One Indicator of the Success of the Eucharistic Revival
August 07, 2024
Fr. John Riccardo
Brothers and sisters: Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were sealed for the day of redemption. All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
One might well imagine Paul writing these words after looking at some of our social media posts, or listening in on some of our conversations over the weekend. And by “our” I mean us in the Church — myself very much included! — not those in the world who do not profess to be disciples of Jesus.
Let’s take a quick moment to round out Paul’s exhortation to us here and now by looking at the verses that come immediately before this passage. In verses 25-27 Paul writes, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.” In verse 29 he adds, “ Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”
Many in the Church in our country are continuing to bask in the beauty that was the National Eucharistic Revival. It has been described by more than a few as an event that could, please God, be similar in impact to St. John Paul II’s World Youth Day in Denver in 1993. It will take some time for us to know the fruitfulness of this event, and the effort in general to increase attention to and devotion of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. The excerpt from Ephesians this week, however, offers each of us a way to gauge the impact the Eucharist has on our daily lives. These verses could serve as a great nightly examination of conscience for you and me.
Paul is going after something that has been a constant challenge for fallen men and women, but appears to be increasingly so today: our speech. “Bitterness”, “anger”, “fury”, “shouting”, “reviling”, and “corrupting talk” seem tragically all too frequent among us in the Church.
Perhaps no passage is as forceful on the need to prayerfully consider how we speak than James 3:1-10. There, the “brother of the Lord” reminds us: “And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.”
These things ought not to be so.
In God Is Near Us: The Eucharist, the Heart of Life, Joseph Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI writes, “We should not forget that not only our hands are impure but also our tongue and also our heart and that we often sin more with the tongue than with the hands. God takes an enormous risk—and at the same time this is an expression of his merciful goodness—in allowing not only our hand and our tongue but even our heart to come into contact with him. We see this in the Lord’s willingness to enter into us and live with us, within us, and to become from within the heart of our life and the agent of its transformation.”
What does this have to do with measuring the success of the Eucharistic Revival? Plenty. Each Sunday, every day for some of us, “God takes an enormous risk” and allows us to place Him on our tongues and into our bodies. He does so, among other reasons, to transform us, to make us ever more like Himself. How did Jesus speak? Did He ever curse, speak corrupting words, speak bitterly, or hatefully? Of course not. Did He get angry? Yes, but never in a sinful manner.
Feeding on Jesus is supposed to make us not only love like Him, forgive like Him, and think like Him but speak like Him. How about this week we make it a point to ask for the grace of the Holy Spirit to bridle our tongues in all we say, text or post. And let’s consider as an evening reflection looking back over the day focusing on our words, both thanking God for graces received during the day to speak in the manner Jesus did and to ask His forgiveness for those times we used the great gift of speech in ways contrary to the purpose for which He gave it.
ACTS XXIX Prayer Intentions
August 2024
For the bishop’s retreat we will host on our campus the week of August 5. May this respite be a time of renewal, refreshment, fellowship and attentiveness to the Holy Spirit.
For our collaboration with the Seminary Formation Council and the retreat for pastoral supervisors who will be with us. May this be an anointed time to prepare pastors to fruitfully accompany transitional deacons through this process of personal renewal and missionary discipleship.
For our meetings with 4PM Media this month regarding future projects and collaboration. May the Lord be gracious in revealing His plan to us.
For our brothers and sisters in the Lord who will be traveling from the UK to visit our campus, that we would be open to the Holy Spirit’s leading.
For our Board of Directors, our Episcopal Advisory Council, our benefactors and prayer partners.
For God’s protection upon the ACTX XXIX team.