GOD DWELLING AMONG US
“My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD, who make Israel holy, when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.” - Ezekiel 37: 26-28
If you know me, you know that I am in love with the Eucharist! I am absolutely obsessed with Jesus, completely alive, in the Eucharist!!! I’m currently in the process of a 33-day consecration to the Eucharist which has made me reflect on how I got to this point. Growing up, I remember very little about what I was taught about the Eucharist in CCD. I remember someone telling me to look down when the priest lifts up the Body of Christ because that was when transubstantiation happened - which made me scared to look up. Receiving communion was something I did solemnly but without understanding, while repeating in my mind, “right under left, right under left” to make sure I was properly arranging my hands. Then I’d step to the side, pause, and place the host on my tongue to dissolve, because I was told whatever you do, you should never chew.
Coming back to the Church after 20 years, I have come to learn that my foggy childhood memories were not a solid foundation for encountering Jesus in the Eucharist. Last year, I went into a church while adoration was taking place, which was something I hadn’t experienced before. When I saw the Eucharist in the monstrance for the first time, I felt like I was hit with a sonic boom of holiness: I knew in my soul that I was in the real presence of God.
In today’s first reading, God says, “My dwelling shall be with them.” For me, this scripture calls to mind the image of a tabernacle, His sanctuary set up among us, enclosing the beating heart of Jesus in every church. Ya’ll! He has fulfilled this promise! He is dwelling with us in the Eucharist!
Receiving communion for me now is an encounter with Jesus, who by unfathomable grace, isn’t content with me adoring Him from afar, but instead, desires to make his dwelling in my heart. How can I even describe the miraculous wonder that God wants me and you and all of His children to be His sanctuary, His dwelling place forever? I still don’t quite know what to do with this fact, as I feel incredibly unworthy and in utter shock that I am able to consume the very same God who created me. And yet, this truth is the greatest treasure of my life. I don’t have to wait until Heaven to be with God, because He gives Himself completely to us now in the Eucharist.
God let me be your monstrance that you may radiate your merciful love through my soul. Grant me the eyes of faith to encounter your true presence in the Eucharist, to allow you to make me holier so that I may receive you more worthily, and to be a sanctuary for you to dwell and delight in, forever. Amen.
Martin Vitorino