The Eucharist is-- Glorious. Life-giving. Wonderful. Patient. Amazing.
We are... people of the Eucharist.
There is no virtue in beginning. It's easy. Many start, few finish. This is true in almost everything. By the second Friday of January, most New Year's resolutions have been abandoned. On this seventh day of our 33-day journey together, I want to encourage you to persevere. Perseverance is the pilgrim's virtue. Many people will abandon this path of consecration. Decide that you will not be one of them. The most practical wisdom I have ever received about prayer was from an old priest many years ago, when I was a teenager and first starting to take my spiritual life seriously. The initial excitement had worn off and I was experiencing the early signs of dryness and desolation in prayer.
Our natural and very human reaction when prayer doesn't feel good is to wonder what we are doing wrong. Prayer should never be judged by how it makes us feel and we often aren't doing anything wrong. Prayer isn't about feelings. "Just keep showing up," the old priest said to me. I didn't understand at first, and when I asked him what he meant, he replied, "I'm speaking plainly. No hidden meanings, boy. Just keep showing up. Show up each day regardless of how you feel or if it is convenient. Just show up and let God work on you." It was a fabulous moment in my life. He was a fabulous priest and he helped me so much in my spiritual journey.
This is the sixth seismic shift we mentioned yesterday. It occurs when showing up for our daily prayer is no longer a daily decision. It becomes a commitment, an agreement with your soul that no matter what, you are going to show up and be with God for that time each day in prayer. The only failure in prayer is to stop praying. You will think and feel things, and many of them don't mean what you initially think they mean. So keep showing up. Sit with whatever it is that God says to you and reveals to you. Just keep showing up.
Some days prayer will seem easy and other days it will seem difficult. How it seems is never a good indication of how fruitful prayer is. Try not to judge your prayer. It is foolish to say, "I prayed well today." It takes at least 10 years to determine whether you prayed well today. So just keep showing up. If God gives you the grace of encouragement and inspiration, fabulous. Accept it. Embrace it. Don't squander it. Put it to good use. But if you come away from prayer discouraged on some days, remember that Jesus died on the cross and that was an immense victory.
For myself, though there have been times when prayer has seemed effortless, for the most part, it doesn't come particularly easily. There are days when I have more enthusiasm for prayer than others, and there are days when prayer is difficult even excruciating. These days require me to force myself to be present despite these struggles. And of course, there're days when it's wonderful, blissful even. It all just depends on what God is doing. In your spiritual life, there will be long and dusty roads, epic mountaintop experiences, moments of fear and trembling in the dark valleys, beautiful mornings filled with hope, and long dark nights drenched with hopelessness. Just keep showing up. No matter what, just keep showing up. Remember, it is not about what we are doing. It is about what God is doing in us, through us, and with us when we show up. Nowhere is this advice more relevant than when it comes to the Eucharist.
Imagine if Catholics had applied this simple wisdom to the practice of attending mass over the past 50 years. Just keep showing up. Show up each Sunday, regardless of how you feel or if it is convenient. Just show up and let God work on you. Imagine the Catholic Church and the state of society would be completely different today if we had just kept showing up for Sunday Mass and letting God work. Never forget that each time you receive Jesus in the Eucharist, He is working in you to send you out into the world so that He can work through you, trust, surrender, believe, and receive. Tragically, only 31% of Catholics in the United States believe Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. Let's do something about that. Become a member of the International Society of Eucharist today. We'll send you a free copy of 33 Days Eucharistic Glory, a copy of the children's version, a copy of the Limited-Edition Journal, which includes an amazing Holy Week retreat. Click the button below to learn more and to join. Have a great day and remember, be bold, be Catholic. We are people of the Eucharist.
Jesus, I believe that you are truly present in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist. Every day, I long for more of you. I love you above all things. And I desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot receive you sacramentally at this moment, I invite you to come and dwell in my heart. May the spiritual communion increase my desire for the Eucharist. You are the healer of my soul. Take the blindness from my eyes, the deafness from my ears, the darkness from my mind, and the hardness from my heart. Fill me with the grace, wisdom, and courage to do your will in all things. My Lord and my God, draw me close to you. Nearer than ever before. Amen.
Consecrate America to the Eucharist.
Bye-bye. Have a great day. Have a great day. Have a great day. Come on. Have a great day.
Hey, Isabel, one simple way to be mindful of God's presence in the world is to know where the nearest Tabernacle is. So while we've got a couple of minutes, I thought we might work on your geography a little.
Sounds good, Dad. You're always coming up with something.
If I was at latitude 37.71 and a longitude of negative 97.26, where would the nearest tabernacle be?
St. Thomas Aquinas, Wichita, Kansas