The Lord God, concerned about the good of man, gave us 10 signposts to heaven, and among them is – “Remember to keep the Sabbath, the Lord’s day holy“. God knew how much trouble a man would have with keeping this commandment, so He used the word – Remember! The Church, also concerned about the happiness of man, asks us to remain faithful to God and devoutly participate in the Holy Mass on Sundays and holidays. It is our holy duty, therefore, not only to attend the Holy Mass, but also to participate in it devoutly. However, you can see people who, instead of participating in the Holy Mass, are occupied with some other things: watching phones, looking at watches, ehhh, ehhh. There are also those who do not care about the final blessing and leave the Holy Mass earlier. Some of us have lack of faith the Blessed Sacrament and rarely receive it. They are deaf to the call of Christ – “Take and eat, this is my body, Take and drink, this is My blood”. They come to church and go away hungry. Jesus is not only for the elect. He is for each of us. He knows that you are weak, tired of life, that you sometimes lack strength and cannot cope with many things in life. It happens sometimes that a husband drinks, the son is difficult to bring up, the sick mother needs help, the unemployed father looks for support, the disabled child expects care. In these and many other situations, the Eucharist is the remedy for our human illnesses, weaknesses and needs. The Eucharist is the source of our strength to bear our own and others’ burdens of the cross. It is not easy and it often exceeds our strength. So why do we rarely feed on the Body of Christ?
Jesus doesn’t want to dwell in gilded tabernacles, He does not want to be alone in the most beautiful churches. Christ wants to live in our hearts and be our daily bread, so that we have the strength to live our lives well. He wants to be our life companion. So what if we go to church, listen to the Gospel, and do not practice our faith. What kind of witness do we give to our children and young people? They watch whether their mother and father receive the sacraments, Holy Communion, whether they pray. Because of the First Holy Communion, we give our children great parties, we buy them great gifts, and then these children are not at Sunday Mass and they do not accept the Lord Jesus. Why? Because we disregard the third commandment of God and do not come to church with them. The father and mother, by their own example, show the child the way to God. We must ask God for conversion. You cannot be a good person if you do not go to confession, attend Holy Mass and receive the Eucharist. Because you have no religious life in you.
Many of us go to psychologists instead of confession. Remember that you can only talk to a psychologist, while in the sacrament of penance you receive the grace of forgiveness, peace and the gift of healing your soul from all weaknesses. The sacrament is the grace of the Lord. The grace through which Jesus lifts up your spirits and gives you new hope for a better tomorrow. Only when you accept this grace in the sacrament of penance will Jesus heal you from sin and pour the gift of joy and peace into your heart. You cannot carry the burdens of sin for years, because they will cause the curvature of our moral backbone, and thus all mental illnesses, depression and lack of meaning in life. Sometimes we don’t go to confession for many years, and then we’re surprised that everything in our lives has collapsed, that our marriage has fallen apart, that our son or daughter has gone astray and don’t go to church, that our husband or wife looks into a glass. We are surprised at this, but why do we not believe in God? We often say that we are believers but not practitioners. What is faith if it is not expressed in our daily lives? Jesus wants you to be like Him. He needs you to be His witness. In order to change yourself and others for the better, you have to follow Jesus.
Once, on the street of Calcutta, Mother Teresa found a girl, she was 6 years old, she was hungry, she had not eaten for several days. Mother Teresa gave her a slice of bread and she ate it slowly, one crumb at a time. Why? Because she was afraid that when the bread ran out, she would be hungry again. We, living in America, throw tons of bread into the bins. As we do this, let us think of those who are dying of hunger, let us think of those who lack our love, our mercy. Just as Jesus in the Eucharist is good to us and feeds us to the full, let us also be bread for those who live among us. They not only want bread, clothes, a roof over their heads, but above all our kindness and love. So let’s be their daily bread.