRESENCE. Over the past fifty years statistics have pointed out that huge numbers of Catholics either do not believe in the Real-Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, or at least have a very unclear and foggy notion of WHO is truly present in the Consecrated Host! After the double-consecration in Mass, Jesus is truly and substantially present in His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. It is not a mere symbolic presence as in the case of Protestant services, but rather it is the REAL-PRESENCE! Due to materialism and living in a neo-paganist and secular society, we must constantly remind ourselves of this most august and sublime reality.
2. THEOLOGICAL CONCEPT: DISPOSITIVE GRACE! One of the most important theological concepts in living out Sacramental theology is that of Dispositive-grace. In brief, this means that the grace that comes to us, especially from the reception of the most Holy Eucharist, is commensurate with or in direct proportion to the disposition of our soul. In other words, there is no fault in the Sacrament, rather the fault, if any, is in the recipient of the Sacrament. Why? For the simple and unequivocal reason that the Holy Eucharist, your reception of Holy Communion, is the reception of Jesus Himself—the Son of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God of Gods, True-God and True-man! It has been said that one Holy Communion well-received could transform you into a saint!
3. PREPARE YOURSELF BETTER. As a natural follow-up to the concept of Dispositive-grace is that of our preparation before receiving Holy Communion. Indeed, it should be a constant task and goal in our life to work on making better preparations to receive Holy Communion. Being honest with ourselves, we must all admit and confess with the utmost sincerity and humility that we can make progress and a lot of progress in our preparation receiving the Lord Jesus in Holy Communion.
4. HUMAN EXAMPLE: THE BRIDE AND HER WEDDING. In the Diary of Saint Faustina on Divine Mercy, in the last book of the Diary—Book VI, she gives excellent guidelines on how to receive Jesus better in Holy Communion. (Diary, Divine Mercy in My Soul #1804-1828) One of the comparisons or analogies that Saint Faustina brings forth is that of a Bride being prepared to meet and marry the Bridegroom. On a human level all of us understand this analogy. How many countless details does the future bride implement to make this the happiest day in her life? Here are just a few: the dress with its size, color and texture; the beauty parlor including her makeup and manicure of her nails; her shoes, and the length of her veil. Not only her physical appearance, but many other details: the guests, the Banquet Hall, the Church, the rug, the choir, the priest, the Readings and the homily, the altar servers. How much time, money, and energy are employed for the wedding day, which hopefully is the happiest day of their lives! Building upon this analogy, Jesus is the wedding Bride-groom of our soul every time we receive Him in Holy Communion. Should we not be more demanding upon ourselves in the time, effort, and manner in which we receive Him into the inner-chamber of our soul?
5. WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS: THE SAINTS! The most famous music-group, the Beatles, composed a song titled “With a little Help from My Friends”. Our true, faithful and most authentic friends are the saints. They are bright luminaries who point us to Jesus, the Light of the world, and to Heaven where the Face of Jesus will be our eternal lamp and light. They were the ones who received Jesus with a fervent and loving disposition in Holy Communion. Consequently, upon dying, Jesus received them warmly and enthusiastically into Heaven. Their greatest desire on earth was to love God with all of their heart, mind, soul and strength. Their whole life was centered around the Holy Mass and reception of the most Holy Eucharist. Therefore, a most efficacious means to make better and more fervent Holy Communions is to humbly beg the saints in heaven to pray and intercede for us that our Communions will become fiery explosions of love for the Lord Jesus!
6. COMMON PRIESTHOOD OF THE FAITHFUL: LIVE OUT THE OFFERTORY! If possible, view the movie El Gran Milagro or The Greatest Miracle. This movie in a clear, appealing, and dynamic fashion explains the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with claymation, all in 70 minutes. Among the themes worthy of highest praise is the presentation of how the Guardian Angel teaches the importance of living out the Mass by participating, fully actively, and consciously and by living out to the full the OFFERTORY of the Mass.
By this is meant that the priest offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, but the faithful who participate in the Mass are called to make their own offering —called the Offertory! This is done by making a spiritual offering of ourselves and placing it on the paten where the priest’s Host is deposited. Also, we are called to place our intentions in the chalice where the wine will be transformed into the Precious Blood of Jesus. If this is done seriously, our Communions will have infinite value and efficacy for you, the Church, and the whole world, even the souls in Purgatory!
8. WHAT MIGHT BE ELEMENTS FOR MY OFFERING TO LIVE OUT THE OFFERTORY? Actually you can offer anything that may occur to you. If offered with good will and purity of intention, God accepts all! The possibilities are infinite! However, there are three areas that might be employed to help you to live more fervently your Offertory and derive countless, untold blessings!
1) THE SOULS IN PURGATORY. The suffering souls in Purgatory are already saved, but they must still be purified by the fires of God’s loving justice. Remember the words of the last Book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation: “Nothing impure can enter the Kingdom of God.” (Rev.21: 27 By far the most efficacious means to purify, sanctify, and liberate the poor souls detained in Purgatory is by the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered for them and the worthy reception of Holy Communion received for them. Saint Nicolas of Tolentino, O.S.A. desired to be a priest primarily so that he could help to free souls from the fires of Purgatory by offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for them.
2) THE CONVERSION OF SINNERS. What Jesus and Mary desire most in this world is the conversion and salvation of sinners! By offering your Masses and Holy Communions for the conversion and salvation of sinners, the Hearts of Jesus and Mary overflow with joy.
3) PERSONAL HEART-TRANSPLANT. We all must work day and night upon our own personal conversion. The most efficacious and powerful means by which we can convert our hearts from hearts of sinners into hearts of saints is by worthy, frequent, fervent and faithful reception of Holy Communion. Indeed, every worthy reception of Holy Communion is a SPIRITUAL HEART-TRANSPLANT. In all truth, the Heart of Jesus takes possession of our heart and there is a real transformation! We become what we eat! We consume the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus and we become like Him. In time we will be able to say with Saint Paul: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” (Gal. 2: 19-21)
9. YOUR FIRST, LAST, AND ONLY COMMUNION. In some convent sacristies there is a plaque on the wall that the priest is invited to read as he vests and prepares for Holy Mass that reads as such: “Priest, man of God, say this Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass, and your only Mass.” What would happen if you made this decision starting today with respect to your participation in Mass and reception of Holy Communion—to receive your Holy Communion as if it were your first, your last, and your only??? Most likely your Holy Communions would be much more fervent. What do you think?
10. OUR LADY OF THE EUCHARIST AND HOLY COMMUNION. As a concluding note, we should contemplate the Blessed Virgin Mary and beg for her most powerful intercession in our reception of Holy Communion. In a very real sense Mary received her first Communion when she said YES to the Archangel Gabriel with the words: “Behold, I am the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk. 1: 38) Then the Gospel of Saint John states: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn. 1: 14) Pope Saint John Paul II made this parallel connection: “The Yes of Mary to the Angel and our Amen when we receive Holy Communion have a real similarity; both result in the reception of Jesus into the depths of the heart.” Therefore, let us humbly implore the Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Eucharist, for the most special grace to receive the Lord Jesus Christ in Holy Communion with lively faith, with frequency, and with a burning fervor and love, so that we will be able to set the whole world on fire with the love of God!
Copyright 2022 Oblates of the Virgin Mary / St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
