The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 193: Communion Forever in Heaven

Episode Date: July 12, 2023

The Catechism wraps up its overview of the Eucharist by reminding us that the sacrament of Holy Communion is a foretaste of what is to come in heaven. Fr. Mike exhorts us to prepare our hearts here on earth so that they might be conformed to God, ready to unite with him forever in heaven. The Eucharist is a most excellent path to such unity. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1402-1405. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to The Catechism in a Year Podcast, where we encounter God's plan of sheer goodness for us, revealed in Scripture and passed down through the tradition of the Catholic faith. The Catechism in the Year is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read to the Catechism of the Catholic Church discovering our identity in God's family as we journey together to our Heavenly Home, this is day 193 where Rating Paragraphs 14.0, 2-14.0, 5. As always, I'm using the Ascension Edition of the Catechism,

which includes the foundations of Faith Approach, but you can follow along with any recent version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. You can also download your own Catechism in a year reading plan by visiting ascensionpress.com slash C-I-Y. Lastly, you can click follow or subscribe in your podcast app for daily updates

and daily notifications because today, we're almost closing in on day 200. This is crazy, guys. Day one, ninety three, we're reading paragraph 14.0, two to 14.0, five. It is, well, it's the final four paragraphs of this section on the Eucharist. Of course, we have a nugget day.

It is massive nugget day. This is family meal tomorrow, but right now, we're on this last piece of the Eucharist. just highlighting the fact that the Eucharist is a mystery. It is, in fact, this section says, it is the pledge of the glory to come. And this is completely, obviously, this is true, right? We have Jesus himself, truly, substantially, and really present in the Eucharist that comes to us. He feeds us, he has this intimacy with us, right? Forgive sins and it preserves us from future mortal sins. It strengthens us. It strengthens our relationship with him. And all of that points towards the future glory. The Unite are meant to participate in eternity. And it's just, so that's what we're

going to talk about today. Let's just, let's say a prayer because, yeah, the words here of Catechus in 1402 to 1405 are beautiful in them themselves. And so this is, ask the Lord, ask the Father to prepare our hearts to be able to receive these words. Father in heaven, we give you praise every day, every single day, Lord God, you give us as a gift.

Every breath, you give us as a gift, every heartbeat, you give us as a gift. Lord breath you give us as a gift, every heartbeat, you give us as a gift. Lord God, help us to not be blind to your gifts. Help us to not be deaf to your gifts or even numb to your presence and your blessings that are in our lives this day and every day. We ask you to please be with us and reveal yourself to us. Lord God, help us to love you the way you deserve to be loved. Help us to love you the way you deserve, to be loved. Help us to worship you the way you deserve to be worshipped. Help us to be the people that you've created and redeemed us to be. Help us to enter into the Eucharist in such a way that

it's a foretaste of heavenly joy that awaits us. And we ask this, make this prayer in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. It is day 193, we are reading paragraph 1402-1405. The Eucharist, pledge of the glory to come. In an ancient prayer, the church acclaims the mystery of the Eucharist, saying, O sacred banquet, in which Christ is received as food, the memory of his passion is renewed, the soul is filled with grace, and a pledge of the life to come is given to us. If the Eucharist is the memorial of the Passover of the Lord Jesus, if by our communion at

the altar we are filled with every grace and heavenly blessing, then the Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly glory. At the last supper, the Lord Himself directed His disciples' attention toward the fulfillment of the Passover in the Kingdom of God, saying, I tell you, I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's Kingdom. Whenever the church celebrates the Eucharist, she remembers this promise and turns her gaze

to him who is to come. In her prayer, she calls for his coming, Marna Tha, come Lord Jesus. May your grace come and this world pass away. The church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled. Therefore, we celebrate the Eucharist as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, asking to enjoy forever the fullness of your glory when you will wipe

