{"id":2818,"date":"2007-06-04T11:37:27","date_gmt":"2007-06-04T11:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2007\/06\/how-do-you-celebrate-the-anniv\/"},"modified":"2007-06-04T11:37:27","modified_gmt":"2007-06-04T11:37:27","slug":"how-do-you-celebrate-the-anniv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/2007\/06\/how-do-you-celebrate-the-anniv\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do You Celebrate the Anniversary of Your First Holy Communion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"communion.jpg\"<\/a>
\nA Grace Renewed<\/strong>
\nHow do readers of Vultus Christi<\/em> celebrate the anniversary of their First Holy Communion? Every grace remembered is a grace renewed. Saint Gertrude the Great made a practice of recalling the sacramental anniversaries of her life and of re-living them in the spirit of praise and thanksgiving that runs through all her writings.
\nThanksgiving <\/strong>
\nFor me, today is a memorial of thanksgiving embracing all of the Holy Communions received since June 4, 1959. Every Holy Communion draws the soul into the thanksgiving of Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit: “In that same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, ‘I thank Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was Thy gracious will. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him'” (Lk 10:21-22).
\nReparation<\/strong>
\nToday is also a day of reparation for the coldness, indifference, and unworthiness with which I have received the holy and life-giving Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ over the years. The desire to make reparation is directly proportionate to what Pope John Paul II called “Eucharistic amazement.” Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. wrote of being “lost, all lost in wonder” before the adorable mystery of the Eucharist. It is this sense of awe before the Mystery that ignites the desire to make Eucharistic reparation.
\nMy recent trip to France made me more sensitive to the need for Eucharistic reparation. For one who loves it becomes an imperative of the heart. I passed through dozens of small rural villages, each one having its clocher<\/em>, its ancient church. In many of these villages churches Mass is offered only once a week on Sunday; in some of them Mass is offered only occasionally. Churches, with the Blessed Sacrament reserved in their tabernacles, are kept locked from one week to the next. No longer is there the possibility of making a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or of stealing in quietly to seek the Eucharistic Face and Heart of Love. A coldness is spreading through our lands, and this not only in France. “I came, ” says the Lord, “to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled” (Lk 12:49).
\nI am reminded of what Mother Marie-Adèle Garnier<\/a>, the saintly foundress of the Tyburn Benedictines wrote in 1875:
\nIn this France which He loves, and where He has been pleased to manifest the torrents of love and mercy of which the Holy Eucharist is at once the ocean and the channel, does He not expect to find souls, objects of His special mercy, uniting themselves to Him, consecrating themselves forever to the prayer of reparation at the foot of His altar, and obtaining by their humble supplications a slackening of the sacrileges committed against Him, and a check to the contagious temptations of indifference and neglect? . . .<\/em><\/strong>
\nA Bold Prediction<\/strong>
\nI predict that among the fruits of Pope John Paul II’s Year of the Eucharist and of his intercession in heaven, we will begin to see here and there in the Church the birth or rebirth of monasteries and other communities of men and women “driven” by the Holy Spirit to a life of Eucharistic adoration and reparation. Priests, in particular, are being called to the life of adoration, reparation, and Johannine<\/em> intimacy with the Holy Face and pierced Heart of Jesus at once concealed and revealed in the Eucharist. Some are being called to live this out in community, others in a more solitary fashion.<\/p>\n


\nIn addition to these prayers, there is this Litany of Reparation which I found in the manual of the (Anglican!) Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament and slightly modified. It inspires compunction.
\nLord, have mercy upon us.
\nChrist, have mercy upon us.
\nLord, have mercy upon us.
\nO, Christ, hear us.
\nO Christ, graciously hear us.
\nO God the Father of Heaven,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nO God the Son, Redeemer of the World,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nO God the Holy Ghost,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nO Holy Trinity, One God,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nSacred Victim, offered for the sins of the World,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nSacred Victim, consumed on the Altar by us, and for us,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nSacred Victim, despised and neglected by those who call themselves Christian,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nSacred Victim, outraged by the blasphemies of sinners,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nSacred Victim, neglected and abandoned in the Sacrament of Thy Surpassing Love,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nSacred Victim, left alone in so many churches throughout the world,
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nBe merciful.
\nSpare us, O Lord.
\nBe merciful,
\nSpare us, O Lord.
\nFor so many unworthy communions,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nFor those who approach Thy Holy Mysteries without reverence,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nFor the continual blasphemies of the impious,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nFor the carelessness and neglect of Priests and people,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nFor the unbelief of those who discern Thee not,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nFor the failure to abide with Thee in thanksgiving
\nafter receiving Thy Sacred Body and Blood,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nFor refusing to visit and adore Thee in Thy churches,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nFor the disorder and neglect of Thy sanctuaries,
\nWe offer our reparation, O Lord.
\nThat Thou wouldest have mercy upon us and spare us,
\nWe beseech Thee to hear us.
\nThat Thou wouldest accept our sorrow and humility,
\nWe beseech Thee to hear us.
\nThat Thou wouldest increase faith and reverence in Thy priests and in all Thy people,
\nWe beseech Thee to hear us.
\nThat Thou wouldest endue all with zeal for Thine honor and glory,
\nWe beseech Thee to hear us.
\nThat Thou wouldest incline all hearts to worship and receive Thee worthily,
\nWe beseech Thee to hear us.
\nThat Thou wouldest make known to all Thy love in this Holy Sacrament,
\nWe beseech Thee to hear us.
\nO Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world;
\nSpare us, Good Lord.
\nO Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world;
\nGraciously hear us, O Lord.
\nO Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world;
\nHave mercy upon us.
\nBehold our affliction, O Lord,
\nAnd glorify Thy holy Name.
\nLord, hear our prayer,
\nAnd let our cry come unto Thee.
\nThe Lord be with you,
\nAnd with thy spirit.
\nLet us pray.
\nO Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast willed to abide with us always
\nin this wonderful Sacrament,
\nthus ever glorifying Thy Father, by the Memorial of Thy Passion,
\nand giving unto us the Food of Life;
\ngrant us grace to grieve with a hearty sorrow for the insults offered this Holy Mystery, and to repair so far as lies in our power, and with sincere love,
\nthe many dishonors Thou still continuest to receive in thy Blessed Sacrament,
\nWho livest and reignest with the Father in the Unity of the Holy Ghost,
\none God, world without end. Amen. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Grace Renewed How do readers of Vultus Christi celebrate the anniversary of their First Holy Communion? Every grace remembered is a grace renewed. Saint Gertrude the Great made a practice of recalling the sacramental anniversaries of her life and of re-living them in the spirit of praise and thanksgiving that runs through all her <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-holy-eucharist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paVypq-Js","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vultuschristi.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}