In the Eucharist God will always be with you!

At our First Communion Retreat Days, there is a promise I make to children. “You will remember your First Communion Day for the rest of your life.” I ask parents if they remember their First Communion?” Heads nod and hands go up. Decades later I remember, being nervous and the white cake my aunt made with silver candy in the top in the shape of a rosary. I remember my white shoes. I remember knowing this clearly was a big deal.

The deeper meaning of Eucharist is something we grow into and that is a bigger deal than the day itself, however wonderful that is.

How can we take in the beauty, power and awesomeness of Eucharist? It can only happen over time. But it is enough on that special First Holy Communion Day to knows this nourishes the love between our child and God.

First Communion, a sacrament of initiation, is a step in the walk of a Catholic. We become part of the Christian family at Baptism and now our child is old enough to join us at Mass and receive the Body and Blood of Christ. We believe they have enough understanding to celebrate what Jesus did for us through his death and resurrection. In this he gained forgiveness for our sins. He opened the way for us for eternal life. Eucharist is what Jesus told his followers to do to remember him.

Eucharist is the Sacrament that enables us to remember and deepen our relationship with Jesus Christ. Since the beginning of Christianity, the Eucharist has been at the very heart of Catholic spiritual life. If Church walls could talk, they would tell the story of those who came before us, kept the faith and through the Mass, passed it on from generation to generation.

A simple way to think of the Sacraments is that they are the Church’s body language. At Baptism, we are held in a loving embrace and God, through the Church says, “You are mine.” In Eucharist, we say, “Come closer and share this meal. It is special food and will bring you closer to Christ.”

This is the ritual Christ gave us to hold us together. The Eucharist Celebration has its roots in the Jewish Passover Meal when the Israelites remembered the Jewish families spared from the Pharaoh’s wrath as Moses led the people out of Egypt. In Eucharist, we remember God’s continued faithfulness in Jesus’ death and resurrection. It is a meal of gratitude. In fact, that is what Eucharist means! Thanksgiving. It’s a Covenant meal renewing again and again God’s promise to us to be our God and we to be God’s people. Just like our family dinner roots us in food and love so does the Mass do this for us as a family of faith.

In Communion, we are giving our children the best spiritual food that can nourish them over their lifetime to live with the joy you see on their First Communion day and strengthen them in any challenge they will face.

Sometimes as parents we say one thing but we really mean another. When we say, “Brush your teeth,” we mean “Learn good habits.” When we say, “Be careful” we mean, “You’re precious to me.” “Hold my hand in parking lots,” means, “We couldn’t bear to live without you.”

But a message we hope to be very clear in bringing our children to their First Communion and sharing Mass together week after week after that, is to say, “God loves you. I love you. In the Eucharist God will always be with you!”