Dear friends in Christ

At Mass this Sunday we hear from the final instalment of chapter six of Saint John. Many of the Jews had walked away from Jesus after His telling them the doctrine of the Holy Eucharist, only his closest disciples remain. To whom shall we go, they say You alone have the message of eternal life. We have been reflecting on the parts of the Mass, and the Mystery of the Blessed Eucharist, these past weeks.We have come to see that in the Blessed Eucharist we are given the very means of salvation, since it is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ who is God. The Mass, as St Thomas Aquinas reminds us, is the most perfect act of all religion. Jesus Christ as both the Priest and Victim—the one who offers and the one Who is offered—gives Himself for us and we can receive Him sacramentally in Holy Communion. (My reflections on the Mass over the last four weekends can be revisited on our YouTube channel—LourdesLeigh—perhaps an aid for insomia!).

I love the story of Archbishop Francis Xavier Van Thuan who was the Archbishop of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and who was imprisoned in North Vietnam, in solitary confinement for thirteen years for his faith. During his captivity, a copy of the New Testament was smuggled into the prison for the Catholic inmates. To share God’s word among themselves, the prisoners tore the New Testament into small sections, which were then distributed. Each prisoner committed their piece to memory. At sunset, they would take turns reciting aloud the passage they had memorised. After his release, Archbishop Van Thuan reflected on how profoundly moving it was to hear the Word of God recited with such deep faith in the midst of silence and darkness. He remarked that in those moments, the presence of God in his Word was deeply experienced. The prisoners’ action of tearing up the New Testament into sheets and passing them around reminds us of what happens at Mass. The Blessed Eucharist is broken and distributed to us in small pieces, so that all can receive the life of God. The prisoners shared the bread of the Word because they had no access to the Bread of the Eucharist. We are fortunate to have access to both!

At Mass, Jesus offers us His flesh to eat and His blood to drink. Let us renew our belief in this as we come to the conclusion of this series of reflections. Let us examine ourselves as to the manner in which we receive Jesus in Holy Communion: worthily, reverently, faithfully.

God bless you!

Msgr Kevin Hale