When I was a child, my mom always used to read me that story by Robert Munsch: “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always, As long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.” (Robert Munsch, I’ll Love You Forever) I always thought that book was a pretty unfair weapon in the hands of a mother. My mom always intensified the effect by singing the refrain. For a son, there’s no resisting those tactics.
One of the greatest consolations in life is to know that someone will always be there for you: a father, a mother, a faithful wife willing to give up all her securities and move to a new home just to be with her beloved, or a true friend. Christ in the Eucharist is that friend par excellence.
No matter where we are, he is always in a tabernacle nearby. In Rome, there are these fresh water fountains everywhere. At first I was pretty skeptical about the water being potable, given Rome isn’t exactly the cleanest city I have seen, but after enough convincing I gave in. They say it is actually the freshest water around. Now I am a believer. Those innumerable fountains become lifesavers on hot days spent walking through the streets of the Eternal City. This summer I undertook a 25 mile hike over the Mt. Washington Range in New Hampshire. It is home to the highest peaks on the East Coast of the US and has hosted some of the harshest recorded weather conditions. As draining as a 12 hour trek over the harsh summits seems, there are three huts spread across the range for the hiker to rest and refill his water supply. These oases are images of what Christ is for us in the Eucharist. “Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, My God.” (Ps 42) Just as we thirst for water after hours walking through the hot streets of Rome or while trudging up the high peaks of the Mount Washington Range, so our souls long for Christ on our journey through life. And as Yahweh always walked ahead of his people in the tabernacle as Israel wandered through the desert, so Christ is there every step of the way in a nearby tabernacle, no matter where we are in the world.
This has been the greatest consolation for me as I am settling into my new home in Rome. Many things are different the culture, the language, the people, the crazy drivers. But one thing stays the same: Christ’s Eucharistic presence. Just as he was waiting for me with open arms at my former seminary in Connecticut, so now, as the father of the prodigal son (Luke 15), he is waiting for me in the tabernacle at our seminary here in Rome. What a consolation to know that, wherever I am, I can go to him in the Blessed Sacrament and pour out my heart to him, and he fills my soul with peace. Thank you, Jesus.
