Your First, Last, and Only

In a small sacristy of one of the earliest monasteries where St. Teresa of Jesus reformed the Carmelites in Avila lies a set of instructions that are close to a priest’s heart. Even though (as you can see from the featured image) it is written in Spanish, it bears a significant meaning and is a sober reminder for us as priests of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, “Priest of Jesus Christ, celebrate this Holy Mass as if it is your FIRST Mass, your LAST Mass, your ONLY Mass.” Even though it is a greater reminder for the ordained ministers in the Church, this message applies to everyone, too, because we can never dismiss the immense and invaluable treasure of love given to us at each and every Holy Sacrifice.

Perhaps many people think that the Eucharist is fake and is simply something that is “made up” by the Catholic Church to fake, trick, manipulate, and dupe the ignorant, uneducated, and superstitious mass. As a matter of fact, similar arguments have been made by socialist, communist, agnostic, and atheistic revolutionary leaders, philosophers, and people. Even when the Lord told the crowd and His own disciples that He is the Living Bread, some of them said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:60) Many of them murmured, but He stood His ground. He was true to Himself and firm with His words because they were not simply words. When He revealed Himself and got rejected, He did not change His stance but asked, “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:66) To which St. Peter answered for each and every one of us, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” (John 6:68-69)

Faith in the Eucharist is faith in Christ Jesus! If He is true to His words and stands by His self-revelation as the Bread of Life, we should, too, believe even though our senses might fail at times. The Eucharist is real because Christ is divine, and He is true to His words! The Eucharist is real because satanic worshippers are doing their best to steal the Blessed Sacrament for their perverted and hateful so-called black mass. Just as the Eucharist is Christ’s own self-giving love for us, their black mass is the reverse of true love with pitiful dishonor that focuses on self-centered hatred of true love. Satan and His followers want to steal and disrespect the Eucharist because they hate what they do not have because they are incapable of true, sacrificial, and self-donating love. The Eucharist is real because Christ is real and He truly loves us.

Think about this… how wonderful it is to have the Savior who loves us so much that He chose to do something that is beyond our comprehension and so radical, something that only God, who is so passionately in love with us, could ever imagine! In the Eucharist, the Lord Jesus Christ teaches us how to love by the personal giving of ourselves, not simply to manipulate and hurt other people around us, but to truly give ourselves genuinely and wholeheartedly.

St. Alphonsus de Liguori once asked why would the Lord Jesus Christ ever think of something so radical and unimaginable as to become food for humanity, subsist in what seems to be ordinary pieces of bread, locked up in tabernacles around the world which at times forgotten and abandoned, if it is not because He loves us! Only God, who is so deeply and madly in love with us, could ever imagine and do something unimaginable and radical. Therefore, when we receive Him in the Eucharist, we experience this selfless and self-giving love that is so pure and true in a very real and tangible way! What is said in the words of the institution, “This is my Body — This is my Blood — Given up for you!” is real. Our Lord meant it! He gives us His all every time we receive the Eucharist.

Perhaps the human elements are boring at Mass! Perhaps the priests are not entertaining enough, their homilies are not so good, the music is not too lively, and the congregation is not very active or alive. We should always try to focus on what is really happening behind all of those humanistic or sensational attractions to seek what is really transcendental, extraordinary, personal, intimate, and life-giving. Truly, His glory and powerful love are not just found or defined by a priest’s ability or what we think needs to happen according to our human wants, desires, expectations, or demands, but that the Savior of the world is willingly offering and humbling Himself to use human ministers and means to give His very own self to us — at each and every Mass. If we really understand what is being given and happening at Mass, no Mass should be boring! If we really comprehend what is going on, the immense mystery behind the sacramental and liturgical actions, how can true love and its sacrificial and genuine self-giving gift be boring at all?!?

Just as Jesus’ own life was one of humility and self-emptying love, when we come to Mass, our very own sacrifice in preparation for worship needs to be one that requires us to let go of our humanistic expectations, demands, and puny comprehensions in order to enter into the sacred, transcendental, and eternal reality of His sacrificial love for us. If we come with closed minds and hearts, the Lord can never really fulfill us! If we come to expect Him to entertain us, we have done nothing more than to turn Him into a clown or entertainer, and we are nothing but an audience and spectators. If we can never let go of ourselves in order to truly meet God with worship, we will always remain people who expect and demand but do not know how to truly abandon, empty, and learn to sacrifice our wants to truly love.

Even when it seems hard and challenging to get to Mass, when there is no motivation, and we seem busy, and especially when there seem to be better things to do, remember that our desire to participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is that very self-giving and sacrificial gift that we are giving back to Him who first loves us. Furthermore, we are called to love and never forget to bring the person to the Lord spiritually through prayer and through our own sacrificial offering at Mass, even if he or she might not be interested or far away from the faith at the moment.

One of my spiritual directors once said in his homily on St. Monica that we can learn from her example to bring that special someone to Mass with us as we unite and offer our own sacrifices, uniting them to the Holy Sacrifice of Christ, even when he or she is far away, lost, or do not care anything about the spiritual life of faith right now. It is a beautiful sacrifice and offering when we are able to offer the ones that we care about and love the most to the Lord when we come to Mass! Just as the Lord Jesus Christ offered Himself for us on the Cross and gave His Body and Blood in the Eucharist as the nourishment for our body and soul, we can unite our love and its pains, sufferings, and sorrows to the Lord as we firmly trust and put our hope in the infinite love of Christ. It is a radical, hope-filled, and faith-founded act of trust in divine providence, believing that He knows, understands, and cares for each and every one of us even more than we can understand ourselves. If we truly believe and trust in the ultimate sacrifice of the Mass, why not unite what is dearest to our heart to Christ’s own loving sacrifice for our salvation and redemption?

I would like to invite each and every one of us to really reflect on His love for us so that the Eucharist is not received in vain, does not remain as something symbolic, or is something to be done because everyone else is doing it. May we receive the Eucharist worthily and with real love so that our hope is grounded and our faith is strengthened by His love for us. May we become eucharistic as we receive Him with true devotion and conviction! May our lives become a real manifestation of praise, thanksgiving, and self-giving love as He has loved us. May each and every Mass be filled with gratitude, willingness, and self-giving love as if it is our first, last, and only Mass each and every time.