On October 19th, 138 of our children will be receiving their First Holy Communion! It is a great gift for them and their families and it is also a great gift to our parish! Seeing the excitement of our children as they prepare to receive Jesus for the first time, really gave me a pause to
reflect on the importance of the Eucharist.

Vatican II taught us clearly that the source and summit of the Christian life are the Eucharist. However, if we look back over the past 50 years, in general, within the Catholic faith community we find a growing lack of reverence for the Eucharist and more and more Catholics who are confused about what we believe regarding the Eucharist. In fact, there are some studies that tell us 7 out of 10 Catholics regard the Eucharist as simply some kind of “symbol” and nothing more. Indeed, Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect for Divine Worship in Rome, recently said he believes the greatest crisis facing the Church today and the one at the root of all its problems, is the growing lack of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist! This should make all of us think!

As Catholics what do we believe about the Eucharist? Paragraph #1413 of the Catechism puts it clearly and simply: By the consecration, the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is brought about. Under the Consecrated species of bread and wine Christ himself, living and glorious, is present in a true, real substantial manner: his Body and his Blood, with his soul and divinity. In other words: it looks like bread; it tastes like bread; it looks like wine; it tastes like wine, BUT it is NOT bread (bread is no longer present); it is NOT wine (wine is no longer present). It is TRULY the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. Jesus is truly and really present as true God and true Man. The very Jesus who walked on this earth is with us now, just in a different form. The Eucharist is Jesus Christ! It can’t get more real! This is our Catholic faith and any other belief is not!!

This month, I have asked all the Salesians in our homilies in all our weekend masses, to focus on our faith in the Eucharist and instruct us on what it means for us. We pray every Sunday that our parish be “centered on the Eucharist” and so we must grow in our faith and understanding of this great mystery. 

Throughout the year we have been speaking of various Salesian saints while remembering our own call to holiness. This month we remember Blessed Alexandrina Da Costa from Portugal. She died on October 13, 1955, at the age of 51. From the age of 19 Alexandrina endured incredible suffering from a fall she had while escaping a man who tried to rape her. For a number of years, every Friday, she endured some of the pains of the Passion of Christ; she suffered terrible agony. She offered all her pain and suffering in reparation for the disrespect shown to the Eucharist. In the last 13 years of her life, Alexandrina lived on nothing else (no other food) but the Holy Eucharist! She believed. 

As we reflect on the Eucharist this month, we pray to Blessed Alexandrina to give us a share of her faith in Jesus’ Real Presence!

God bless you!
Fr. Pat Angelucci