Eucharistic Revival: O Source and Summit of Our Life

 

The Elevation of the Host, Easter Sunday 2023.
St. Theresa Catholic Church, Sugar Land, TX.

I wrote this hymn for the Eucharistic Revival Hymn Competition.  I did not win the competition, so I am posting my hymn here. Ms. Kathleen Pluth from Arizona won the competition, so congratulations to her!  For this hymn entry, I was contacted by someone in the USCCB who informed me that I was among the top three finalists, so there is that consolation.  To date, I have never won a poetry or hymn competition, but I am still trying! 

Hymn: O Source and Summit of Our Life

Text: David D. Varella

Primary Tune: KINGSFOLD, traditional English melody

Meter: 86.86.86.86

1. O Source and Summit of our life, we come into your home,

Our feet are standing in your walls, no longer shall we roam.

Your Presence here fills us with hope, gives foretaste of great joy:

You are unto your saints above delight without alloy!

2. Your manna in the desert fell, restoring weary feet,

And David ate the sacred bread that only priests could eat;

So as we journey on to you, in weariness and tears,

You freely give your Flesh to eat, refreshing us with cheer.

3. On mountainside you multiplied the bread for thousands there,

Then in the upper room changed bread into your Body fair:

The off’ring of Melchisedek was here fulfilled in you,

And your apostles took and ate as you told them to do.

4. As wedding Guest at Cana you changed water into wine,

Then in the upper room changed wine into your Blood Divine:

As blood on doorposts was the sign the Israelites to spare,

So we, your Blood upon our lips, your promised mercy share.

5. The power that you gave to men to offer Sacrifice,

“This do in memory of me,” is gift without a price.

And through the ages you come down to be our sacred Feast,

As bishops in unbroken line ordain men as your priests.

6. The priest holds high your Body and the chalice of your Blood,

Like serpent bronze in wilderness for healing lifted up;

And we are present at your cross on Calvary once more,

Your bleeding Body lifted up for love becomes our cure.

7. Examine we our inmost soul, ensuring conscience clean,

If unworthy through mortal sin, Confession first is key.

May this Communion not condemn our lives unto the flames,

But may it save our souls from death to praise your holy Name!

8. O Lord, remain with us today, for darkness gathers on,

Speak more to us within our hearts before the light is gone.

Grant unto us unyielding faith to know your Presence here,

And in the breaking of the Bread remove all doubt and fear.

9. In this great Sacrament, O Lord, make one this faithful throng,

Unite us in this Eucharist, with charity our song.

As we go out into the world, our hearts now set ablaze,

Show us all those who need our help in many, varied ways.

10. All glory be to Christ the Lord, our King and Bread of Life,

To Father and to Paraclete be power, laud, and might.

We here adore this Sacrament in truth and peace and love,

Lord, be our nourishment to reach our home with you above.

Commentary

After receiving a criticism of the mention of the word "Confession" in the text (along with the recommendation that I change that word to "repentance"), I consulted a priest, who had this to say:

I think both “repentance” and “Confession” are okay.  I think “Confession” is altogether better, more accurate, and better for the souls who will hear the hymn.  I think “repentance” is accurate, but not as specific as it could be, and opens the possibility of misleading souls since it is much more general and vague than “Confession”.

The current code of Canon Law says:

Can. 916 Anyone who is conscious of grave sin may not celebrate Mass or receive the Body of the Lord without previously having been to sacramental confession, unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition, which includes the resolve to go to confession as soon as possible.

First, an act of  perfect contrition is pretty hard and I don’t think we should easily judge ourselves as having made one.  Even if we have, this includes the resolve to Confess ASAP.   I don’t have it in front of me, but there was a condemned proposition that held “asap” basically meant at the next convenient time.  The pope condemned that idea, meaning that it couldn’t just be when convenient, but had to be asap, even if that meant going to a different priest or one you would rather not go to.

Looking online, it seems the 1983 code changed some language.  All previous mentions had said if there was “necessity”, which the new code changed to “grave reason”.  I don’t see a big difference between the two and the examples given could all fall under both “grave reason” and “necessity”.  Whichever it is, it will be much more likely to occur for a priest than a lay person.  The only examples I found online for a lay person were someone who remembers an unconfessed mortal sin on the point of receiving Holy Communion or to save the Eucharist from profanation.

