The Denver Bishop does it again!

A great piece!

None of us earns the gift of Christ’s love. None of us “deserves” the Eucharist. The words of the centurion are just as true today as they were 2,000 years ago: “Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and my (soul) will be healed” (Matt 8:8).

As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is not just a symbol or a sacred meal or an important ritual expressing our community. Rather it is, quite literally, the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It’s His living presence in our midst. This is what distinguishes the Catholic faith from nearly every Protestant denomination. In fact, it’s one of the central Catholic beliefs that the Protestant Reformation eventually “protested.”

The Eucharist remains today the source and summit of Catholic life. And like every Catholic generation before us, we need to take the words of St. Paul very seriously: “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Cor 11:27). We should also remember the words of St. Justin, the great martyr from the second century: “No one may take part (in the Eucharist) unless he believes that what we teach is true, has received baptism for the forgiveness of sins and new birth, and lives in keeping with what Christ taught.”

What’s the lesson for Catholics? Fifty years ago, too many of us avoided receiving Communion out of an excessive fear of our own sins. Today, far too many of us receive Communion unthinkingly, reflexively, with no sense of the urgent need for our own self-examination, humility and conversion. Worse, too many Catholics receive the body and blood of Christ even when they ignore or deny the teachings of His Church.

We’re at a time for the Church in our country when some Catholics — too many — are discovering that they’ve gradually become non-Catholics who happen to go to Mass. That’s sad and difficult, and a judgment on a generation of Catholic leadership. But it may be exactly the moment of truth the Church needs.

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