What is holy? What is profane? Answer is simple. Anything related to the Divine realm is holy. Anything that opposes the Divine is profane. Times are changing and it seems the thin line separating what is divine from what is profane is gradually getting blurred in this world. Such is the force with which the secular world tries to infuse its ideologies into the Church. Their ultimate aim is to make the faithful confused. And they have succeeded to a great extent in this game.
What we regard as holy will never be considered holy by the world. When we say ‘Holy Mass’, for them it is Mass, just another program like any other secular event. When we say, Holy Spirit, they cannot understand how the spirit becomes holy. When we talk about Holy Orders, they see it as the mere installation of a person as priest.
Perhaps the most detested word in today’s world is ‘holy’. Either they will openly brand it bad or they will relegate it to the status of something simply good and desirable. In both cases, their intention is to mock the holy.
This trend is more evident when it comes to Holy Mass. Of all things in the Christian faith, Holy Mass is one thing that they could not digest, partly because they do not know its true meaning, and partly because they are swayed by intentional efforts from various quarters to deny its holy nature. It is then natural that the first attack against our faith will be against the Holy Mass. Those who want to stop the celebration of Holy Mass will employ all the weapons in their possession to achieve this goal. We have seen this during the pandemic. When everything else functioned normally, they made it a point to ensure that churches remained closed.
I believe in the power of the Eucharist because God in His infinite mercy allowed me to get a glimpse, though partial, of the immense value of the Eucharist. Love towards the Blessed Sacrament is truly a grace. We get attracted and attached to the Eucharist because God called us to it. Jesus testifies; ‘No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me’ (Jn 6:44). Note that Jesus gave this teaching when he was talking about the ‘Bread from Heaven’.
If we meditate on the teachings of Jesus about the Bread from Heaven – Holy Eucharist- as contained in the gospels, one thing becomes very clear. The words of Jesus were unambiguous and to the point. He was not ready to compromise on his teaching about the Eucharist even at the risk of losing many of his disciples. ‘Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him’ (Jn 6:66). Do you think that it was pure coincidence that the number of this verse became 6:66? Before jumping into conclusions, please read another verse from the Book of Revelation. ‘Let any one with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six’ (Rev.13:18).
Those who could not agree with Jesus’ teachings about the Holy Eucharist left him for good. About such people who leave the true faith, John writes elsewhere; ‘Children, it is the last hour! As you have heard that the antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. From this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us. But they did not belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But by going out they made it plain that none of them belongs to us’ (1 Jn 2:18). It is pretty clear, because John writes this under the heading ‘Warning against Antichrist’.
It is the spirit of Antichrist that deceives men into suspecting the divinity and holiness of the Eucharist. They cannot understand the true value of this Sacrament of sacraments. This is the primary reason behind many of them leaving the faith. The gospels tell us that those who left Jesus because of his teaching about the Eucharist, never came back to him. John corroborates it by stating that the spirit of the antichrist works in those who go out from us.
Opposition to Holy Mass comes from the opponent of Christ, whom we call Antichrist. His spirit is active in the world. In fact it is this spirit that controls the world now. There is little surprise then that all their efforts will be directed against the Holy Eucharist.
We should learn to see every attack against this sacrament as manifestations of the horrible hatred that the evil holds against our Lord and everything that Jesus Christ stands for. The ruler of this world is setting the whole world against the king of kings in his last and final attempt to capture as many souls as possible and he knows the best way to do so is to draw them away from the Blessed Sacrament. He knows that the Eucharist is the biggest source of grace for us; but unfortunately we often forget it.
Grace flows from Christ crucified. Christ is truly present in the Eucharistic species. ‘In the most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore the whole Christ is truly, really and substantially contained’ (CCC 1374). If Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the sacrament of Eucharist, we should have no doubt that true, real and substantial grace flows from the altar on which this great mystery is celebrated. Christ’s enemies know it. This is why they vent their anger against the altar.
The cornerstone of Christian life is hope. Eucharist is the dearest sign and surest pledge of this great hope, says the Church. ‘There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells, than the Eucharist. Every time this mystery is celebrated, the work of our redemption is carried on and we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote of death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ’ (CCC 1405).
Those merchants of death know that the Eucharist is the antidote of their product called death. No wonder they will go to any length to prevent this antidote to be distributed to those who should die otherwise. ‘The serpent being more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord had made,’ he knows that once hope is taken out of a man, it is easy for him to conquer that soul. What better way is there to put out the flame of hope still burning within our hearts than separating us from the Holy Eucharist, the surest pledge and dearest sign of this hope?
It is natural that a world united in their hatred towards Christ and the eternal life he has offered us, will strive hard to prevent the celebration of Holy Mass and belittle the value of the Eucharist in the minds of the faithful. It is our duty to discern their wicked plans and draw ourselves closer to the Eucharist, because the days are nigh when this Sacrament of Sacraments will cease to be celebrated.
Let us fervently pray;
Jesus, food for everlasting life, have mercy on us.
Jesus, medicine of immortality, have mercy on us
Jesus, bread of heaven, have mercy on us.