 And Session XIII of the Council of Trent made the following declarations:

If it is unbeseeming for any one to approach to any of the sacred functions, unless he approach holily; assuredly, the more the holiness and divinity of this heavenly sacrament are understood by a Christian, the more diligently ought he to give heed that he approach not to receive it but with great reverence and holiness, especially as we read in the Apostle those words full of terror: He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself. Wherefore, he who would communicate, ought to recall to mind the precept of the Apostle: Let a man prove himself. Now ecclesiastical usage declares that necessary proof to be, that no one, conscious to himself of mortal sin, how contrite soever he may seem to himself, ought to approach to the sacred Eucharist without previous sacramental confession. This the holy Synod hath decreed is to be invariably observed by all Christians, even by those priests on whom it may be incumbent by their office to celebrate, provided the opportunity of a confessor do not fail them; but if, in an urgent necessity, a priest should celebrate without previous confession, let him confess as soon as possible. (Session XIII, Chapter 7).

CANON XI. lf any one saith that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, let him be anathema. And for fear lest so great a sacrament may be received unworthily, and so unto death and condemnation, this holy Synod ordains and declares, that sacramental confession, when a confessor may be had, is of necessity to be made beforehand, by those whose conscience is burthened with mortal sin, how contrite even soever they may think themselves. But if any one shall presume to teach, preach, or obstinately to assert, or even in public disputation to defend the contrary, he shall be thereupon excommunicated. (Session XIII, Canon 11).

And in the Summa Theologiae (Supplementum Tertiae Partis, Chapter Six) Saint Thomas Aquinas made these assertions:

As the purpose of confessing is united to contrition, a man is bound to have this purpose when he is bound to have contrition, viz. when he calls his sins to mind, and chiefly when he is in danger of death, or when he is so circumstanced that unless his sin be forgiven, he must fall into another sin: for instance, if a priest be bound to say Mass, and a confessor is at hand, he is bound to confess or, if there be no confessor, he is bound at least to contrition and to have the purpose of confessing.

But to actual confession a man is bound in two ways. First, accidentally, viz. when he is bound to do something which he cannot do without committing a mortal sin, unless he go to confession first: for then he is bound to confess; for instance, if he has to receive the Eucharist, to which no one can approach, after committing a mortal sin, without confessing first, if a priest be at hand, and there be no urgent necessity. Hence it is that the Church obliges all to confess once a year; because she commands all to receive Holy Communion once a year, viz. at Easter, wherefore all must go to confession before that time. (Article 5, Response).

Eucharistic Revival: Come To Me

 

Sanctuary Lamps burning before the Tabernacle, where the Lord Jesus Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

Come To Me

Tune: Chartres, 15th Century French Tune
Meter: 87.87 D

Come to Me, all you, My faithful,
Come unto My altar-throne,
Come and visit Me more often
For I wait here all alone.
I have kept My lamp-light burning,
Glowing in deep crimson red,
For I thirst for one small visit
More than all this silence dread.

Come to me, all you o’erburdened
By your sorrows and your woe,
I will grant you rest more precious
Than the pleasures of the foe.
I have kept My lamp-light burning,
Come and rest your weary head,
I will calm the storms of anguish
More than sleep upon your bed.

Come to Me, all hearts yet broken
Treading sorrow’s darkened road,
I will be your sweet Salvation,
I will be your Joy untold.
I have kept My lamp-light burning,
See its beams of blesséd light,
Come to Me and in your heart I’ll
Set your hope to burning bright.

Come to Me, all you who, sinners,
Live amidst despairing fear,
Be not afraid, My Blood was shed,
Price was paid, and you are dear.
You are not beyond My Mercy,
Repent, enter My Heart’s cove,
See, I keep My lamp-light burning:
In the Host, My Heart of love!

Come to Me, all you the lukewarm,
Now’s the time to fervent grow;
Come to Me, be My disciple,
Learn from Me and get to know
All the ways of love and mercy,
Fervent charity to sow.
See, I keep My lamp-light burning,
Keep your baptism-flame aglow!

Come to Me, all unbelievers,
See Me in the Host at Mass!
I am here, your great Redeemer,
Hear My priest, have faith at last!
Look! I left My lamp on for you,
I who am the Lamb of God,
Doubt no longer, come to know Me,
Come and find what saints have sought!

Parents and the Eucharistic Revival

 

My early-childhood parish, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, Peru, Indiana. Image from https://cassmiamicatholic.org/.

During this time of the Eucharistic Revival in the US, I have for a while been considering the role of my parents in my faith in the Holy Eucharist. It was they who gave me this faith, both complementing each other in ways they were not even aware of. My mother taught me the Baltimore Catechism (BaltCat), especially before I received my First Holy Communion. It was she who fed my intellect in understanding, to the extent possible, the Mystery of the True Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. 

