Freely you have received; freely give.
The following reflection was started a week ago, so my time and scripture references are a week off.
Freely you have received; freely give. (Matthew 10:8)
He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you (Luke 22:13)
I have been away for awhile because our Lord called Jeff and I away. Jeff and I traveled down to Indianapolis with over 200 fellow Green Bay pilgrims to the National Eucharistic Revival. My heart is bursting and my mind buzzing to share with you a portion of the fire hose of grace that we received. I have been trying to figure out where to even begin and early this morning it dawned on me how the Gospel writers must have faced a similar challenge as they put quill to papyrus. I will begin as I often do, with this past Sunday’s Gospel.
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place. But many who saw them leaving recognized them and ran on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. (Mark 6:30-34)
This Gospel was made fully present for me this past week. Many pilgrims, myself included, are the wearied apostles gathering together from our missionary corners of the United States. We are workers or volunteers striving to bring Jesus more fully into this world. We are parents longing to raise our children knowing Jesus. We share one commonality: we are swimming against the current of our current society and it can be exhausting. In some miraculous way Jesus called each of us to Indianapolis, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” In an even greater miracle Jesus made it possible in a sea of 50,000 for me to truly “get away”, to be renewed, to be refreshed, to be healed. My experience was extraordinary without a doubt but it is an experience that our Lord Jesus seeks to bring to every Christian walking this journey. I want to package up those 5 days of firehose grace and deliver them to each of you and I have been stuck in the mire and muck of “how.” I will try to bring to you the heart of the wisdom I received from the many talks we witnessed. I will try to bring you the heart of Jesus that He shared with me for His church. I will try to bring you the heart of the healing that Jesus brought about in areas of my own heart that I thought would simply be weeping and scarred this side of heaven. I will offer each of you my loaves and fish and trust the Lord to do the multiplying. I will follow the advice of Fr. Leo Patalinghug and bring it to you in bite size pieces.
This was effectively the kick off of the Eucharistic Congress. In a sea of 50,000 souls, these words stirred my heart with an excitement that I simply can’t describe. The excitement for the unknown. Before we ever left, as I shared with friends about this journey we were planning, I was often asked, “What are you hoping to receive?” My honest answer, “I am going in with the expectation that Jesus is getting ready to do great things. I have no expectation of what they are, but I trust it is going to be amazing.” The Lord had laid a good foundation this past Lent when Fr. Mike Schmitz shared the wisdom that expectations set us up for disappointment. When we expect something specific to happen or to go a certain way and it doesn’t, it takes us a beat to catch up to what the Lord is doing instead, which is always in some way better. I was able to enter this Eucharistic Congress not with my agenda for what I wanted Jesus to do, but a heart of openess for what he wanted to do. As these words, HE IS HERE, resonated to my very heart it was like transporting back 2000 years to the excitement of the crowds who eagerly awaited Jesus’ entry into their towns and villages, “He is here.”
Brothers and Sisters, the core Catholic belief in Jesus’ true presence in the Eucharist changes everything. HE IS HERE. We are not alone. We are not left with a veil between this world and heaven. We are invited to spend time physically in the presence of our Lord in His presence in the Eucharist. This is the first taste that I bring to you, the first bite, and it is the most important one. HE IS HERE in every Mass, in every church tabernacle and He awaits you. He eagerly desires to spend time with you. He is our Bridegroom waiting. I leave you with the talk from Sr. Bethany Madonna. It is about 25 minutes long so set aside some time to be able to receive her loaves and fish.
