10 May 1984
Mexico

My dear Sisters,

A few years ago on a journey I met a layman who was unmarried and who, during our journey together, began to talk about religion. In the course of the conversation the topic of the Blessed Eucharist came up, and with great simplicity and sincerity he told me that he would find it very difficult to live if he could not receive Holy Communion daily. He spoke a little bit about the suffering that he endured when he was hospitalized on occasions during his life and when he could not receive Holy Communion each day. He frankly admitted that he had caused trouble in hospitals by asking insistently for Holy Communion. Then he told me how at times he would walk great distances in order to receive the Body and Blood of Christ to strengthen him to live. It was a remarkable revelation to me, for the man was not a religious fanatic, though I got the impression from him that he was a very sensitive man. He was somebody, I thought afterwards, whose heart and mind and whole being had been burned by the truth of Our Lord's words in today's Gospel: "I am the Bread of life. I Myself am the living Bread come down from heaven. If anyone eats this Bread, he shall live forever." (Jn 6:48,51).

On another occasion I recall talking to a Daughter of Charity who told me that she had brought a non-Catholic lady to one of our hospitals and into the Chapel. The Sister explained the significance of the Chapel and of the Blessed Sacrament. The non-Catholic asked Sister, did she really believe that Jesus Christ was present there in the tabernacle under the appearances of bread. The Sister, of course, replied yes, to which the non-Catholic lady said: "If I believed that, I would never be able to tear myself away from this room."

Like so many of God's graces and blessings, which we receive from Him daily, we take them too easily as something as ordinary as the light of day. I don't imagine that there are many Sisters in this Province who can remember the time when it was customary for people to receive Holy Communion on Sundays and on feast days. It was St. Pius X who flung open the doors of the tabernacles of the world. In St. Vincent's day there was a movement to close the doors of the tabernacles of the world. The Jansenists of France persuaded people that they were unworthy to receive Holy Communion. It was one of St. Vincent's great achievements in his life that he succeeded in persuading authorities in Rome that this was a dangerous doctrine. St. Vincent saw the value of frequent Holy Communion, even if the Church did not encourage people to receive it with the frequency that it does today.

The challenge for all of us, who have the joy and the privilege of receiving Communion daily, is to keep in our souls a sense of wonder that the Bread of Life which we eat each day is the same as was distributed by Our Lord to his apostles at the Last Supper. The Last Supper is going on still. Just before we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion, the Church reminds us that we are happy to be called to the table of the Lord. "Happy are those who are called to His supper," for at this supper it is no ordinary bread. When the Host is placed in our hands or on our tongues, Jesus Christ is saying to each one of us in particular: "I am the living Bread, come down from heaven. If you eat this Bread, you shall live forever. The Bread I am giving is my flesh for the life of the world." (Ibid., v. 51).