Holy Eucharist: Crisis and Hope

This is a computer-generated transcription that has been included to make the homily searchable.  It has not been verified by the author.

“How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?” These words are from the Psalm tonight, and this is also a Psalm that Jesus, with the other Jews would have recited on Passover night. How shall I make a return to the Lord? How shall I give thanks to the Lord? And the word for giving thanks is where we get us as asking, how? How shall I offer this thanksgiving to give thanks to the Lord. And that question of how to offer thanksgiving, how to offer the Holy Eucharist, has become in recent decades, well actually, kind of throughout much of many times, but especially throughout in recent decades, has become a very controversial question; how to offer the Holy Eucharist? And even among Catholics today, going to different Masses, you see Mass being offered very differently, right, many different ways. So that question has become very difficult. How shall I offer this to the Lord? And I, just yesterday, we published a message that Sister had got shortly before, precisely on that topic, and I had to prepare my homies well in advance. I prepared it before that message came. But that message gives us a great perspective on this question. The message speaks of the jewel, which is the Holy Sacrifice, and then what it called the ring, which is like this whole question of how, how do we offer this? And so just to, and I think, to understand what’s going on today, the fact that it’s on this night, this Holy Thursday, that Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist, the very Eucharist that we’re celebrating right now, that sheds a whole lot of light to understand what is happening in this question, in this controversy today. And it’s striking that the gospel, the gospel we just read, already shows the darkness that we will, especially tomorrow, will be on Good Friday, will be more apparent. But already, for instance, the reading, the Gospel tonight said, “during the supper when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.” So right there at this last intimate supper of Jesus with His apostles, there’s the presence of the devil, in one who has become a traitor, one of the apostles. And a little bit later, it says Jesus knew who was to betray him. That’s why he said, not all of you are clean. So it’s a sign that, right from the very first Mass, there was this darkness, this evil, this presence of satan and betrayal. I’ve often quoted a passage from, this was in Fatima, when the angel of Fatima appeared to the three children, this resplendent Angel and taught out in the field and appeared with the Blessed Sacrament and taught the children to kneel down and prostrate, their heads to the ground in adoration. The angel did the same thing. The angel left the Blessed Sacrament suspended in midair and showed the children how to prostrate and told, the angel, told the children, rather, to pray in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences with which Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament, is offended. And then a moment later, the angel said to them, “Take and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus, Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men.” So, the angel is calling these little children’s attention to the need to repair these blasphemies and outrages. The Second Vatican Council, which happened in the 1960s and it was after that, that many, many changes, drastic changes, were made to the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. And a lot of the changes that were made were not made according to what the text of Vatican II said. It was the interpretation, of a very, unfortunately, a very suspect committee that made, said in the spirit of Vatican II, but it really wasn’t according to the actual words, but made much changes. And I think, and many think, that great damage, grave damage, was done. And in fact, it’s, you know, it’s really obvious, if you look just at statistics. If you look at how, from that moment, the Catholic participation in the Mass and the number of vocations of priesthood and religious life and so forth, began plummeting from that point. I wanted to read you a passage from, this is a book from the Mariam Movement of Priests. This was a priest on Stefano Gobi, who’s since passed away, who received what he believed were interior locutions from our Blessed Mother. And in this part, he’s talking about actually, the locution he’s getting from our Blessed Mother, he’s talking about it’s about a passage in the book of Revelations, the apocalypse, which is speaking about the beast like a lamb, the beast with two horns like a lamb. And the interpretation is that this beast represents ecclesiastical freemasonry, this evil spirit that has infiltrated the Church. And it says, “And so Ecclesiastical Masonry, in many and subtle ways, seeks to attack the ecclesial devotion towards the Sacrament of the Eucharist. It gives value only to the meal aspect, and it tends to minimalize, minimize its sacrificial value.” That’s a strong point that was made in the message that we just published yesterday. “Focusing just on the meal aspect and minimizing the sacrifice, it seeks to deny the real and personal presence of Jesus in the Consecrated Host. In this way, they are gradually suppressing all the external signs which are indicative of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, such as genuflections, hours of public adoration and the holy custom of surrounding the tabernacle with lights and flowers.” And this recalls, already in the Old Testament, the prophets and the Psalms, which lament how, because of the infidelity of Israel, the enemies have invaded it and have profaned the temple.  And so, we’re seeing this profanation of the of the Blessed Sacrament in our times. And so, for those who love the Blessed Sacrament, this has been a terrible trial. And as I said, there’s been a lot of confusion about, how should we celebrate this? How shall, as the Psalm says, “How shall I offer thanksgiving to the Lord?” So a question is, why would God permit this? Why would God permit this to happen in His Church? And I think that precisely this night of Holy Thursday, remember, it was on this night the paschal mystery that helps us to understand what is happening with the Blessed Sacrament right now in our Church.  