“For greater things you were born.” (Ven. Mother Luisita)
MONDAY SEPT. 7TH Lk. 6: 6-11 “The scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely to see if he would cure on the Sabbath so that they might discover a reason to accuse him.”
Pharisee has come to mean hypocrite—which means pretending to have virtues, beliefs, principles, etc. that one does not actually possess. The opposite of hypocrisy is integrity—meaning our interior and exterior life are integrated. Today we are exhorted to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with integrity—interiorly and exteriorly.
Part 1: Living Divine Worship… by Ven. Pope Pius XII
Part 2: Holy Mass, Holy Communion, and Holiness of Life by Fr. Ed. Broom, OMV
PART 1: Living Divine Worship … by Ven. Pope Pius XII (+1947)
The chief element of divine worship must be interior: For we must always live in Christ and give ourselves to Him completely, so that in Him, with Him, and through Him the heavenly Father may be duly glorified.
The sacred liturgy requires, however, that both of these elements (interior and exterior participation) be intimately linked with each other. This recommendation the liturgy itself is careful to repeat, as often as it prescribes an exterior act of worship.
You recall how the Divine Master expels from the sacred Temple, as unworthy to worship there, people who pretend to honor God with nothing but neat and well-tuned phrases, like actors in a theater, and think themselves perfectly capable of working out their eternal salvation without plucking their inveterate vices from their hearts!
It is, therefore, the keen desire of the Church that all of the faithful kneel at the feet of the Redeemer to tell Him how much they venerate and love Him. She wants them present in crowds—like the children whose joyous cries accompanied His entry into Jerusalem—to sing their hymns and chant their song of praise and thanksgiving to Him who is King of Kings and Source of every blessing.
She would have them move their lips in prayer, sometimes in petition, sometimes in joy and gratitude, and in this way experience His merciful aid and power like the Apostles at the lakeside of Tiberias, or abandon themselves totally, like Peter on Mount Tabor, to mystic union with the eternal God in contemplation.
PART 2: HOLY MASS, HOLY COMMUNION, AND HOLINESS OF LIFE by Fr. Ed Broom, OMV
One of the key Chapters in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, Chapter V, is the Universal Call to Holiness. In concrete, this chapter lays out the goal and the purpose of every human person, created in the image and likeness of God: the call to become a saint! Jesus expressed this command unequivocally and with outmost clarity and transparency: “Be holy as your Heavenly Father is holy.” (Mt. 5:48) In the most famous block of teaching and preaching of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, The Sermon on the Mount, in the initial phase of this teaching called the Beatitudes Jesus teaches: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness; they will be satisfied.” (Mt.5:6). Saint Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians reiterates the same truth: “This is the will of your heavenly Father: your sanctification.” (1Thess. 4:3) The modern saint, Mother Teresa of Calcutta exhorts us in these words: “Holiness is not the privilege of the few, but the duty of all.”
Therefore, let us offer the shortcut on the Highway or Expressway to holiness. Why not choose the quickest, most secure, and most efficacious path to arrive at the heights of holiness in our short life here on earth! Instead of choosing and pursuing a circuitous, labyrinthine, laborious, and sometimes frustrating path towards holiness, why not take the shortcut!
The Shortcut and Smooth Path: Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, through Mass and Holy Communion.
The title above highlights and indicates the shortcut or easy path to holiness: Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. However, the means by which we connect with this electric current of grace of holiness is through participating in and living out the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass to the fullest extent possible. The Dogmatic Constitution on the Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, expresses it the following words: “The faithful must participate fully, actively, and consciously in the Mass. The Mass is the source and summit of holiness.”
As a motivation to all people of good will who take sincerely this Universal Call to Holiness, we will accentuate in this brief treatise the remarkable sanctifying effects that Holy Communion can produce in the recipient of such a sublime Sacrament. Indeed, the most Holy Eucharist which is truly and substantially the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus the Son of the living God is the key to all holiness.
