“Amen, amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”
Jn 6:53
There is much to celebrate as the Church unpacks last month’s bountiful blessings and fruits of the National Eucharistic Congress. Thousands of individuals gathered in prayer and praise of our Lord in the Eucharist. Hundreds of thousands came out to meet him in their cities and towns in a pilgrimage of biblical proportions. Hearts have been opened; wounds have been healed; Jesus has been praised.
Even while the Church celebrates, there is cause for great concern.
A recent break-in at a local religious community in the Archdiocese of Denver this summer saw the Lord of Lords ripped from his throne with no other material possessions being stolen.
“It is not surprising that this and the blasphemous display at the Olympics took place around the time of the Eucharistic Congress and our preaching series on the Eucharist,” Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila wrote in a letter to priests acknowledging the tragic theft. “It is evident that the father of lies is raising his ire because we are preaching and remaining faithful to the truth of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Spiritual warfare is as real today as it was in the time of the Gospels. St. Paul speaks of it in his letters, and many saints have testified to it throughout history.”
The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of the Catholic faith. It is the center of the Christian life – and of our lives, too. As the Church in the United States powerfully, palpably and publicly delves deeper in devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ, present in the Eucharist, through the National Eucharistic Revival, Pilgrimage and Congress, it makes perfect sense that the evil one would pull out every stop to divert God’s efforts in our hearts.
St. Catherine of Siena said it well: “The devil fears hearts on fire with love of God.” The closer we grow to Christ, truly present in the Most Holy Eucharist, the angrier the evil one becomes and the more he will lash out.
Rather than serve as a cause for fear, this spiritual reality should be a call to deeper prayer, penance and devotion to our Eucharistic Lord. In the words of St. John Bosco:
"Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit Him often. Do you want Him to give you few graces? Visit Him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visits to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you.”
We do well to remember that, though the battles wage on, the war has been won with the blood of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. The frenetic battle fought by the forces of evil is a doomed one. In the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, sin, death and the devil are defeated. St. John Chrysostom says as much in his famous Easter homily: “O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen.” The answer to these recent egregious acts, then, is ever-deeper devotion to the Eucharist. We must go further, delve even deeper into the Eucharistic Heart of God, pierced, broken and aflame for love of us. “We will continue to be a sign of contradiction as we grow in our conformity to Christ (see Lk 2:34),” Archbishop Aquila wrote in his letter. “Our Archdiocese has grown in zeal as we have embraced the call to evangelize in a new ‘apostolic age.’ This is evidenced by the thousands of people who participated in the Eucharistic procession through downtown Denver. This recent act, however, highlights the call to constant renewal, remaining on the Vine, Jesus Christ, who makes all our efforts fruitful (see Jn 15:4-5). The world hated Jesus and it will hate us. Yet, we are not afraid, for Christ has conquered the world, sin and Satan (see Jn 15:18-19).” In short, and in the words of that saintly pope who thirty years ago this very day blessed our city and state, we must remember: “There is no evil to be faced that Christ does not face with us. There is no enemy that Christ has not already conquered. There is no cross to bear that Christ has not already born for us, and does not now bear with us.” For Archbishop Aquila’s latest reflection on the Eucharist, the Mass and how to grow in our devotion to the Most Holy Eucharist, read his Pastoral Announcement here. For more information on spiritual warfare, the spiritual battles being waged between the forces of sin and death and the forces of life and freedom, read Dr. Jared Staudt’s columns “The Battle is Real: A Guide for Spiritual Warfare” and “St. Benedict and his medal: Defense against demonic attacks.”
תגובות