Few things are so moving as a group of children making their First Communion. It brings back vivid memories of our own childhood innocence…
Just a few days after receiving the Sacrament of Penance – often with more earnestness than many adults – their souls are purified, if it was necessary, and made as white as on the day of their Baptism, so that Jesus might find them similar to Him. Then, the great day arrives, creating among the children much expectation, which can be observed in their attentive gaze, their surprising degree of recollection and in the prayers expressed in the silence of their innocent hearts. Finally, they present themselves before the altar to receive their King and Lord in the greatest of Sacraments – He enters to dwell their souls and begin a deep friendship with them, one that, with the help of grace, may last for their whole lives, culminating in Eternity!
On this momentous occasion, which all of us Catholics remember with true emotion, abundant graces from Heaven are granted, and the ineffable presence of God Himself for the first time in our interior makes a profound impression on us.
Is it possible to interpret this incomparable manifestation of God’s mercy in a sense that is alien to its true meaning, thus disfiguring the concept of the reception of the Body and Blood of the Lord? Let’s be careful neither to forget nor to distort the true significance of what happened on the day of our First Communion…and which is repeated every time we desire and are prepared to receive the good Lord. ..Read more…
