The Eucharist

I went to daily Mass yesterday in Charlotte where I am attending a conference. It's so nice to be able to go to daily Mass every now and then, and nice to to go in another city.

I don't know why so many churches don't celebrate the Lord's Supper, communion, whatever you call it, more often. Is it too much trouble? Too expensive? Not considered important? I don't know. I used to attend a PCA Presbyterian Church for awhile that had communion every week. I think a part of me started being Catholic then. It was the first church I went to that saw communion as more than symbolic. They didn't teach trans-substantiation or consubstantiation, but that communion was more than just a symbol. It was seen as a means of grace that actually did something. In other words, without saying it in so many words, communion was seen as efficacious. Hmmm. I think of Father Neuhaus's contention that all truth gravitates toward the Catholic Church (see Catholic Matters for more).

I love to be in Mass each week and watch people coming forward to receive the Eucharist. On one side of me they come down waiting to receive the Body and the Blood of Christ, on the other side they have already received Him in the Holy Eucharist. It is beautiful to see. I don't know what is going on in each heart, yet I know that Jesus is there - His Body broken for us. I'll never forget the teacher from FTCM last year who said that at the Mass we receive the Body of Christ, broken for us; then we, as the Body of Christ, are to be broken for the world.