We can hope strongly that when we are in the presence of the Eucharist, we are also in the presence of Marc, and Laurie, and every similar Catholic who loved God and neighbor, who practiced the Catholic faith, who spread the honor of the Divine Mercy.
By Chris Sparks
"[Jesus said] I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another" (Jn 13:34).
The Eucharist is the Body and Blood, soul and Divinity, of Christ.
Hopefully, we’ve all heard that before. Hopefully, if we’re baptized Catholics, we believe that. If we don’t believe that — well, I recommend a careful, prayerful re-reading of the Gospel of John, Chapter 6, and its cross references. Spend time with Vinny Flynn’s 7 Secrets of the Eucharist. And pay attention to the passages in St. Faustina’s Diary where she sees the reality of the Eucharist, behind the appearances (or “accidents” in the older, theological terminology).
The Eucharist is the Body of Christ. The Eucharist is the full presence of Christ, Jesus in all His power, all His humanity and divinity, everything that makes Him Him.
That means that where the Eucharist is, there also is God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.
That also means that where the Eucharist is, there is the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church.
Passings
And that I find hopeful this week, marking the third anniversary of the death of my friend and colleague, Marc Massery.
I find it hopeful when, just the other day, I learned of the tragic death of our freelance writer and Marian Helper Laurie Robinson, whose articles appeared on this website, in some of our newsletters, and Marian Helper magazine. Laurie was training for a walking pilgrimage when a hit and run driver took her life.
Please keep Marc and Laurie both in your prayers, as well as their friends, family, and colleagues.
Keep them in prayer especially at Mass and when you do Eucharistic Adoration, because when we are in the presence of the Eucharistic Jesus, we are always in the presence of the whole Jesus, and by the grace of God, that includes the branches joined to the Vine (see Jn 15:4-5, 7).
Reasons for hope
Now both Marc and Laurie were baptized members of the Mystical Body of Christ. That’s a huge reason for hope.
Also, both Marc and Laurie dedicated themselves to spreading the Good News of the Divine Mercy, which Pope Benedict XVI called the nucleus of the Gospel. Jesus promised St. Faustina:
Souls who spread the honor of My mercy I shield through their entire life as a tender mother her infant, and at the hour of death I will not be a Judge for them, but the Merciful Savior (Diary, 1075).
That’s another huge reason for hope.
We can hope strongly that when we are in the presence of the Eucharist, we are also in the presence of Marc, and Laurie, and every similar Catholic who loved God and neighbor, who practiced the Catholic faith, who spread the honor of the Divine Mercy.
Outside of time
And even if someone dies in a way that doesn’t allow for Last Rites, as was the case, so far as I know, for both Marc and Laurie, we may pray now to help them in their final moments, as Fr. Chris Alar, MIC, and Fr. Jason Lewis, MIC, explain so well in their book After Suicide: There’s Still Hope for Them and for You.
God is outside of time, Fr. Chris and Fr. Jason explain, and our prayers reach Him outside of time. From the eternal vantage point, God sees the death of our loved ones simultaneously with receiving our prayers for them. Since the final moments of a person’s life is, to the rest of us, a mystery, private between them and God, we may hope that our prayers now may help our loved ones at that crucial point to welcome the merciful forgiveness of God for their sins, welcome His redeeming, saving grace, and find themselves at least in Purgatory, if not in Heaven itself, upon their death.
We can help them now, no matter when they died. Father Chris explains all this and more:
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So when you make a visit to our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, you may hope to visit all your lost loved ones, if you pray for them.
In communion
When you’re at Mass and you receive Jesus in Holy Communion, guess what? You may also hope to be in holy communion with your departed loved ones, a closer communion and a deeper love than you ever had on earth. Why go to Mass? Because we have reason to hope that everyone we’ve ever loved, everyone we’ve kept in our prayers, will be waiting for us there.
So let us commit to praying for the dying and the dead, especially using the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and the Church’s treasury of indulgences and indulgenced prayers. Let us commit to living the Eucharistic Revival, going to Mass at least on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, participating in Eucharistic Adoration where it’s offered, and remembering that we may hope to be in holy communion with both God and neighbor, with both Jesus and our departed loved ones, through God’s gracious mercy.
Pray for me, that I may practice what I preach. I’ll pray for you.
Chris Sparks is Senior Writer/Editor for the Association of Marian Helpers.
Photo by Josh Applegate on Unsplash.
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