I have read some comments online where people call the BaltCat “anemic”, whatever that means. Even this article on the Catholic Culture website seemed to denigrate what it called “rote catechesis”, which I take to mean the BaltCat's methods of memorizing questions and answers. One friend of mine commented succinctly, “There isn’t anything wrong with [the Baltimore Catechism]. In fact, we depended on it heavily during my seminary experience, and I found it extremely useful to have information so readily available in my memory to call upon when needed.” I find that to be truly the case. I had other various texts to study for CCD and Religious Education at various parishes (like the Faith and Life Series from Ignatius Press), while at home we used the BaltCat. It seems to me that the other various texts I was exposed to in my religious education were aimed at the heart, while the BaltCat is excellent for the intellect. We should never sacrifice the intellectual side of our Faith in order to reach the heart, nor should we ignore the heart to form only the intellect.

In my early childhood, both the heart and the intellect were formed by my parents. My mother, as I said before, formed my intellect with the use of the BaltCat. My father, however, reached my heart through one particular experience. I was about five years old when the following account took place. My father had just received Holy Communion during Mass. As soon as we returned to the pew, I asked him when I could receive Communion. He told me that I would have to be older, but then asked me if I wanted to smell Jesus. I said Yes, so he breathed in my face. Since he had received Holy Communion under both Species, what I smelled was the scent of wine. But my father had told me it was Jesus, and so I knew that it was not just wine. In that moment, in that pew just after my father received Holy Communion, he bequeathed to my heart the precious gift of faith in the True Presence. I did not yet know terms like “the True Presence” or “the Consecration of the Mass” or “Transubstantiation” or anything like that – all that would come later through my mother – but I did know without a doubt that it was Jesus that my father received. I also remember that on that particular occasion, my father did not get angry with me for interrupting his prayer with Jesus, he just loved me and answered my questions patiently. From that point on, I have never doubted that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Holy Eucharist. 

I share this story because I don’t think parents really understand the power they have in the lives of their children. I never stepped foot into a Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) until I was twenty-five years old, so I know that the TLM is not the only way to receive that faith. Sure, the TLM is more reverent, and it is more obvious that Jesus is there on the altar. Yet the true power parents have in forming their children’s hearts and minds is without measure, even in the current Novus Ordo Mass (NOM). One thing I can say that impresses me as I look back upon my childhood is that my father was always there with us in the pews (at times there were exceptions because my father was in the military, but those exceptions were rare). Some fathers have told me that they leave religion to their wives, but my father was not like that; rather, he lived the Faith the best he knew how, and that provided a great foundation for me. As an example, one Lent, my parents prayed the fifteen prayers of Saint Bridget every day. Every Good Friday, the three-o’clock hour was to be maintained in the most solemn silence (and they came up with creative ways to keep us five small children well occupied to make that happen). So not only the True Presence at Mass, but also the seasons of the Liturgical Year came alive for me.

As parents, we have an awesome power in the lives of our children. We must wield that power to instill in our children a love for Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist – not just in their intellects, but also in their hearts. One of the ways my wife brings alive the True Presence for our children is by having them tell Jesus something at the Elevations. At the Elevation of the Host, the children say, "I love You, Jesus!" At the Elevation of the Chalice, the children say, "Thank You, Jesus!" It is a small but important gesture, planting the seeds of faith. At Holy Mass just recently, my four-year-old son jumped up onto the kneeler of the Communion rail and said out loud and full of enthusiasm, "Hi, Jesus!" I instinctively pulled him back because I did not know what he was doing and did not want him to grab at the ciborium or the Communion paten; meanwhile, the Deacon let out a small grin as he proceeded to give me Holy Communion.

The Liturgy is not something that should be lived only at church, but also in our homes! As parents, we need not be perfect to wield the influence we hold in the lives of our children, and we need not do anything complicated or elaborate – something small to mark the turns of the Liturgical Seasons will suffice. And I highly recommend the use of the BaltCat, together with something for the heart. More than anything, we must never forget that we must also teach them from the heart. We must be patient with them, and even if we cannot do something that they want (like my father could not let me receive Holy Communion because I was not yet of age), nevertheless, we need to provide something for them to fill that gap and help their understanding. Like my father for me, it is imperative that we be patient even if our children interrupt our prayer, for our anger will only push them away. However we respond to them, we must always remember that we are the face of God for them: if we treat them angrily, they will see God as an angry God; but if we treat them with appropriate respect (a respect founded on the truth that they too are children of God through Baptism) and seek to understand them, they will see God as a loving Father. I am not saying that we respect them to the point of spoiling them, but that we need not use harshness or discipline in every situation. There are more than plenty situations in which it is proper to discipline them for their instruction and for their temporal and eternal good, but there are also appropriate times to be patient and let the grace of God work through us as parents, as it worked through my father for me.