February 24, 2014
The bells of the Cathedral of St. Andrew here in Grand Rapids, Mich., ring out four times each Sunday to announce that the parish community is gathering to worship God, and twice daily to remind all of us in the vicinity of the need for prayer and of turning our minds and hearts to God for at least a few moments in the daily furor of our lives.
I cannot help but hear the bells of Sunday tolling as they call people to come and worship the Lord, to be in communion with our Lord and one another for that all too short space of time that we give to the Lord on Sundays.
I recently was reading an article in “Worship” magazine about communion and thought, “right on” when the author said, “Contrary to what people often think, Eucharistic Communion does not mean, “my communion with Jesus,” but our communion with one another in Jesus. Furthermore, this communion is expressed not only through partaking of the Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ but in the entire movement of offering our gifts to God and having him return them as his gifts to us.”
As I was growing up there was nothing more important in our Catholic faith than receiving Communion on Sunday. I remember quite clearly the immense devotion and love my parents had for the Eucharist. It meant, too, that we would tip our hats to the tabernacle whenever we passed a Catholic Church, be sure to attend Benediction on Sunday and never ever say a word to a priest who was carrying the Eucharist to the sick because the Eucharist demanded our silent respect.
The Second Vatican Council helped us to deepen our respect, not of externals, but of the reality of what the Eucharistic liturgy should mean to us. Vatican II helped us to understand that the gifts offered to the Lord would be returned to us in that same Eucharist. That’s why at the cathedral we bring gifts of bread and wine forward at the offertory and try to be sure that those gifts are returned to all of us at that same celebration. Our purpose in doing so is to be sure that we can all be aware that what is offered to the Lord – bread and wine – will be returned to us as the body and blood of Christ at that same liturgy. You will often notice that our ministers of Holy Communion refill their ciboria with the Eucharist from the tabernacle. It is difficult to estimate the number of people who will be receiving Communion, and so sometimes that will happen. But we will continue to work toward a time when receiving the Eucharist from the tabernacle will be less frequent and our awareness that we are receiving the gifts offered to God in a particular Eucharist are indeed the gift we receive from God at Communion time.