In This Great Sacrament...

This past Sunday was the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ...the Blessed Sacrament. During my time in Seminary the Parish at which I worked the longest was the Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament. It was a massive, Cathedral-like Church. It was in this massive structure, that my relationship with God matured.

I recently took my wonderful boyfriend on a tour of my hometown. We saw the house I grew up in. I showed him my home parish...the simple Church where my relationship with God was born. It was the site of where an immature, young man discerned a vocation to the priesthood. That small town where my roots began, reflect the simplicity of what my relationship with God was in those days. So many people in that town view Providence as "the big city", to them it is so far away. The idea of even being awake at 1am is so foreign to them, let alone the idea of ordering a cheeseburger out of a trailer at that time. They go to work, they come home, spend time with their family, and the next day they repeat it.

It was during the years of sitting in the pews of Blessed Sacrament, where I realized that life was so much more complicated. I realized that a relationship with God was much more then "Love one another as I have loved you." I learned that there were times when God would feel absent. I learned that more often then not, I would not feel the presence of God in my daily life, and that I would have to lean on the shoulder of faith, to know that He was there.

Every year the Parish committees would work tirelessly towards this weekend's feast. We would prepare a massive procession to celebrate the Blessed Sacrament. On that day, processing down the isle of that Church, amidst all the pageantry, Gold vestments, incense and ancient Latin hymns...was me..a lowly, sinful, seminary student. A young man trying to not loose himself in the bells and whistles, and remember that I was giving my life to that tiny white wafer, that was in fact the Body and Blood of Christ, the Blessed Sacrament.

The line from the Preface of the Mass that day reads, "In this great sacrament You feed Your people and strengthen them in holiness, so that the human family may come to walk in the light of one faith, in one communion of love. " Week after week believers gather all over the world at that one altar to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Cross, which they believe brings them salvation.

Now when I sit in the presence of my God in the Blessed Sacrament I typically do so in a tiny chapel downtown, maintained by the Franciscans. Its a simple place, where I sit and share my hopes and dreams with my God. I pray for the ones I love, I pray for their hopes and dreams as well. It reminds me of the universality of the Blessed Sacrament. The details have changed but the basic concept remains the same, weather it be in Tiverton, at Blessed Sacrament Church, or in that simple tiny Chapel. I still sit and share my deepest self, with a God I cannot see.

Two weeks ago I re-visited my hometown, this weekend I re-visited my Seminary years, and I continue to strive towards achieving my dreams. Thank the Lord, I have found love, good friends, and a stable home. I feel like I am only a few grasps away from completing the picture. These are the things that are summarized in that Sacred Host. It's the countless dreams and hopes of generations of believers, the ongoing hope that has burned in the hearts of countless millions through the ages, and the eternal love of God that has shined down through the centuries...a love that is reflected in the smiling face of a lover in the morning when he first wakes up, the heartfelt thank you from a grateful soul, or the laugh we inspire from someone else when we amuse them. The great Feast of the Blessed Sacrament is a reminder, once a year, of that love that we experience everyday of our lives.

I try to keep this in mind as we push through these miserable cloudy days leading into summer. Its so easy to forget the blessings sometimes, and let our hearts wander to feelings of despair. However, it is our duty to look to the bright side, to acknowledge these countless blessings in our lives...because those blessings are the presence of God in our lives, they are the daily manifestation of the gifts of that wonderful sacrament, the same gift that we are called to be in the lives of others.