People often ask, “How can we encourage more people to care about God?” The solution is simple: love Jesus in the Eucharist more. For several weeks the Catholic faithful have been without the reception of the Eucharist. In God’s Providence, he knew that members of the faithful would undergo this Eucharistic fast. Why has God permitted this? So that we may increase our hunger for Him in the Eucharist.
As Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI writes: “Sometimes we need hunger, physical and spiritual hunger, if we are to come fresh to the Lord’s gifts and understand the suffering of our neighbors.” He continues: “Do we not often take the reception of the Blessed Sacrament too lightly? Might not this kind of spiritual fasting be of service, or even necessary, to deepen and renew our relationship to the Body of Christ?” There are those who truly love our Lord in the Eucharist, but there are others who take Him for granted, those who receive Holy Communion unprepared, and those for whom familiarity has led to feelings of entitlement to the Eucharist, to the Mass and to salvation.
If all we want is for things to “return to normal,” we may miss what our Lord is trying to do for us. Only in heaven will we know the fullness of God’s providential guidance. This much is clear: God wants us to increase our hunger for Him in the Eucharist. Through this experience may we come to a greater appreciation of the Eucharist. May we hunger for it, and have compassion for those who go without.
