Cardinal Sarah on Counting Your Blessings

My fellow parishioners,

Well it would be an understatement to say that this has been a very strange week.  But despite the strangeness, life goes on at the parish.   The fathers continue to pray their morning breviary together, followed by morning meditation.  We each offer our daily masses.   We hear the confessions of the faithful who’ve arranged a time with us.  We pray the Rosary in common in the afternoons.  And we continue to prepare our sermons for the Sundays and Feasts.  As I write, Fr. Debow is busily working on his sermon for you for Passion Sunday.

We are also working on filming and uploaded the masses and rosaries and are experimenting on improving the sound quality.  The response from you has been encouraging.

I know that I had initially asked that you all consider a technology fast for Lent, but given the current circumstances, let’s take advantage of what it has to offer for our spiritual lives while at the same time not letting ourselves be too attached to screen time.   It’s important that you all get out of the house a bit, go for a walk, and attend to projects around the home.   We could all probably devote some time to “spring cleaning”.  It will help us avoid getting “stir crazy.”

We have been receiving many phone calls from people requesting Confession and have been accommodating the best we can to provide that sacrament in a safe environment.   We have two stations in the parish hall catechism rooms which are less confined than a regular confessional and which can be more easily cleaned and aired out while at the same time offering sufficient privacy.  You’ll be pleased to know that even though you need to make an appointment (to avoid too many people at once) that we have kneelers with screens so you can still be anonymous.   Others prefer to simply confess outside at the back porch of the hall, or by going for a walk with the priest around the block.   Don’t hesitate to contact us about an appointment.

With the help of three volunteers we managed to get all the Passion Sunday veils ironed and placed on all of the statues on Saturday.   Even though you are not able to be with us we feel it is important that the liturgical customs continue.  If you have not done this at home, I would encourage you to find ways to cover your main sacred images at least, in a spirit of penance.

Why in the end do we cover our sacred images on Passion Sunday?

There is an old adage that basically says that we don’t appreciate things sometimes until they are taken away from us.   It’s when they are taken away that we see how important they really were and how much we depended on them.

How true that is!

I have been reflecting on this ever since the restrictions on gatherings began to take place with this virus scare.  And now with the closure of the church even more so.

I think God is trying to tell us something.

That we have so often taken Him for granted.   Perhaps, like a good father who needs to teach his child a lesson on gratitude, our Father in heaven has decided to withdraw His consoling hand from us for a time, so that we better appreciate all that He provides to us ungrateful children.

We so much want to attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to receive Holy Communion.   To hear the choir and smell the incense.  To see the sacred liturgy in all its splendour.   To see the boys serving mass with reverence.  To meet up with our friends after mass.  But current circumstances prevent us from making this possible.

But remember that this privation of the good is an opportunity to redouble our sense of appreciation.  Because too often we “receive” the sacraments but forget to thank the Lord for them.

This is not a time simply to petition the Lord for a lifting of the current restrictions.   No.  This is a time to thank Him for all that we have received from Him in the past.   To doubly thank him for the gratuitous gift of Himself in the Holy Eucharist.  To make acts of reparation for all the times that we have received Him without even thanking Him.

How many Holy Communions have you received in your life?   Can you count them?   Think over the years how many times you have received Our Lord, how many Masses you’ve attended.  With all those Holy Communions we should all be saints.  The reality is that most of us aren’t.

Why is that?

It has to do with our dispositions.   And one of them is related to gratitude.   Let’s no longer approach confession and communion as a “revolving door”.    And let us especially not reduce the Holy Eucharist to a mere “right”.   It is not a “right” but rather a privilege.   A free gift of God.

We don’t deserve such a marvelous gift.

Cardinal Robert Sarah, in his recent book written in collaboration with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI entitled “From the Depths of Our Hearts”, makes reference to this aspect.  In that chapter he speaks of the error of ordaining married men to the priesthood in the Amazon on the argument that people have a “right” to the Eucharist.   Reflecting on the concept of reducing the Eucharist to a mere “right” he boldly says:

“The priesthood is a gift that is received as the Incarnation of the Word is received.  A community that was formed according to the idea of a “right to the Eucharist” would no longer be a disciple of Christ.  As its name indicates, the Eucharist is thanksgiving, a gratuitous gift, a merciful present.  The Eucharistic presence is received with wonder and joy as an unmerited gift.  Any believer who claims it is his due shows that he is incapable of understanding it.” 

(From the Depths of Our Hearts, ch. 2, p.75, Ignatius Press, 2020). 

What a statement !

Have we perhaps reduced the reception of the sacraments, at least in our perceptions, to a mere right, especially now?  Have we perhaps lost our sense of wonder and appreciation for the gift of God?   Have we forgotten that in the end we don’t deserve this gift?

This is not a time to organize protest rallies or petitions or angry letters to our Archbishop, priests or superiors.  What will that accomplish for your own soul?

This is a rather a time to count your blessings.  Because God has been so good to us.  And now perhaps we are being punished for our lack of gratitude.

What do we give Him in return for this gift of this cross in Lent?

Will you let Him form you in the virtues of patience and reparation through it, or are you going to let yourself become bitter because of it ?

The choice is yours.

Our Lord says:

“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)   

And St. Paul says:

“And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.” (Rom. 8: 28). 

In the end it’s about trust.   And don’t forget what Our Lord said:

“For where there are two or three gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  (Matthew 18:20)

Our Lord has not abandoned you.  If you pray the Rosary as a family, He will be there in the midst of you.  Keep praying, make a daily spiritual communion, and you will weather this storm in peace.

A prayer for spiritual communion can be found below.

We are praying for you!  We’ll see this through !  And thank-you again for your prayers because we need them !

In Christo,
Fr. Erik Deprey, FSSP
Pastor

Prayer of Spiritual Communion:

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love you above all things, and I desire to receive you into my soul.

Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.

I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you.

Amen.