September 13-20, 2020 will see a gathering of the faithful from around the world at the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary. In preparation for this faith-filled congress, Archdiocese of Regina News Contributor Holly Gustafson leads us in a monthly series of reflections on the Saints and the Eucharist.
By Holly Gustafson
On this month’s instalment of our monthly Saints and the Eucharist series: what to do when you can’t receive communion.
This isn’t the article I expected to be writing this month.
The article I had planned to write was a lot different. It was going to be about not taking the Blessed Sacrament for granted. I would have shared a quote from Venerable Edel Quinn about seeking Christ in the Eucharist, about doing “our utmost” to find Him there in the Blessed Sacrament, and I would have encouraged you to not take the presence or availability of the Eucharist in your life for granted. I would have challenged you, when you’re out and about, running your errands, or picking the kids up from the school that’s right next to a church, to pop in and make a visit to Jesus in the Eucharist. “He is there, waiting for us,” I would have reminded you.
Of course, now there’s no being “out and about,” or running unnecessary errands, or even picking up the kids from school, and even though Christ’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament has not changed, the availability of the Eucharist certainly has. And while we Catholics have been granted dispensation from our Sunday obligation to celebrate mass, it sure doesn’t satisfy our hunger for communion.
And that’s ok.
St. Catherine of Siena, known for her love of the Eucharist, seemed to understand this hunger we now feel: “Father, I am hungry,” she would say to her priest, “for the love of God, give this soul her food, her Lord in the Eucharist.”
However, unlike us, Saint Catherine had the luxury of unlimited access to the sacrament. Because of her extraordinary hunger for the Eucharist, her confessor, Blessed Raymond of Capua, tells us, Pope Gregory XI gave Catherine special permission to have a priest and portable altar at her disposal, so that she could hear mass and receive communion “everywhere and always.” Sigh.
But the theme I originally had in mind for this article – to not take Christ’s availability in the Eucharist for granted – hasn’t really changed at all. What’s changed is that we’ll be going about it the hard way: we’ll be learning to truly appreciate the gift of being able to receive communion by experiencing its absence in our lives, and by developing a hunger for the Eucharist that perhaps was not there before, when it was readily available, and easily taken for granted.
And so, too, the message remains the same: He is there, waiting for us. May we, in this time of crisis, grow in our gratitude, our appreciation, and especially our hunger for Christ in the Eucharist.
“I am famished,” Catherine was known to say, before receiving the nourishment of communion that would finally satisfy her great hunger for our Lord in the Eucharist. And what great gift that hunger is.
EUCHARISTIC CHALLENGE OF THE MONTH
Join me in a 12-month challenge to grow closer to the Eucharist this year. This month, in the absence of the availability of receiving Christ physically in the sacrament of the Eucharist, make a daily spiritual communion. There are lots of simple spiritual communion prayers online, or just use the words of St. Catherine of Siena: “Father, I am hungry, for the love of God, give this soul her food, her Lord in the Eucharist.”
Holly Gustafson lives with her husband, James, and their five children, in Regina, where they attend Christ the King Parish. Holly received her Masters in Linguistics at the University of Manitoba, and now pursues her love of language through art, writing, public speaking, and unsolicited grammatical advice. The best advice she ever received was from her spiritual friend, St. Faustina, who told her that when in doubt, “Always ask Love. It advises best.”
