HOLY COMMUNION

FR. TERRY RYAN, CSP
Luke 2: 16-21
January 1, 2008

When a mother looks at her baby, she sees beauty. This baby is bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh. Her infant is beautiful to her. When strangers look at her baby, they judge, compare and contrast. They are observers of the scene. The shepherds look upon the infant in the manger, not as observers, but as persons who have been given a message about the baby. They see before them God exposed as an infant. They see something, someone special, like a mother sees her infant child.

Once the shepherds move beyond mere observance, to seeing in this deeper way, they feel free to talk about what they heard. They are not embarrassed to speak about what they see and believe. They become witnesses to those around them of what is so apparent to them. God is here. Then the shepherds leave the scene, and praise God as they return home. Mary sees the infant too, and praises God in the quiet of her heart, wordlessly.

The Eucharist, Holy Communion, is the face of God for us today. God is exposed in the host, and so we have the practice of “Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament” in our Catholic rituals. Outsiders, those who do not believe or have the message explained to them, simply observe our Catholic practices. They see a host, a round white, thin wafer. They do not see beauty much less the presence of God. We Catholics receive the host as gift of God's self to us. We do not presume to “take” communion, as if it is owed to us. We “receive” communion with palms up or tongue out, as one receives a precious gift. We see God.

But my brain seems to jump about or even wander in the presence of God. At the altar, I might suddenly find my mind go off into whether I have too much wine, and that the communion ministers will have to finish it up and go home tipsy. Or when I give out communion my mind starts thinking about someone's hairstyle, or clothes as he or she comes for communion. But when I can really focus and be taken up into the moment of God's presence, I am in awe that little me, with all my imperfections, is holding God in my hands.

When we receive God into our hands or on our tongue, and can be taken up into the reality that we have God within us, with all our imperfections, then we want to just go back to the pew and be silent like Mary in the presence of God. It is awesome. Of course, our minds do roam some and we observe, and judge the scene around us, or think about past events and future plans. This day when we celebrate Mary as the Mother of God, we invoke her to help us to stay focused upon what we are doing with the revealed God in whose presence we are privileged to be. Then like the shepherds, we will feel more comfortable about telling people of what we have heard and experienced in the Mass. We can go forth to praise God, and become for others the exposed face of God who dwells within us.