My parish is holding its 40 Hours this week. In the opening talk, a priest of our diocese said something that really stuck with me:
“If you knew the gift of God.”
And if my notes are right, that’s from John 4.
To someone who has never known God — or who doesn’t understand the Eucharist — we might say those words as a kind of invitation. If you only knew. But speaking for ourselves, we do know. We’ve known for so long, maybe, that we’ve started to forget.
The supernatural has become the natural to us.
We believe that Jesus Christ — God Himself — comes to us under the appearance of bread and wine. That we receive Him. That this happens every single day, in every Catholic church, all over the world. Someone hearing that for the first time would probably say, “Wait — you believe what?”
Yeah. We believe that.
But do we receive it that way?
“If you knew the gift of God.” We do know. The question is whether we’re living like it.
Let us pray. Lord, we give thanks for the many gifts that You continue to give us. Help us to always remember that You are a generous and loving God. In Jesus’ name. Amen
Keep fighting the good fight. Our Lady of Victory, pray for us.
