When we receive Baptism, the graces of that sacrament are always with us, even if we ignore them, even if we fail to take ownership of them because God never reneges on His gifts. When Christ heals the 10 lepers, only one returns to give thanks, to recognize he’s been cured and by whom. The other nine go about their new lives and retain the gift of Christ’s healing of their bodies. We are not told if they eventually come to recognize what they’ve received, but the healing remains.
When we receive the gift of Confirmation, likewise, the Holy Spirit resides with all seven of the gifts, suffusing our souls with the graces necessary for the vocation God invites us to embrace from that moment forward. So also, when we receive the Eucharist, Christ is always with us, Christ remains fully present in our souls from each time we present ourselves to receive. Christ comes, Christ remains, Christ hopes that this time, we will not make ourselves so busy as forget the greater portion we could experience if we were to contemplate His presence.
Pushing the contemplation of this spiritual reality further, because the Eucharist remains, we have the opportunity to be in awe of the Lord, and live as before the tabernacle, or not, every day. If we recognize that each person is made in God’s image, we likewise should treat those we encounter, as living tabernacles conveying the Christ. This conscious reality is one we often forget, sometimes just as we get to the parking lot or these days, turn off the video of the Mass.
This week, in an effort to get my children ready for the school year, I restarted the fall routine of bedtime stories and earlier bedtimes. My son put his hand out and patted my shoulder, as if grateful for the closing of the day. (He normally battles bedtime until he exhausts everyone). Being present to the living tabernacle is as simple as putting in the effort, doing the Father’s will. Doing the Father’s will, is always loving enough to sacrifice more than we wanted of our own will. The pat on the shoulder was an extra, a gift.
Everything in the home, could be done with that extra, with that push of charity that came from Christ residing, and showing how to do the Father’s will: the dishes, the laundry, the bills, the garden, all of it. My own will to do all of this, was insufficient. My children's will to do this, was insufficient. However, when done out of love, it was possible. Our 30th wedding anniversary loomed, and I asked for the help. Within 20 minutes, eight children cleared away what would have taken me two hours, because they did it willingly out of love.
The world loomed in my mind, what could be done to heal all the wounds, to do all the labor necessary in the vineyard, if only it were done out of love. If we recognized the importance of the reality, that Jesus is before us, inviting us into discipleship, inviting us to be part of the mission of healing the world, what would the world look like? It would be a world peopled with saints. It would be a world filled, brimming with little extras, miracles big and small, and mountains, both literal and figurative, being moved because of faith in the one who is love. There would be many fewer lepers, and many more rejoicing. There would be fullness, and 12 baskets brimming left over. There would be wine where there had been only water, and there would be water, renewing and refreshing all of the desert, making it bloom.
It all begins with recognizing, the Eucharist never leaves us.
(Sherry Antonetti writes a regular column for the Catholic Standard. She is the author of The Book of Helen, a freelancer and a blogger @Chocolate For Your Brain!)
