Father Erik’s Letter

June 7, 2021

Dear CTK parishioners,

Since we are celebrating the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ I would like to offer some thoughts about deepening our experience of God’s grace in the Eucharist. Our faith teaches that the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life,” and that this sacrament contains the “whole spiritual good of the Church.”

This is true at a time when many surveys show that Catholics have many doubts about the Eucharist as the Real Presence of Jesus, as truly being His Body and Blood given as our food. It is an incredible claim and worth our frequent reflection.

Faith in this mystery should be nurtured in hearts and souls, but reflected in our external practices and demeanor. The way we act through gestures and signs helps our internal respect. I am asking that each of us consider how we grow in our personal understanding and the reverence we inspire in others. Our inner awareness of the Eucharist can be reflected in our care with gestures such as genuflecting and the sign of the cross. It can be reflected in the way we dress and how we speak the prayers of Mass. Any single gesture is small, but all together they help express the importance of this encounter with God.

There is one change I would like to make in our parish practice to help our awareness of the grace God gives. The moments after receiving Communion are precious. There is no single moment this side of heaven when we are closer to God. Jesus feeds us with himself and we should preserve our focus in that moment as long as possible.

The change I want to make regards the time when you sit after Communion. It has been the practice for everyone to sit when the priest sits back down. My experience is that change of posture also shifts our minds to other things, to Mass being finished soon. Starting now we will try to give greater emphasis to silence and personal prayer. The priest sitting will no longer be a cue for you to sit. Please preserve whatever posture best helps your prayer. We will be ending our music a little sooner and the priest will wait a little longer for the closing prayer. The goal is a more intense focus on the intense encounter of God coming into our very bodies as food. Hold onto that moment as you receive, walk back to your pew and consider the Gift you have been given.

We are called to be witnesses of faith who are Alive in Christ. Let this Feast day renew your understanding and practice of the Mass so that you are nourished for the week ahead.

In Christ,

Fr. Erik