Once Upon a Time in China…

The door to the ransacked church opened slowly, and a timid little girl with straight pitch-black hair and deep brown almond-shaped eyes poked her head through nervously, searching for guards before entering. Quiet as a mouse, she made her way up the center aisle, approaching the sanctuary where the Eucharist lay strewn across the floor. Heavy boot prints filled the sanctuary, marking where the Communist soldiers had trampled the sacred Host in an act of defilement. Life was not easy, or safe, for Catholics in Communist China.
 
With tears in her eyes she knelt before the Hosts on the floor for a solid hour, praying and offering all her love to her Eucharistic Lord. A stark contrast to the hate-filled act of desecration that had taken place only hours earlier. Once she’d prayed before a Host for an hour, she reverently bent down, took the Eucharist on her tongue, and consumed the Host before quietly leaving the Church.
 
Every day for about a month the little girl repeated her ritual – sneaking past the guards and into the church. Praying for an hour before her Lord in reparation for the hatred the soldiers had shown Him. Then reverently receiving Him in the Eucharist before sneaking out once more.
 
Finally one day, only a single Host remained on the floor. Quietly the little girl prayed, and ever-so-reverently she received the Eucharist one last time. But as she turned to leave the church, she accidentally made a noise that brought a guard rushing in, gun locked and loaded. On seeing the little girl in the church, he shot her where she stood in the sanctuary.
 
Horrified at what he’d done, the soldier rushed out of the church and informed the priest, who was under house arrest. Knowing such an action would put him great danger with the Communists, the priest quietly buried the little martyr. When he finished the soldier looked at him and said, “Sir, if there was such a little girl in every town, no soldier would ever fight for the Communists.” Shortly afterward, the priest found a way out of China.
 
Discern the Body

Unlike the true story above, we are blessed to live in a country that still promotes religious freedom. And we are blessed to have such relatively easy access to our Lord in the Eucharist. After all, when was the last time someone held a gun to your head after your received Communion?
 
Since we have such easy access to the Mass and the Eucharist, the temptation for us is to take this great blessing for granted. In fact, studies have shown that not even half the Catholics in the U.S. believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist! But we don’t have to point to “those people out there” to show how careless we’ve become in our attitudes toward Jesus in the Eucharist. Just look into your own heart. I don’t know about you, but I can’t count the number of times I’ve approached to receive Communion without even thinking about Who it is that I’m receiving. Sure, I may have muttered a quick prayer on my way up the line, but the awesomeness of being able to receive Jesus Himself – God incarnate – in the Eucharist doesn’t always hit home the way it should.
 
We need to be vigilant and guard our hearts against this haphazard and careless approach to receiving the Eucharist. In his first letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul warns us:
 
“Anyone who eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will be behaving unworthily toward the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone is to recollect himself before eating this bread and drinking this cup; because a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the Body is eating and drinking his own condemnation” (1Cor. 11:27-29).

So before you approach the Eucharist next Sunday, make sure you first recollect yourself by lifting your heart out of your daily cares and concerns and up to the Lord. Once you’ve recollected yourself, recognize exactly Who it is you are receiving. Because when you receive the Body of Christ, He’s offering you eternal life.

The Transforming Power of the Eucharist

Throughout his ministry Archbishop Fulton Sheen inspired millions of people – both Catholics and non-Catholics alike – with the brilliance of Catholic teaching. Sheen was a highly educated and brilliant man. But he famously admitted that the power and success behind his radio and television presentations wasn’t thanks to his own personal brilliance. It flowed, he said, from Our Lord in the Eucharist. As a young priest he committed himself to spending an hour in Eucharistic adoration every day, no matter what, and he never missed his appointment with God.
 
A couple of months before he died, Sheen shared that it was the above story of the young Chinese girl that inspired him to make his commitment to Jesus in the Eucharist.
 
Sheen’s devotion to the Eucharist fueled his ministry and was the secret to his success. Imagine what such a devotion could do for you. Maybe it could transform your marriage. Maybe the Lord will inspire you to a new mission. Maybe He’ll show you the vocation he’s called you to. Who knows, maybe He’ll make you a saint.