away every tear from our eyes. For seeing you our God as you are, we shall be like you, for all the ages and praise you without end, through Christ our Lord. There is no sure pledge or clearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and the new earth in which righteousness dwells, than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, the work of our redemption is carried on, and we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ. Okay, so there we are, these four

short paragraphs to conclude, well, you know, before the nuggets, to conclude this section on the Eucharist. I don't know if you've experienced this, but I have experienced such grace, I just such gift of being able to spend time reflecting on and being fed by the church's teaching when it comes to the Eucharist. I mean, there are books and books, shelves of books, libraries of books on this topic of Jesus and the Eucharist and of the sacrifice of the Eucharist of the sacrificial banquet that the Eucharist is the intimacy we can experience with Jesus when we receive Holy Communion. And also, you know, something yesterday that I didn't overlook it. We just got caught up in the, I got caught up. Sorry, we did not get caught up. I got caught up in all the other points to be made. But paragraph

1397 highlights this that the Eucharist commits us to the poor. And I noted it, but there's something so powerful about what St. John Chrysostom had written right after the Catechism states, to receive in truth the body and blood of Christ given up for us. We must recognize Christ in the There's something so powerful about what St. John Chrysostom had written. Right after the Catechism states, to receive in truth the body and blood of Christ given up for us, we must recognize Christ in the poorest, who are his brethren. And this is what John Chrysostom said, You have tasted the blood of the Lord,

you do not recognize your brother. You dishonor this table when you do not judge worthy of sharing your food, someone judged worthy to take part in this meal. God freed you from all your sins and invited you here, but you have not become more merciful. And this highlights not only that growth and charity are growth in mercy that we need to increase every time we come to God, but also highlights the fact that the Eucharist is meant to change us, it's meant to transform us. And then going back to today, it's meant to transform us so that we can enter into God's heavenly presence, that we can enter into God's kingdom.

I think it's remarkable. St. John Henry Newman, at one point in one of his, I think one of his sermons, he talks about the longing for heaven. He says, I wonder, I'm paraphrasing, of course. He says, I wonder if those who on this earth, you know, grown or sigh, yawn at the words, let us pray. I wonder how their hearts will respond in heaven when heaven is this prayer, this time of worship, this time of joyful crying out to the Lord in praise and thanksgiving in honor and worship

and blessing, that if we don't cultivate hearts on this earth, that long to be with Jesus, that long to give God worship, that long to praise Him, then will our hearts be ready, tender, and to heaven? Will our hearts be ready to love God the way He has called us to love Him? Will our hearts be ready? Will they be ready for heaven, essentially.

And that's why I love these last four paragraphs here, the Catechism, 14.0, 2 to 14.0, 5, is, when we keep approaching the Eucharist, one of the things that it does is it grows our heart, it grows our love, it's meant to grow our love. As 13.97 says, grow our love for the poor to become more merciful to those who need mercy around us.

But also, also right now in 1404, I love this. 1404 it says, the church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and that he is there in our midst. However, his presence is veiled. And there's something so good for us about that veiled presence. You know, there's something so good for us about that veiled presence. There's something so good for us about the fact that Jesus hides.

I showed this before so many times, but I remember when I first had a conversion to the Lord, my parents had told me all of a sudden became real in my life. Just, here is God, this is true. When I realized this whole thing is true, I remember the day that I was reading in a book and the book was talking about Jesus' real presence in the Eucharist. And I was just, as I said, blown away. I went down to my siblings and said, you guys, did you know really that? That's really Jesus.

