The Holy Spirit falls where it may

My family and I have a unique opportunity to spend each memorial day in the Poconos of Pennsylvania at a friend’s lakehouse. In the past, we haven’t sought out the sacraments up here, but yesterday for Holy Trinity Sunday we went to mass at St. John’s Church, a self described “Church on Mission.” In the week prior to our trip, I was working on an article whose subject was "“From the Heart: The Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist ” (I’ll share it here when it’s published). Little did I know how the Holy Spirit would work on Sunday at this little Catholic Church in the Poconos, which is bursting at the seams with vibrancy.

Fr. Reichlen started a 3-part series on the beauty of the Eucharist. This was the first time I’d ever cried my way through a liturgy. The Holy Spirit fell on me in a powerful way. 2 years ago I felt the Lord calling me to kneel when I receive, but I didn’t quite understand why. Yesterday, He showed me why.

Brothers, it’s him. Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. When Jesus, Emmanual, God with us, Word of God made flesh said to his disciples, “Behold I am with you always, even until the end of the age,” it would have been entirely incoherent for him to limit that presence to a spiritual sense. In Luke 24, the Emmaus account shows us that Jesus intended to be present in the Eucharist - body, blood, soul and divinity. And that his presence is so intimate that not only is he our accompaniment, but he is our nourishment. He has willed to humble himself so completely that he’s hidden not only his divinity but also his humanity behind the appearances of bread and wine because he gives himself for us. For you. And the only proper response for me is complete and utter prostration as I receive this miracle, which I am so undeserving of.

May the Holy Spirit continue to fall in powerful ways among the faithful that we may know this truth and live like Sons and Daughters of the Most High. We are not orphans. We are Sons.