Day 193: Communion Forever in Heaven (2025)

In 365 days, we'll read through the Catechism of the Catholic Church, discovering our identity and God's family. As we journey together toward 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 faithful.

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 Ascension Press.com slash CIY. 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 paragraphs 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 right forgives sins and it it preserves us from future mortal sins. It strengthens us. It strengthens our relationship with him. And all of that points towards the equipment. The Future Glory that you and I are meant to participate in an eternity.

And it's just, ah, so that's what we're going to talk about today. Let's just, let's, let's say a prayer because yeah, the the words here of Catechism 1402 to 1405 are beautiful in 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 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 one hundred and ninety-three. We are reading paragraphs fourteen oh two to fourteen oh five. 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, Marnatha, 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 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 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 Spent 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 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

I I don't 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 Saint 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 and charity are growth in mercy that we need to

increase what 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, uh 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 thanksgiving, in 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? Will they be ready for heaven essentially? And that's why I love these last four paragraphs here, the catechism fourteen oh two to fourteen oh five 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 thirteen ninety seven says, grow our love for the poor to become more merciful to those who need mercy around us. But also right now in fourteen oh four, I love this, fourteen oh four 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 the fact that that Jesus hides. You know, I s I've I've shared this before so many times. But I remember when I first had a conversion to do well to to the Lord, you know, what that all my parents had told me all of a sudden became real in my life. Just here is God, this is true. That 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, I you that's really him. And they're like, Okay, moron. Um like we all went to Catholic school and I 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 and the the priest said the body of Christ and I said, Amen, right? So be it. I I believe it is true. Yes, it is true. I stick my life on that. And I received Holy Communion and I remember thinking, Mm.

That's kinda dry, you know, that 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, But wait, wait a second, this really is Jesus. And even going to adoration and kne kneeling, sitting, being in in front of God's presence. I mentioned that, you know, other saints and hours that feel like minutes for me. Minutes felt like hours and And looking at our Lord in the Eucharist and 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 s I I don't know what maybe it was a moment of grace.

Where it seemed I 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 with like light streaming out of his hair. He wouldn't 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 o 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 his beauty. Then I I wouldn't approach him. I I I would say that's for someone else. That's for someone who's good. That's for someone who's who's made for beauty. That's someone who's who's better than me. And yet Jesus hides himself so that you and I don't have to hide.

Right here in fourteen oh four. 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 all the 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 When he he has revealed his glory, we we know that there's numerous times when there are documented miracles about the Eucharist where 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 uh with 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 the scientific experiments they've done on on these Eucharistic species, but Here's what they found, among other things, they found that the the flesh The you know, the 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 he again, that's the heart of Jesus. Like literally, truly, in somebody's 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, you can see the same thing. 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 are 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 in return. For all eternity to experience that joy that And to dwell in that joy, to have that joy increase and 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, 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

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 friends. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.