Please let us have the Eucharist!

This is a somewhat difficult homily to give.
The readings are all about hungering for the Holy Eucharist – 
a great thing to talk about for a Catholic priest! – 
but how am I supposed to talk about this, now, 
when you and I cannot come together at Holy Mass 
to satisfy that hunger? It seems cruel to talk about this!

And to make it even worse, today was supposed to be 
First Communion for our second graders!

So, there’s no getting around our bad feeling about all this.

Still, let’s encourage each other with this knowledge:
Our forced-fast from the Body and Blood of Jesus 
cannot go on much longer.

And now that I think about it, maybe trying to increase your hunger for the Eucharist 
is exactly the right thing to do –
Because perhaps that longing will be the fuel for our prayers, 
as a community, for this exile from Holy Mass to end at last.

This is a good time to recall something Pope John Paul II talked about:
“Eucharistic Amazement.” He meant that when you and I 
really ponder deeply the reality of the Mass – 
the reality of God becoming human, solely for our sake, 
with the Cross being the goal all along…

Taking in this astonishing fact: that Jesus did all this by choice!
That the Father would, in the words of the Exsultet Prayer,
“ransom a slave by giving away his Son”!

It is astounding that God would love each of us, every single one of us, 
that much. And yet the Cross – and the Eucharist – are proof.

A few years ago I made a trip to Italy with a group of pilgrims,
And we visited a site of one of many Eucharistic miracles.
We were able to behold and adore a Sacred Host that had – 
in the hands of a doubting priest – become human flesh. 
That is one of many such Eucharistic miracles over the centuries.

At Mass, during my homily, I gestured toward the miracle, 
right in front of us, and I asked the pilgrims: “What more do we need?”

And I ask you the same question, as Mass is happening right now,
And the miracle of transubstantiation will happen in a few minutes,
And I will lift up the true Body and Blood of Jesus before your gaze.
I ask you: what more do you we need?

You have experienced a kind of “Babylonian Exile” 
from Mass for the past few weeks. 
Why has God allowed this? What does this mean? 
We can only guess.
Is it a call to repentance? 
Is it a rebuke to those who treated the Mass as not very important? 

And could it be an invitation from heaven for each of us, all of us,
To examine ourselves, and above all, to beg heaven.
I was about to say, to beg for the end of this exile from Mass,
And of course that’s what we all want.
 
But it occurs to me that something else is even more important:
That our love for Jesus, for the Mass, for his Body and Blood, 
grow stronger and stronger. 
And I say that to myself first and last. 

It’s very easy for us priests to congratulate ourselves on our learning, 
our experiences, and whatever sacrifices come our way – 
as if they don’t come your way as much, or more.
It’s very easy to have a kind of “insider” mindset and get lazy.

Many times I have had God remind me and challenge me
By showing me the depth, not of my faith, but yours!
Maybe it’s those who kneel for a long time 
on cold, hard pavement outside St. Remy Hall. 

Or those second graders who have inspired me over many years,
Including those who not only were eager for their First Communion, 
But kept coming back, again and again and again.

So let’s do this together, brothers and sisters:
Pray for me as I pray for you, that our desire for Jesus will grow.
And may that longing be the driving force of prayer 
that storms heaven and begs, please! 
Let us please come back to Mass again!