When you enter the church, what’s the most
important, or rather the most sacred, in the sanctum sanctorum? Is it the
statue of Mother Mary or St Alphonsa or St George? “No, it’s not,” says Rev Fr
Wilson Kannanaikkal, a preacher with over 25 years of priestly experience.
For an outsider, it’s just a piece of bread.
It doesn’t make sense for him. “But the fact is that it’s Jesus which is
present in the bread. “Your eyes should focus on the Holy Eucharist… not on the
statues of Mother Mary or St Teresa. You must surrender yourself completely to Jesus
in the Eucharist,” says Rev Fr Wilson who conducted a three-day retreat in
Little Flower Church, Nerul, Navi Mumbai.
Eucharist is a mystery. You have to believe in
this mystery first, the most challenging and adventurous belief.
When Rev Fr Wilson was serving in a parish in
Kerala, a nun told him about visiting a church in a place called Pathanamthitta
which is about 125 kms away from his parish, to see a Eucharistic miracle.
“Why should we go there?” the priest asked.
“People saw the image of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist in a church there,”
the nun said. Rev Fr Wilson nearly fell off his chair. “I was shocked,
surprised and angry. The bread becomes the body of Christ during the Holy Mass.
Holy Eucharist is the body of Christ in all the churches where Holy Mass is
conducted,” said Rev Fr Wilson.
“When I say the Holy Mass in my church, the
bread becomes the body of Jesus. Why should I go to Pathanamthitta to see that
miracle. I’m experiencing it every day,” Rev Fr Wilson said. The poor nun
actually failed to fully understand Holy Eucharist. Here the actual substance of the bread and wine
is changed into the body and blood of Christ, but the physical aspects or
outward appearances of the bread and wine remain as before. This is called
transubstantiation. Several miracles of Eucharist turning into flesh have also
been reported from around the world.
Narrating another incident relating to the
ignorance about Eucharist, Rev Fr Wilson said, “a 58-year old nun attended a
one-week retreat. After the retreat, she came to me and said… ‘I experienced
Jesus through Holy Eucharist for the first time during the retreat.’ Remember,
for nearly 50 years she was receiving Holy Communion without the full
understanding that it was the body of Jesus Christ.”
Believers are taking it for granted.
“Surrender fully to Jesus. Show total commitment to Holy Eucharist. Then your
life will change,” Rev Fr Wilson said. “But most of us go to the church like
beggars. We have a list of demands. We want all our demands to be met. And we
don’t show any commitment to the Holy Eucharist.”
Don’t fight with God… you
can’t win
Can you fight with God? You can’t… and you
shouldn’t fight with God. If you fight with God, you can’t win.
People leave a church over piddling issues.
“It may be a small issue like the parish committee rejecting your proposal on
something. Then you walk out in a huff. Remember that you are walking away from
the Eucharist… from real Jesus,” he says.
He says this is like fighting with God. “When
somebody walks out in this manner, you (fellow parishioners) should try to
convince that person and bring him back. If he still doesn’t come back, then
leave where he is,” says Rev Fr Wilson.
Ditto
is the case when a person jumps from the church to another religious group.
“You’re then fighting with God… and going into the darkness,” he says.
“People who say that God doesn’t exist are also
fighting with God. It’s their arrogance that comes out when they fight with
God,” Rev Fr Wilson said.
“There’re some people who
have no time for God and church. They are always busy. But when a major crisis
happens in their families, they turn to God,” he said. Narrating an incident,
he said, “when a ‘busy’ businessman fell sick he went to a doctor. The doctor
said they will have to do a biopsy. He was on his knees praying for the next 15
days till the biopsy result came.” If he was on his knees before God earlier,
he wouldn’t have encountered this ordeal.
