Last Saturday the Vigil Mass at the Cathedral of Saint John the Evangelist welcomed a number of young boys and girls who received their First Holy Communion in May at their home parishes. For a number of years this has been a regular event at the Cathedral Parish at the Vigil Mass of Corpus Christi Sunday, two weeks after Pentecost.
Before the Mass I had time to greet a number of children and speak with them about their experience of First Communion. This talking continued into the Mass as all who had received their First Communion were invited to come up to the altar where I ask them questions to build my homily on their thoughts for the benefit of all the people at the Mass. After Mass, again there continued conversation with the children and members of their families. I tell you about my talking with the children as I wish to use this article to share with you some of their thoughts which are worth our attention.
A number of the children shared with me that they were very excited on the day of their First Holy Communion. I suppose on one hand we should not be surprised to hear that remark. However, when I asked them how they felt now going to Church and receiving Holy Communion three or four weeks later, I was pleasantly surprised to hear so many of them say they were still excited about receiving Jesus at Mass. In their innocence they are able to be excited and look forward to a special event. Often times as we grow older some things can begin to become ordinary in our life. I could not help but hope that the children would not lose their excitement about receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion. Our Faith is clear that what we are doing is truly and really receiving Jesus Christ in Holy Communion! Believing this really has only one fitting response, and that is being excited!
I commented to our First Communicants on how nice they looked. I was taken aback a bit with a few of the remarks from the young people. For example, one child said to me this is what we do as a family, another said we got to do this because we are receiving Jesus, a third response was that I must give my best to Jesus. Children never cease to amaze me how they can get to the real issue and are able to voice their thoughts so directly.
During the homily, I asked how they felt actually receiving their First Holy Communion. One girl raised her hand right away. When I asked her to respond, she said ?I was happy.? I then asked her why she we happy and she said ?because Jesus was in me!? My friends, the directness of a child gets right to the point without any hesitation.Another child said she felt good receiving Jesus because all of her family were with her on this day. She said we were all together. A little child appreciated the importance of being part of a family on days like First Holy Communion. Instantly she showed her awareness of what Jesus had taught when He said we all needed to be one, that being together was important.
After the Mass there was a lot of talking. There was one remark that especially caught my attention. A little boy, a first grader, whose sister made her First Communion and was at this special Mass, asked me if he could come to this big church next year. I told him he could come and we would be happy to have him and other boys and girls for this special Mass to receive Communion all together as God?s family. I have no doubt that that boy will remind his parents and that I?ll see him next year.
How true it is that we can learn so much from children for did not Jesus say ?Let the children come to me . . . for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.? Mark 10:14.
(The above column by the Most Reverend Richard Lennon, Bishop of Cleveland originally appeared in the Friday, June 7, 2013 issue of the Catholic Universe Bulletin, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Cleveland.)