One of the most awe-inspiring experiences for a seminarian is distributing Communion. Opportunities for some are few and far between. In fact, after eight years of seminary, my first opportunity came last week. It was a hot Friday morning, and I was serving at the sanctuary of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, embellished with its green granite rails and steps as a true Irish-American church should be. We were at the funeral of a good friend. The time came for Communion, and the priest handed me a ciborium to distribute Communion to the congregation. An electrifying jolt of joy shot through my heart. So many years seeing this most precious of gifts being offered intimately one by one to each beloved son and daughter of God! How I longed to hold him in my own hands, never getting this opportunity. Now the moment arrived. I will hold him in my hands and give him to others in that most intimate bond of love, that tender embrace of Christ: Communion.
My hands were shaking as I looked down and picked up each host. I was holding God! My heart was racing with joy. I wanted to hold him and contemplate him and say ever so slowly and reverently those words announcing him, veiled in such a humble cloak as bread: “The Body of Christ.” It felt too fast. I wanted to take my time with each host. One by one I gave him to souls thirsting for Love.
I remember very few faces as I gave out Communion. How could I if the face of God lie between theirs and mine? But one tall man with a dark complexion and a square build came and reached out one hand to receive Our Lord. “The Body of Christ.” I watched him walk away as he curiously twirled the host in his hand. My blood froze as he proceeded to the back with the Eucharist still in his hands. My first time giving out Communion, and this! You’ve got to be kidding me!
I nervously finished distributing Communion, brought the ciborium to the altar and hurried to the back of the church. There was my man, still twirling the Eucharist in his hands like a coin. I really didn’t know what to say, so I just said: “You can’t take him. Give him to me.” That was that. “I’ve got you, Jesus. You’re safe with me,” I thought, feeling like a superhero who had just rescued the Creator of the Universe…
What must have crossed this man’s mind as all this happened? My words surprised me; I can only imagine what he was thinking: “What’s the big deal? Why did that man of the cloth track me down? What’s so important about a little wafer? Why did he call it a “him”? “
It’s precisely that it’s a “him” and not an “it”. There is no reason to make such a fuss over a simple wafer. He took My Lord. Sometimes God works through our own reactions to teach us and others a lesson. That episode strengthened my faith in his true presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Do we give testimony to our faith in the Eucharist by the way we speak about him? Is the Eucharist an “it” or a “him” to us? Christ is a person. He wants to be spoken of and treated that way in the Eucharist. It puts a smile on his face.