Before entering into the effects that Holy Communion produces on the individual, a key theological concept must be explained with clarity and precision: The concept of Dispositive-grace. This means that the Sacrament of the Eucharist is truly Jesus, the Son of the Eternal Father, the Holy of Holies. However, the graces received in the reception of Holy Communion are commensurate or in direct proportion to the disposition of the individual heart that receives Jesus. If one receives Jesus in mortal sin then he eats and drinks to his own condemnation. (I Corinthians 11:27-30). If the preparation and reception is mediocre, the graces will correspond to the attitude of mediocrity. If the disposition is good, the graces will flow more freely. If the disposition is fervent then graces will redound all the more. Finally, if the preparation is excellent and the reception in a heart on fire with love then the effect can be compared to a spiritual atomic-bomb: an explosion of graces. The latter should be our aim and our goal!
Now we will enumerate and explain exactly what can take place in the well-disposed heart that receives the Eucharistic Lord Jesus in Mass in the context of the most Holy Eucharist—the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus.
1. PURIFICATION OF THE HEART AND SOUL. Holy Communion received with the ardent fire of charity can serve to burn away the residue of smaller sins that we call venial sins. Saint John of the Cross, the Mystical Doctor of the Church, offers us this analogy. If you put a rusty piece of iron in a scathing and intense fire, then the fire will consume the rust and the iron assumes the same property as the fire. So it is with Holy Communion. The Council of Trent says Holy Communion is the antidote to our daily infirmities. On a Pastoral note, nobody should refrain from the reception of Holy Communion if they have venial sin or sins on their soul. Whereas, if they have unconfessed mortal sin or sins on their soul, they must refrain until they confess to a priest.
2. SPIRITUAL HEART-TRANSPLANT. Saint Margaret Mary AIacoque had the unique and incredible privilege of contemplating the most Sacred Heart of Jesus at Paray-le-Monial in France. What a blessing and unique privilege indeed! However, it must be stated with gratitude and great humility that we have a more frequent and greater privilege! We can receive Holy Communion on a daily basis. In the Our Father, Jesus taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily-bread….” In Holy Communion we truly receive the Total Lord Jesus—Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity and that includes the Sacred Heart of Jesus. So in a real sense, every Holy Communion received worthily is truly a SPIRITUAL-HEART-TRANSPLANT. After receiving Holy Communion, we have the Sacred Heart of Jesus beating in our heart! Our heart becomes consumed in His Sacred Heart!
3. THE MOST SUBLIME VIRTUES IN THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS. Following up on the reality of the Sacred Heart of Jesus that we receive in every Holy Communion is the fact that with Jesus’ Heart we also receive His most sublime virtues. Faith, Hope Charity, Humility, Patience, Obedience, Purity, Fortitude, Meekness, Gentleness, Wisdom and Knowledge—all of these and all of the virtues imaginable are truly present in every Holy Communion. Still more these virtues in Jesus are the most refined, the most holy, the most sublime that the human mind can comprehend.
4. CONVERSION OF VICE TO VIRTUE. For this reason, the great Educator of youth of the 19th Century, Saint John Bosco, was a precursor of the practice of frequent Holy Communion in that he would encourage his young people in the Oratory in Turin to receive Holy Communion frequently and fervently so as to eradicate vices—especially that of impurity—and supplant them with holiness. There is no more efficacious means to conquer our vices and sinfulness than frequent, fervent, and faith-filled Holy Communions! “Lord, strengthen my faith!”
5. MIND-TRANSPLANT. The great Apostle Saint Paul exhorts us in these words: “Put on the mind of Christ!” (Phil. 2:5) Then he insists: “You have the mind of Christ.” (1Cor. 2:16) And finally: “Do not conform your mind to this world, but have a fresh way of thinking.” (Rom 12:2) Indeed, if Holy Communion is the Total Christ then that includes the mind of Jesus. If you want to burn away the dross of bad and ugly thoughts, then meditate upon the Word of God and receive Holy Communion as frequently as possible! What chlorine is to a swimming-pool, so the Word of God and Holy Communion is to our mind!
6. SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT. The Prophet Elijah ate the bread that the angel gave him two times and from the energy and strength derived from that bread the great Prophet walked forty days and forty nights. (The same length of time of Jesus spent praying and fasting in the desert.) In an analogous sense, Holy Communion endows and inundates us with spiritual energy so that we can travel with great alacrity and strength on the Highway the Heaven!
