Amen, I Believe

For as long as I can remember, I have felt called to the priesthood. For years, I considered changing Christian denominations. Many Christian Churches allow women to be ordained. However, prayerful discernment led me away from that option. The one thing that always stopped me from stepping away from the Catholic Church was the Body and Blood of Christ. Eucharist tethered me to the Catholic Church. It has taken me many years to release my anger and be peace-filled, and trusting that God called me to serve as He wills, not as I desire.

 Every Sunday, we reach out our hands to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. Eucharist is a selfless gift of Jesus’ absolute love placed in our hands. When we receive Eucharist, we hold the purest form of love in our hands. Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – God – is cradled in our ordinary, humble hands.  

Think about your hands. Your hands, like mine, have touched every part of life. Remember what you have done with your hands, and you will, no doubt, be as awed as I am that God finds a home in them.

Our hands have been steeped in the very stuff of life. They have caressed a newborn, placed a ring on the finger of a beloved, dug in the dirt of a garden, changed a diaper, cooked a meal and made a bed, and tended one we love who was dying. That list could go on and on. Only that isn’t the complete picture. Our hands have pulled away from someone in need. They have refused to help when asked and remained stubbornly by our side instead of embracing someone in pain. Our hands have gestured or written words in anger and frustration and refused to embrace with forgiveness when another begged our forgiveness.,

 Simply put, our hands have both blessed and sinned against God, others, and even ourselves repeatedly. Yet, God still deems our hands worthy to hold pure love, hold Him, the Body of Christ.  

We are sanctified when we receive Eucharist. We take Eucharist into our body as nourishment. When we receive Eucharist, we become Eucharist. We become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of God. Eucharist has no meaning if we do not become what we consume. What good is it if the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ if we don’t?

Incredibly, our God deems us sinful, striving, weak, and wanting humans to be one with Him in Eucharist. The power of that is daunting. The outrageous love in that is humbling beyond measure.

We receive Eucharist that we might be Christ incarnate for our wounded and suffering brothers and sisters. We become Eucharist for both the brokenhearted and our hurting world.

We must never allow Eucharist to become rote. It is the most intimate moment we have with God. Eucharist is God becoming incarnate in us. That is God becoming incarnate in us just as He did in Jesus.

We stand in amazement on this feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ; the great gift of God is placed in our hands. Let us pray for hearts, minds, and souls open enough to receive the gift, recognize its power, and allow it to change us.

When God comes to us in Eucharist, we say Amen. Amen, I believe. Amen, so be it. Amen, I will ever so humbly be Eucharist too.

In God’s Unending love,

Gwen