The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 193: Communion Forever in Heaven (2024)

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

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. 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. 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.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and you're listening to the Catechism in Ear 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 Ear is brought to you by Ascension. In 365 days, we'll read through 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. We're reading paragraphs 1402 to 1405. 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 you guys. Day 193 we're reading paragraph 1402 to 1405. 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 that that right fear of 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 that you and I are meant to participate in in eternity. And it's just, so that's what we're gonna talk about today, let's just, let's say a prayer because, yeah, the words here of Catechism 1402 to 1405 are beautiful in and of themselves, and so let's just 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 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 worship you the way you deserve to be worshiped. 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're reading paragraphs 1402 to 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, Maranatha, 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, 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 surer 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 this section on the Eucharist I 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 in the Eucharist and of the sacrifice to 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 poorest, who are his brethren. And this is what John Chrysostom said, You have tasted the blood of the Lord, yet 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 in charity, our 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

You know, I just I think it's remarkable, you know, 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 he's I'm paraphrasing of course. He says I wonder if those who on this earth You know groan 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 in 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 to enter into heaven will our hearts be ready to love God the way he has called us to love him will our hearts be ready well they be ready for heaven, essentially? And that's why I love these last four paragraphs here, the Catechism, 1402 to 1405, 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 1397 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 so good for us about that veiled presence.

You know, there's something so good for us about that veiled presence. You know, there's something so good for us about the fact that Jesus hides. You know, I've shared this before so many times, but I remember when I first had a conversion to the Lord, you know, that all my parents had told me all of a sudden became real in my life. It 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's 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 I that's really him and they're like, okay moron Like we all went to Catholic school and I just I might have been sick that day. Maybe I didn't pay attention Like, 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 priesthood of the body of Christ, and I said, amen, right? So be it, I believe it is true, yes, it is true. I stake my life on that. And I received Holy Communion, and I remember thinking, mm it is true. Yes, it is true. I stick 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, cause 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, other saints, hours would feel like minutes for me,

minutes felt like hours. And looking at our Lord in 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 it was a moment of grace,

where it seemed I was like, wait a second, if I was living 2,000 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? Like he wouldn't be floating six inches off the ground They're walking the streets of Jerusalem. And I saw Jesus. He wouldn't obviously look like God, right? Like 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 for 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 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

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 are 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 Lanciano, 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,

that the bread that literally became flesh, not truly, really, and substantially, but even physically became flesh in that miracle, that 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. It pumps oxygenated blood to the rest of the body right here is the Eucharist

which again that's the heart of Jesus like literally truly in some ways literally right truly the heart of Jesus that pumps his life that 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, 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 him our heart at every Mass. For all eternity, you and I are destined to receive the love of God and to give love in 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 mass and we give him our heart in every single mass. Heaven can begin now at the altar where time and eternity touch and where heaven and earth kiss. Tomorrow as we said we have nugget day and so we 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 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 give him our heart in return. I am praying for you, my friends. Please pray for me. My name is Father Micah, and I wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.