And they're like, of course we did. And I'm like, no, that's really him. And they're like, okay, moron. We all went to Catholic school. And I just, I might have been sick that day. Maybe I didn't pay attention. But I remember how powerful that was. And then I remember being so excited to go to Mass

and so excited to receive Holy Communion. Like, for the first time since I knew who this was, and I walked up in the priest at the body of Christ and I said, amen, right, so be it. I believe it is true. Yes, it is true. I seek my life on that. And I receive Holy Communion. And I remember thinking, hmm, that's kind of dry. You know, that

that's that my experience was not of being overwhelmed, blown away by the divine presence, the divine reality that he's truly really and substantially present in the Eucharist. My experience was underwhelming. I'll say it like that, maybe even disappointing. It really bothered me, you know, because I was like, wait a second, this really is Jesus. And even going to adoration and kneeling sitting

being in front of God's presence, I mentioned that, you know, all their saints and hours of feel like minutes for me, minutes felt like hours. And looking at our Lord and the Eucharist and not seeing Him, right, you know, having that experience of, like what it says right here in paragraph 1404 that his presence is veiled.

It bothered me until I kind of realized, I don't know what maybe is a moment of grace, where it seemed I was like, wait a second, if I was living 2000 years ago, walking the streets of Nazareth, or walking the streets of Jerusalem. And I saw Jesus. He wouldn't obviously look like God, right? He wouldn't be floating six inches off the ground with like light streaming out of his hair. He wouldn't obviously be God, and yet he was God. But he was God hidden, right?

God hidden to the people around him, but he was truly fully God, fully the second person of the Trinity, but that divinity was hidden. And it was hidden, I imagine, from many reasons, but one of those reasons hidden so that people would approach him, that he could approach them. And I believe that this is why Jesus hides himself in the Eucharist, is because if he just revealed this divinity, he just revealed his divinity,

he just revealed his fullness of his goodness, his love, his truth, his beauty, then I wouldn't approach him. I would say that's for someone else. That's for someone who's good. That's for someone who's made for beauty. That's someone who's better than me. And yet Jesus hides himself so that you and I don't have to hide. Right here in 1404, the church knows that the Lord comes even now in his Eucharist and

that he is there in our midst, however his presence is veiled. Why is his presence veiled? I think, among other reasons, it is so that we come close. That Jesus hides Himself so that you and I don't have to hide. At the same time, we know that there have been numerous times when he has revealed his glory. We know that there is numerous times when there are documented miracles about the Eucharist, where Jesus actually reveals that, no, this truly is my body, blood, soul, and divinity.

There's the miracle of Lanchiano, there's the miracle of Buenos Aires, there's the miracle of many, many miracles of the Eucharist. And they all point to this reality that I don't know if you've ever heard any of the scientific experiments they've done on these Eucharistic species. But here's what they found. Among other things, they found that the flesh, found, among other things, they found that the flesh, the bread that literally became flesh, not truly really and substantially, but even physically became fleshed in that miracle, that was flesh from myocardia. That was flesh from the human heart. In fact, it was from the part of the heart that's the deepest part of the human heart. The pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body.

Here is the Eucharist, which again, that's the heart of Jesus, like literally, truly, in somebody's literally right, truly the heart of Jesus. The pumps his life, the pumps divine life, to the rest of the body. And this has been the case for, I think, as far as I know, every Eucharistic miracle that's been subject to scientific scrutiny has been, yes, this is muscle from the heart. That when you and I receive Holy Communion, where yes, we're receiving the pledge of glory. Yes, we're receiving the love of God. But in so many ways, in this mysterious, beautiful, poetic and truly, really, substantial way, we're receiving the very heart of God.

Here he is, giving you his heart at every mass, and our invitation is to give him our heart at every mass. For all eternity, you and I are destined to receive the love of God and to give love and return for all eternity to experience that joy. And to dwell in that joy, to have that joy increase and never decrease, never plateau, but to always grow. And it can start right now. As Jesus gives us his heart in every single mass, and we give him our heart in every single mass, heaven can begin now at the altar. We're time and eternity, touch, and we're heaven and earth, kiss.

Tomorrow, as we said, we have nugget day, and so we'll get to review some of these things, but today, we just get to reflect on the love of God that where he hides himself so that you and I don't have to hide, so that he veils himself so that you and I come close. And it gives us his heart, so that you and I can not only receive his heart, but give him our heart in return. I am praying for you, my friends. Please pray for me, my name's Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.