SS. Cosmas and Damian Parish in Twinsburg welcomed Auxiliary Bishop Michael Woost on Oct. 22 when he celebrated Mass and presided and Eucharistic devotions. It was his first pastoral visit to the parish since his ordination. The visit coincided with the end of the first week of the parish’s Eucharistic Miracles Experience.
“Your parish is drawing a lot of interest across the diocese,” Bishop Woost told the congregation. The exhibit runs Oct. 17-30 and is spread across the parish campus. Father Michael Stalla, pastor, estimated more than 1,000 people had seen the exhibit during its first week. (Click here to see a related story about the exhibit.)
The bishop told the faithful that we pray the sacraments -- including the Eucharist -- may perfect in us what lies in them. “And what lies in them? The body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus,” he said, adding, we receive the whole life of God every time we participate in the Eucharist and receive Communion.
Catholics around the world are praying that we can share in the divine life, the bishop said.
“This God who loves us with a passion comes to us so we can become living tabernacles. So through us, the very gift of God’s presence can be revealed to the world.”
At the conclusion of Mass, Bishop Woost said the Blessed Sacrament would be exposed in a monstrance so the congregation could spend a few minutes in adoration. “We behold God and he beholds us,” he said, adding, “We see each other living in each other.”
The bishop quoted St. Therese of Lisieux, one of his favorite saints, who said, “‘I am a living monstrance.’ That’s a bold thing to say, but it’s what we’re called to do,” he said. We see and encounter Christ in the Eucharist.
“Our lives are meant to be a means by which the presence of God is revealed to all. That’s a pretty awesome thing,” he said. “We should be humbled that God loves us so much that he chooses us to share his life with us. In spite of our unworthiness, in spite of our doubts, God chooses to come and live in us and to reveal himself to the rest of the world.”
We gather day after day and every Sunday to celebrate our gift of faith, the bishop said.
“Thank you for what your parish is doing to help form people in the Eucharistic faith,” he said. “Through actions like this, God comes to us to transform us so we can be those living monstrances or living tabernacles to give witness for the world. With faith, we pray today so that through us, with us and in us, the presence of Christ can be revealed to our diocese and to the world.”