9/3/2023

Once in a while someone comes to me (or now Fr. Karl) with a host that s/he found in a pew, perhaps in one of the hymnals or in the rack where the hymnals are stored. I do not know if the hosts were consecrated or not, if they were put there by a non-Catholic who came to communion but did not know what to do with the host, or if it was an unconsecrated host that a child procured and played with, or if it was someone going to communion and then (God forbid) intentionally desecrating the host. It does not happen often that we find misplaced hosts, but this should never happen. When going to communion, please take the host and eat it as soon as you receive it (whether in your hand or on your tongue). I ask you to help us to watch for those who do not consume the host immediately – we ask and expect everyone to consume the host immediately, unless s/he is an EMC (Extraordinary Minister of Communion) carrying the host in a pyx. As Catholics we believe that the risen Christ is present as the bread and the wine consecrated at Mass for the sake of being consumed by a baptized Catholic who is in the state of grace, or else kept in the tabernacle for worship or availability to bring to those who cannot come to Mass (especially in danger of death). Please let Fr. Karl or myself know if you see someone who does not consume the host right away.
We Catholics approach the Eucharist with great reverence which flows from our faith in the real presence of Jesus Christ in consecrated bread and wine. We genuflect before the tabernacle, kneel in adoration before that presence at Mass, in the tabernacle, and in the monstrance when it is displayed (Wednesdays, 8-5 PM here in our church), keep the red vigil light burning next to the tabernacle indicating the real presence in the tabernacle, and have proscribed practices and conditions for receiving the Blessed Sacrament. Faith provides the assumptions on which we base our actions, and our actions indicate that we truly believe.
Modern surveys or polls indicate that only about a third of Catholics actually believe in the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. I would hope that is not true here at SGB. I don’t know how accurate those statistics are, but if we are nonchalant instead of reverent in our approach to the Blessed Sacrament, Mass, adoration, and worship, we give the impression that the surveys are correct. If we approach the Blessed Sacrament with the reverence and attentiveness of someone who believes in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist and expect those around us to do the same, our faith is more apparent, more visible, and more attractive. Our children and visitors will pick up on the sense that something great is happening here, someone important is present here.
May Christ be in your heart at all times, and may our parish church remind you of that presence and renew it in you always.
It is a joy to be your pastor.

Father Albert, O.S.B.