Holy Communion & Bells
Fr. Daniel J. Deutsch

Which of these statements would you agree with?

1) When receiving Holy Communion, you are “really and truly receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the appearance of bread and wine.”

2) When receiving Holy Communion, you are “receiving bread and wine, which symbolize the spirit and teachings of Jesus, and in so doing are expressing your attachment to His person and His words.”

3) When receiving Holy Communion, you are “receiving bread and wine in which Jesus is really and truly present.”

4) When receiving Holy Communion, you are “receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, which has become that because of your personal belief.”

Did you know that only the first option is true Catholic belief? All the others are incorrect. In a recent Gallup poll, only 30% of Catholics agreed with that first option. Everyone else picked from the other three. Needless to say, the results of the survey have startled and alarmed Catholic educators. They ought to alarm all of us as well. The Eucharist is the center of our lives. The Scriptures are clear that what we receive in the Eucharist is Jesus - not His spirit, not His memory, not His ghostly presence, but the real Christ. The early Christians believed this with a passion. Throughout the centuries incorrect beliefs about the Eucharist sprang up occasionally. However, the Church remained firm in her belief that, though the bread looked like bread and tasted like bread, though the wine looked like wine and tasted like wine, they were no longer bread and wine. Once these elements had been consecrated at Mass, their substance - their very essence - changed and they became the Body and Blood of Christ: Jesus Christ truly present under the appearances of bread and wine.

If 70% of our Catholics are confused on this issue, our very spirituality and vitality as a faith is at risk. My experience at Holy Cross suggests that we are doing great at understanding the true nature of Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist. However, some people I serve may not really know what they are receiving. Many people may simply come up in the Communion line because it is what everyone else is doing. In some way, we should always be trying to renew our belief in the Eucharist. In some way, we should always be trying to become more aware once again that WHEN WE GO TO HOLY COMMUNION, WE RECEIVE OUR GOD.

One of the things that we can do is what the Church has always done in times of crises of belief: refocus our attention on the crucial belief that people are confused about. Nearly a thousand years ago, people had trouble believing that the Host was Christ, and so the Church put in the elevation of the Host and Chalice at Mass to focus people’s attention and the bells were rung at the Consecration to remind people of the fact that Christ was now in their midst in a special way. From now on, at our Masses at Holy Cross, the bells will be rung again at the Consecration to remind all of us that Christ has become present in the Eucharist under the appearances of bread and wine-really and truly present. Many I know will welcome the return of the bells. Some will question it. But we all have to admit that if the bells remind us of this central fact of our Faith, then something wonderful will have occurred. We will remember the awesome nature of this Sacrament and, when we receive Holy Communion, we will realize that having received our God, our lives need to change, our lives need to be more holy, and that only Christ’s Body and Blood will set us free to live with Him forever.