This past Sunday my wife arrived at Mass to find a fairly full house and we were lucky to get a seat in the third or fourth pew from the back. Although I’d prefer to be closer to the altar, I don’t find sitting in the back objectionable. I figure I’m as close to Jesus there as anywhere else.
Except, of course, when the Consecration takes place and when it comes to Communion. With Jesus real and present in our midst, I’d like to be as close as I can get. And from that perspective my seat was, unfortunately, a perfect vantage point from which to watch the exodus of the “Communion-skippers.”
It’s a queer phenomenon in all too many of our parishes. No sooner do the ushers march up the aisles to begin facilitating the orderly approach of communicants to the altar when bodies start popping to their feet and heading for the exits. The numbers were actually startling at this particular Mass.
And it made me wonder why.
Now, let’s be honest. There are certainly few among us who haven’t joined their ranks at one time or another. Put aside, for a moment, the question of whether or not one has legitimately fulfilled one's Sunday obligation depending upon what time they arrive at or leave Mass. After all, we’re busy people, right? We’ve got places to go, things to do and people to see. And occasionally we find ourselves caught in a time crunch we didn’t anticipate. I’m sure there are some genuine reasons why someone might have to leave Mass early in a pinch. But have you noticed that it’s usually the same people all the time? Can their personal schedule be such that they can only attend Mass at one particular time which would necessitate leaving before Communion every Sunday?
Somehow I doubt it. With all due respect to those who may occasionally have a perfectly legitimate reason (and those would be few and far between), my guess is that the great majority of Communion-skippers do so out of apathy. To put it in business terms, they just don’t see the value in receiving the Blessed Sacrament, and so they aren’t buying. And if they aren’t buying, I would suggest that it’s because not enough of our priests are selling.
It’s a Catholic tragedy. Here we are in “The Year of The Eucharist,” so proclaimed by the late Pope John Paul II, and how many sermons have you heard preached on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament? Not too many months ago I attended Mass at a local parish where the homilist, an ordained deacon, turned the feast of Corpus Christi into a question of, “What will you do each day with your five loaves and two fish?” It was a nice sermon, but it had nothing to do with Jesus real and present in the Blessed Sacrament. Imagine that: Corpus Christi, the very feast day of the Most Holy Sacrament, and not once did this homilist mention the Blessed Sacrament or touch on the subject of the Real Presence of Jesus in Holy Communion. (More recently, the same ordained deacon focused his homily on multi-culturalism and proclaimed that “Jesus is in every religion.” I’m sure that would come as a surprise to some of our non-Christian brethren. But that’s a topic for another time.)
Then there was the case of a priest and pastor who writes a weekly column in one of our local newspapers. During the past presidential election he bemoaned the decision of some bishops who would deny Holy Communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians. And so he wrote an article suggesting that the prerequisites for reception of the sacrament be liberalized to allow anyone to receive Holy Communion regardless of his disposition, thereby avoiding the “politicizing” of the sacrament.
We in the laity should rightly ask, “Why is that?” Is supporting abortion only a mortal sin for non-politicians? Does their position and popularity provide them with a special dispensation? What kind of sinful behavior does a Catholic have to publicly support not to be allowed Holy Communion? Bestiality, maybe?
When our Church leaders, our priests and bishops, won’t publicly defend the Holy Eucharist in response to those Catholics who publicly and unrepentantly defy basic tenets of the Faith, it leads some Catholics to question whether the Blessed Sacrament really is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ at all.
Is it any wonder then, that recent polls show that nearly two-thirds of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence? Is it any wonder so many Catholics are asking themselves what’s the point of going to Mass? Is it any wonder that so many people leave Mass without receiving Holy Communion?
If the Eucharist truly is “the source, center and summit” of the Church’s life, why aren’t our priests telling us so? In place of teaching basic Catholic dogma, we’re being sprinkled with the non-denominational fairy dust of “feel good” sermons.
In John 6:53 we read, “Jesus said to them, ‘Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you.’” And so when we come to Mass we should be asking ourselves, “Why am I here?” Am I here simply to put my time in? Am I here to keep up appearances? Or am I attending Mass, as Father Larry Richards once put it, as a kind of “spiritual fire insurance — pay now so that I don’t burn later”? If so, we’re missing the point entirely. As Catholics we’re blessed in knowing that at each and every Mass, Jesus, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, True God and True Man, comes down from Heaven and becomes real and present in our very midst. And we have the most distinct honor of fulfilling His command to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Really.
Our homilists need to affirm this basic truth of our Faith! We in the Catholic laity don’t need more “feel-good” sermons. Many among us are confused about what is and is not genuine Catholic teaching. What we really need are courageous priests and bishops who will bravely stand in the pulpit and tell us the truth. Saint Justin Martyr wrote, “We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching….”
So, during the last months of this “The Year of The Eucharist” we say to our bishops, priests and ordained deacons, with no equivocating, tell us: Is the Blessed Sacrament the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ? Is it really the “source, center and summit” of the Church’s life? What am I missing when I leave Mass before receiving Holy Communion?
Teach us!
© Copyright 2005 Catholic Exchange
Joe Pacuska is a Catholic apologist, writer, and businessman whose career has spanned senior management positions in the Internet and telecommunications industry. Joe currently resides in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania with his wife and three children.
