What can
make a hot, cramped room full of teenagers sitting on the floor absolutely
silent?
What can soften the heart of the most hardened, abandoned, and
drug-addicted teenager?
What can strengthen us in the daily struggle of
remaining faithful as disciples?
What can move us to tears of joy, gratitude,
forgiveness, awe, surrender?
The Eucharist!
Last weekend we lead the Pan de
Vida (Bread of Life) retreat here. Wow.
God did some incredible things in the lives of the youth that came. How
incredible that each day we have the opportunity to receive our Lord and Savior
into our very beings. God’s word brings about what it says. Let there be light.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Be healed. Your sins are forgiven.
This is my Body. God’s Word shapes reality. He’s there in the Eucharist,
really! And when a human heart opens itself to that reality, God responds!
I remember during one of the missions last
summer a woman was sharing her story with me. She had what the doctors thought
was cancer in her neck, but, since she lives in a mountain village it was not
possible to go to Tegucigalpa for treatment. And besides, she was too scared to
go. In addition, she had young children. With tears in their eyes, the woman
and her grown daughter told me about how they were watching a Mass on TV one
day. In this particular village they get Mass once a year. As the Eucharist was
shown on TV, the woman put her hands on the screen and, looking at Jesus, simply
said, “Have mercy on me.” She was healed.
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