St. Paul says in a letter to the Romans, “we know that in everything, God works for the good with those who love Him.” And there’s a passage, way back in Genesis, when Joseph said to his brothers who had sold him into slavery, he says, many years later, he says, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.” That is, it’s the same message of God who, in His infinite majesty, is able to bring even out of the evil plans of satan and the sins of men, God is able even to bring good. And that’s what’s at the core of the paschal mystery, from the evil of satan and of men, which crucified Jesus, but by Jesus, by His offering, brought the greatest good. From this extreme evil, God permitted, the Father permitted, for a brief time that the body of His Son be desecrated on the cross, but then to be raised up in glory forever. And is there something similar happening in the mystical body of the Church, which I think is now living, as I’ve often said, living its passion. And so, I think that helps us understand what is happening with the Holy Eucharist. Whatever the intentions of those who were involved in these drastic liturgical changes after the Second Vatican Council, some of them probably had good intentions. Some of them were misguided, and some of them were, I think, very wrong, and even evil intentions. But from this terrible evil, which behind it is satan, but God can bring a great good. How and when we don’t know, but we know that He is all powerful, and no one can defeat Him. And so he’s asking us, I believe, in our time, to trust in His divine action. And as the message said, the message that we just published talked about what was most necessary was true faith. True faith in the Blessed Sacrament, true faith in the holy sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary, which is made present in every Mass, including on our humble little altar in this poor little chapel tonight. That it’s that true faith, and that true faith which leads to obedience, which leads to abandonment to God, to offering ourselves to God, which permits Him to act with power through the Blessed Sacrament. And so only God, and the way that He knows, will bring about the great renewal of holiness and faith and love and adoration for the Blessed Sacrament, for the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. But He also calls us to cooperate. And that’s why He led us, actually, many of you know that we offer, we’ve been offering, we’ve temporarily suspended it, but a retreat, the retreat we especially offered was called An Encounter with Jesus. And it actually began even before we began the Mission of Divine Mercy, about 30 years ago with and united in some ways, with the messages; well, not in some way, very clearly, with the messages that these two ladies were getting in Monterrey. And He wanted a retreat which was focused on leading people with silent prayer to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to renew their faith. And many of you here have participated in that retreat, to renew our faith and encountering Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. So, my point is that we need to both be realistic about how bad the attacks, the evil attacks against the Blessed Sacrament are, and yet, at the same time, realize that God is going to bring about as only He knows how, the great renewal of love for our Lord Jesus in this, in His holy sacrifice. And so, this Holy Thursday, is the Mass of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, and also because of that, the institution of the new priesthood of Jesus Christ. And as the Blessed Sacrament has been attacked, we know the priesthood has been so attacked. And so, I wanted to share with you tonight this little passage from the message. This is a message that we published last year, last May, in which the Lord gave a message, He said to His faithful priests. And so, I’ll read these excerpts. And as I read this, we can pray for all the priests throughout the world, for all those who are faithful, for all those who are struggling, for all those who have, who have gone from the right path. “My sons, My beloved sons, you suffer with My children. You suffer with Me at seeing the effects of our enemy’s plans and works. My faithful sons, keeping watch tireless, watch over My little ones, how tired you are, how discouraged My sons, so much work and nothing seems to be improving. The anguish of feeling so alone and so unheard, raising your voices to warn, to guide, only to be silenced by those who should be working with you, like you. My sons, between you and Me, there is only love. How much I love you, how much I need you, How much I need your brothers, who are still asleep, I must wake them and shake them, lest the enemy completely overtake them while they sleep. Help them with your prayers and your sacrifice, the daily offering of yourselves, with My Jesus on the altar, the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the most Holy Offering of My Jesus, out of love for Me and you. The offering you unite yourselves to, the offering that I take into My heart and through which I pour out mercy and grace upon My parched people, My little children, My famished children. Do you see My sons? Why there are incessant attacks on this holy sacrifice, why the enemy must destroy it at all costs, why he works tirelessly to subvert it and not being able to destroy it in itself, for he has already been vanquished by it. He must destroy those in whose hands I have placed this offering, you, My priests. You see the attacks on My Most Holy Sacrament, the true presence of My Jesus. With what disdain and disrespect, He is treated, abused. You see how these attacks destroy faith in the hearts of My children who no longer believe My Jesus, no longer recognize Him. You see how when faith is extinguished, idolatry and despair take possession of the soul. I have never left you alone. I am always close to My children, and I hear their cries. I gather all their tears, but I must let My children see what happens when I am set aside, what happens when My law is ignored, twisted. What happens when I am not listened to. My sons, ready yourselves. Stand up straight without fear or shame, I have shown you the deception, the great deception taking place in My sanctuary. I have opened your eyes to it. Soon I will act. Soon you will know what you must do to help me, to follow Me in this new hour that unfolds before you. I say to you, I will act. I will help. I will vindicate your faithfulness to Me and to My children.” So that’s the message. And so just to conclude, as St Paul says, “We know that in everything, God works for the good for those who love Him.” And so Jesus is alerting us to the evil which is trying to destroy faith in the Blessed Sacrament. But He’s calling us to trust in Him, to hope in Him, to offer the sacrifice of remaining faithful to Him with our Blessed Mother in the Holy Spirit. And also, to pray for all the priests, faithful and unfaithful, and to pray also for vocations, for all the vocations that the Lord is now calling, calling, raising young men up to be His faithful priests, and to realize that our faithful, dark trial is preparing His great victory. Amen.

KEYWORDS / PHRASES:
Psalms 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18
John 13:1-15