“We do not need to wait until the end of our lives to 'go to heaven,' since Heaven is opened for us each Sunday, if only we have faith to perceive this truth in the ordinary circumstances of Mass."
By Fr. Thaddaeus Lancton, MIC
A gaze of the heart. Examining the depth of one’s heart.
There is no one way to translate the Latin title Inspectio Cordis, given to the collection of meditations for Sundays by the Founder of the Marians, St. Stanislaus Papczyński (1631-1701).
These meditations, published weekly on Fridays in preparation for the Sunday Mass, follow the style and purpose of our holy Father Founder. While his original text is worth reading, his examples and style can feel outdated to the modern reader. As his spiritual son, I will attempt my best to imitate his style and imitate his ministry of preaching to hearts.
The goal is to allow Jesus to gaze into your heart and teach you self-examination, leading you to a more fruitful reception of Holy Communion, where there is a true encounter of our hearts with His Sacred Heart – especially fitting during this period of National Eucharistic Revival.
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle B
August 4, 2024
Before Holy Communion
1. “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites.”
We were created for lush garden of Eden, but sin cast us to the desert. The Father hears our murmuring about the difficulties of life in the desert. The Israelites preferred returning to Egypt to eat freely of the fleshpots rather than traverse the desert toward the Promised Land. Rather than punishing them for their lack of faith in His goodness, He heeded their pleas and provides abundantly with manna and quail.
Similarly, He sees our poverty and misery, the result of original sin that has broken this world. He responds by providing sustenance to continue our journey toward Him. Proof of this is the Eucharist, by which He strengthens our hearts with His love to persevere.
About what do you tend to murmur and grumble? How do you experience your life as a desert rather than the garden? How do you need the Father to provide? How does the Eucharist sustain you during your week?
2. “To see whether they follow my instructions or not.”
While the manifest gift of God to the hungry Israelites is the manna, the Law – God’s instructions for His People – is equally a gift that provides them with sustenance and strength for their life. The sabbath rest, together with the ten commandments, is as much a gift from the Lord as the manna. The test of the manna is that it required the Israelites to obey God to collect and savor it; if they disobeyed by collecting too much or keeping it for the next day, the manna would putrefy. Similarly, the Father provides for what we need, so that we learn obedience, which is not a “heavy burden but the exercise of a capacity to receive the good things that God gives to those who obey him” (Navarre Commentary on the Pentateuch).
By obeying His word that we hear proclaimed at each Mass in the readings, we are nourished by His gifts. Without such obedience, we may receive Holy Communion but we our hearts will not be satisfied.
How do you experience obedience to the instructions of the Church – as a heavy burden or a capacity to receive the Father’s blessing? How do you see obedience as connected to receiving all the gifts He gives in Holy Communion?
3. “[He] opened the doors of heaven.”
We sometimes imagine Heaven to be a spectacular place, with every sort of color, sound, fragrance, and touch. Indeed, what awaits us is beyond description in human language. However, the Father opens the doors of heaven during each Mass at our local parish. We may not be overwhelmed by the beauty of the music or the profundity of the preaching. Yet, in the humility of our Sunday Mass, heaven is truly opened to us, for Christ descends to the altar, to be fully present in the Eucharist.
We do not need to wait until the end of our lives to “go to heaven,” since Heaven is opened for us each Sunday, if only we have faith to perceive this truth in the ordinary circumstances of Mass.
How do you perceive the Sunday liturgy at your parish? How do you have a foretaste of Heaven through Holy Communion?
After Holy Communion
1. “Do not work for food that perishes...”
As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our life. Jesus’ instruction here reminds us that the goal of all our activity is deepened participation in the Eucharist, namely, in the one work of Jesus Christ for our salvation. When our daily activities become unhinged from this, then we are reduced to anxiety and worry; our efforts, even to exhaustion, can become frustrating.
But if we remember that everything we are and do – from the biggest to the smallest things – flow from and toward the Eucharist, then we find what satisfies our hunger for meaning and purpose. All we do during the week is – ought to be – a preparation for this food that does not perish, that is, the Eucharist and Holy Communion.
For what do you work during the week? How can your activities be oriented – at least interiorly – to preparing for the food that satisfies your heart?
2. “Whoever comes to me will never hunger…”
Commercials and advertisements depend upon us being hungry and desiring a plethora of things that purport to satisfy us. Jesus is the true bread, who nourishes our life, sustains our hearts, and calms our noisy desires. We will continue to eat earthly food, but if we come to Him both at Mass and in adoration, we will find that our hearts are quieter and more peaceful. We no longer need to purchase so much for ourselves but can give more liberally to the poor, providing for others in their hunger. We will live no longer famished, in a life of scarcity, but from abundance, where we share with others the excess Jesus provides in each Holy Communion.
For what do you hunger and thirst in life? What are the noisy desires of your heart? How can you live from abundance and share generously with others?
3. “I declare and testify in the Lord…"
Saint Paul uses strong language to emphasize how serious was this injunction to the early Christians. Knowing Jesus Christ is “measurable” not by how much doctrine we know or how many Rosaries we recite; rather, we must leave behind our former, sinful ways, giving evidence of “righteousness and holiness of truth” in Christ. Our Christian conduct flows from knowing Christ and living in relationship with Him. Otherwise, Holy Communion proves to be of no avail if our daily lives are not lived in communion with Christ.
Like taking off old clothes to put on fresh clothing, we are to be continually renewed in our minds, attitudes, and hearts at each Mass. Having special, dignified clothing that we wear to Mass reminds us of our upward calling to clothe ourselves anew in His redeeming grace and so grow in holiness.
What aspects of your ‘self’ from the last week do you need to remove? How can you clothe yourself more fully in Christ this coming week?
Next week: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 11.
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