Tuesday night we will be meeting
in the church to begin our process of approaching First Holy Communion. It was just over 100 years ago that one of
great popes, Pope the Tenth, now a saint, told everyone in the Church all over
the world that we would return to the old practice of receiving Holy Communion
at an age when we can understand who it is that we are receiving.
In those same really old days,
babies were not only baptized but confirmed and received their First Holy
Communion at the same time. St. Pius
wanted to make sure that everyone who can, will actually be able to receive
Jesus in Holy Communion. In one talk
that Jesus was giving, He told the people He was speaking with that He came
“for those who are sick” and not for those who are well. Now we don’t have to be sick to receive Holy
Communion but we do want to be fully alive.
And Jesus wants to help us.
I remember when I began grade
two. I announced to my mother, with
great pride: “I’m a big boy now!” Among the things I was proud of was being
able to drink a whole chocolate milk shake!
I sure wanted to grow up. It was
very important. I wanted to be able to
share in the wider world. I looked
forward to being able to do the things I saw my parents and other adults
doing.
I was blessed. My parents had a deep faith but were never
pushy. We went to Mass often – sometimes
every day. We could walk to church and
then to school easily. My dad was a
reader at church. He also went out on
Thursday nights to help with the parish’s credit union. I later learned he was the loans officer and
was pretty kind to people.
Receiving Holy Communion was
something very natural for me. I looked
forward so much to it. I grew into my
way of being at Mass. When I was very
young, I didn’t think much about what was going on, but I knew it was
important. The priest was calling our
attention to God and I knew also that we were praying.
By grade two I knew that I was
going to begin receiving Holy Communion but this was something that I knew also
would continue. It was going to be part
of growing up. It would help me to be
able to do the most important things: to
show love and to be able to receive love.
It would also help me to keep trying to grow even when it felt
hard.
I felt that my parents looked on
Holy Communion as a great blessing for my whole life. It is so important to pass on the faith by
who we are.
Fr. Bob
