Open Our Hearts to Him

on MARRIAGE and RECEIVING COMMUNION

Generally speaking, Catholics who live in a conjugal relationship that the Church does not recognize as a valid marriage should refrain from receiving Holy Communion until their situation has been reconciled with the Church.

This refers to Catholics who were married in the Church but divorced then without an annulment married another person civilly. It also includes a Catholic who chooses initially to marry civilly but not sacramentally, not “in the Church.”

There’s much more to say about this, but we can’t treat the subject very thoroughly here. Suffice to say people have their reasons and very often there’s ignorance of the obligation. In any case everyone’s circumstances are part of their story. A conversation with a priest is often the best place to begin.

But I mention it here also to say a word about Holy Communion, about what it means to receive the Eucharist. To put it simply Jesus offers Himself entirely to us on the altar, holding nothing of Himself back from us. We in turn are called to offer ourselves entirely to Him, holding nothing back.

The proper response to being loved by someone is to love that person in return. Only then is a full communion with that person established. This does not mean that there is no relationship at all, but in order for there to be true communion there must be a true response. To the degree that I withhold something of myself from one giving himself completely to me I hinder the communion from being complete.

If therefore I receive Jesus in the Eucharist without having offered Him my entire life (every aspect of it) I am not being truthful about what is happening, because while He is giving Himself entirely to me I am guarding part of my life from Him, even though my receiving Him publicly says otherwise.

Of course there is no place really to hide from God. The conscience of the Catholic who privatizes his finances or addictions - or his marriage - should make him feel uneasy. But that’s a good thing. Better the sting of the conscience than the bite of the serpent.

Consider Confession. It’s where we surrender all we’ve been holding back from God, opening our hearts to Him as completely as He offers us His. Let our non-Catholic family and friends live in partial communion with God according to their consciences, but let us strive for a communion with Him that is as full and perfect as His presence in the Eucharist.

While we are at it, why would we withhold any part of our lives from God except for some misgivings about it, some doubts as to what He may think of it? Fair enough. He may indeed speak a tough word into it. But He is always good. His word is always healing. And He desires our eternal salvation even more than we do.

Sacramental Marriage doesn’t make marriage any easier. In fact the couple who strives for holiness in marriage finds theirs is a great deal harder. But that couple will also have peace in their home if they are able to say to God in their hearts, without their conscience condemning them, “We have offered everything to You.”

As long as we have breath we have time to be reconciled to God. Every day in this world is an opportunity to enter more deeply into communion with Him through the Church, to be prepared by His grace to live with Him forever in the world to come. And if one were to say, “I am too late,” that person need only remember this Sunday’s Gospel. God is generous. And all who persevere get the same wage. We get Him.

This is a word for all of us to hear. Giving ourselves entirely to God is no guarantee that our lives will be any easier. They will likely become harder. But we’ll have the comfort of knowing that having given God permission to every part of our lives in this world brings us closer to Him, the Eternal Bridegroom of the Church. +

JESUS HELP ME! | WHERE DOES IT HURT?

I don’t know anyone who gets so angry at the thought of Napoleon that they lose sleep over him. Crummy guy for sure. But still no visceral reaction to the mention of his name. On the other hand our cousin so-and-so. Or that man we work with. Or our oldest child. These cost us sleep. Why? Because they pierce our hearts in a way no French tyrant could. Because they are close to us. But maybe God allows the pain to identify a place in our own hearts in need of healing. And maybe that’s why when we go to Jesus to ask Him to fix someone else He just looks back at us with the gaze of a physician and asks, “Where does it hurt?” +

IS THIS THE END? | MAYBE

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that AI will be at the forefront of political campaigns, education policy, and every union representative’s agenda. A short time ago it felt possible to ignore. And I suppose it still feels that way to some degree. I just wanted to write to you here that I am not unaware of the seriousness of this. Nor am I insensitive to the paralyzing anxiety it will certainly cause in people who are already burdened by life. But I know that Our Lord and Our Lady have great concern for us. We are dear to them. And that comforts me. There will also be an upswell of humanity, as there always is in times of crisis. Even then we know that a final effort of evil precedes Christ’s coming again in glory and that when the Antichrist does come he will be leading a defeated army. We however belong to the eternal victory of Christ the King, and He will do with evil what He has always done with it. He will conquer it to the glory of God. +

on PRAYER | IT’S ABOUT TIME

Love is more than mere instinctual reaction. Instinct is in the brain. Love comes from the heart. Love redeems my instincts. It is the freely offered response of my intellect and my will to God and to my neighbor, no matter what my natural inclinations want. Prayer then is making time for a God who created time for me. Prayer is choosing to be with the God who chose to create me. Prayer is my love responding to His love. He is no artificial intelligence. He is a person. He does not process me like a machine. Nor will I merely think or feel things about God with my brain. I will love Him with my heart. +