7. SPIRITUAL REMEDY AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE. If we are well-nourished bodily when the flu-season arrives, we have a much better chance to avoid those common colds, coughs, flus, and runny-noses. On one occasion I was about to come down with a cold and some person of good will gave me some Airborne—a potent dose of Vitamin C. Guess what? I avoided the cold that was about to grab hold of me! In a parallel sense, the frequent reception of Holy Communion can serve to bundle us and fortify us against the onslaught of our imperious and disordered passions that constantly strive to inundate us and overwhelm us, inciting us to sin!
8. JOY, PEACE, AND INNER CONSOLATION. As an appetizing and enjoyable meal shared with friends culminates in joy, peace, happiness, and consolation so it is with nourishing our souls on Jesus in Holy Communion, the Bread of Life. This analogy is expressed very clearly by the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas Aquinas. The good nourishment that food gives to the body, so does Holy Communion enrich and uplift the soul.
9. REMARKABLE SOURCE AND STRENGTH TO CARRY OUR DAILY CROSS. Jesus addresses the tired, the weary, the burdened, the overwhelmed, those who are experiencing heavy trials and tribulations with these words—related to Holy Mass and Holy Communion: “Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will give your rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:28-30). So many people have given witness to this fact that in the midst of the trials of life, the sufferings and sorrows, the heart-aches and heart-breaks, running to Jesus in Mass and receiving Him in the Sacrament of Holy Communion served as an inexpressible relief, strength, and source of solace, hope and support! Do not carry your cross alone. Rather, invite Jesus to help you to shoulder the burden by receiving Him into your inner-most being in Holy Communion. “Come Lord Jesus, come!!!”
10. PROMISE OF ETERNAL LIFE: HEAVEN WILL BE OURS FOREVER! What thought can be more consoling than the fact and truth that one day we will be united with Jesus in Heaven! He will be Our God, Savior, Friend, Companion, Teacher, Master, and our Greatest Lover in Heaven. This incredible promise was made by Jesus in His “Bread of Life Discourse” in the Synagogue of Capernaum. (Jn. 6:22-71) These words are most consoling: “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes will have eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one might eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (Jn. 6:47-51) As clear as the sun at midday are these words of Jesus! If we have established the habit of receiving Jesus in Holy Communion—the Bread of Life that gives life to the world—with hearts filled with deep faith, with hearts full of fiery love and passion—and frequently, as we pray in the Our Father, give us this day our daily bread, then the promise of Jesus is clear! Heaven will be ours forever and ever and ever!
Let us conclude with what the great friends of God, the saints themselves have preached and written on the great importance of frequent and fervent reception of Holy Communion in our lives!
1. Saint Ignatius of Loyola: “One of the most admirable effects of Holy Communion is to preserve the soul from sin and to help those who fall through weakness to rise again. It is much more profitable to approach the divine Sacrament with love, respect, and confidence than to remain away through excess fear and scrupulosity.”
2. Saint Josemaria Escriva: “When you approach the tabernacle remember that He has been waiting for you for twenty centuries.”
3. Saint John Vianney: “All the good works in the world are not equal to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because they are the works of man; but the Mass is the work of God. Martyrdom is nothing in comparison for it is but the sacrifice of man to God; but the Mass is the sacrifice of God to man.”
4. Saint Maximilian Kolbe: “If the angels could be jealous of men they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion.”
5. Saint Frances De Sales: “When you have received Him, stir up your heart to do Him homage; speak to Him about your spiritual life, gaze upon Him in your soul where He is present for your happiness; welcome Him as warmly as possible, and behave outwardly in such a way that your actions may give proof to all of His Presence.”
In conclusion, the key to holiness in life on your Highway to Heaven is faith-filled, frequent, and fervent reception of Jesus, Holy of Holies and your Best Friend, in Holy Communion. May Our Lady of the Eucharist intercede for us now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Copyright 2020 Oblates of the Virgin Mary
St. Peter Chanel Church, Hawaiian Gardens, CA
