Last Sunday of the year 26.11.06 (with First Communion)
Today we have the last and the first. The last Sunday of the year, and the first Holy Communion for seven children.
Understanding where we are supposed to finish is always a good place to start.
The last Sunday plus the season of Advent, with its emphasis on repentance and judgment, is a time of reminder for us to keep the last things in view. We are reminded that life is short, that the world is passing away, that we should be ready like wakeful bridesmaids or watchful servants to meet the Lord when He returns.
This is how we are supposed to be when we finish our lives. So how can we reach and maintain such a state?
By taking advantage of every source of grace we can receive in this earthly pilgrimage.
And the greatest source of grace we have available to us in this life is Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
This Sacrament is so important because it is no less than Jesus Christ Himself.
To receive Holy Communion is to receive all-of-God. We receive Him and everything good about Him.
If we receive Him worthily and as fully as we are able then we will be ready to die, and to live, ready to end our lives or continue them, ready for anything and everything.
To receive Him as fully as we are able. At the physical level it is easy to receive Our Lord in this Sacrament.
It is easy to digest one small host, and it may seem like no big deal. To those with little or no faith that is how it will appear.
But with the eyes of faith this small host is bigger than the whole universe. Because it contains what cannot be contained – the Mystery of God Himself, the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity.
Infinite reality packed into a very small space. How precious is one of these hosts.
To some it means nothing, to us everything.
But if what we receive is so great, how can we take it in? How can we grasp so much goodness in a way that we can translate into our everyday lives?
This is food that we enter, rather than food that enters us.
We enter the Mystery of God. We cannot contain Him, but He can easily contain us.
So we enter the goodness of God, like going into a large room, or an ocean and being immersed in that goodness.
It expresses itself in different ways at different times.
So Holy Communion might one time bring you comfort in a time of fear, or consolation in a time of grief, or wisdom in a time of searching, or love for your neighbour in a time of need.
Anything that is good might flow from this Sacrament when it is received worthily and with at least some amount of faith in the recipient.
Children, who are receiving Him for the first time today, you will enter the Mystery again and again. Like a room full of good things, you cannot take them all out with you at any one time, but you can go back for more each time.
So we need to receive the Lord repeatedly, because He is bigger than we are.
And for the adults, who have received Him many times – realize the momentousness of each Holy Communion – treat it like it is your First and your Last.
And doing this as often as we can through our lives, we are far more likely to be awake and watching when the Lord returns, or when our life ends.
We will have nourished ourselves on His goodness, having learned to live in communion with Him. Death and the end of the world will be no more than a change of address for us because we are already close to Him, and will rejoice to see Him face to face.
