The Blessing
The blessing cannot be undone.
For a moment I prayed and wondered if that could be taken back: that whole moment over a decade ago when then Cardinal McCarrick came to visit our small Catholic high school renamed after him some years before. He celebrated Mass for us and we received Jesus at his word and from his hands. After the Mass, at the back of the church, I knelt to receive his blessing as bishop and cardinal of the Church I love and reverence. I had peace and received the blessing with great joy. I was honored and humbled.
As I reflected recently on the report of the now laicized Theodore McCarrick and the painful realization of the depths of human sin, even among those called to lead the Church, I wanted to take that moment back. I wanted to undo his blessing. I wanted to go back in time and instead of kneeling before him, I would stand to accuse him of what I now know. I felt my anger boiling.
Yet, the Lord reminded me: the blessing cannot be undone. “The gifts and calling of God are irrevocable,” was the reminder of St. Paul to the community in Rome (Romans 11:29). And this stark truth consoled me somehow. The Lord blessed me then through the sinful yet anointed hands of his priest and bishop and I can’t give that back.
This happens every time we go to Mass. The priest, a human being and sinner like all of us, stands in as Christ, by the Lord’s mercy, and makes an offering of all of us to the Father. He takes the bread and the wine and prays as Christ that these simple offerings would become the Body, and Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Savior.
It doesn’t stop there! This same priest can then come forward and bring us Christ in this humble form so that we may receive him into our very bodies and there adore and invite the Lord to draw us deeper into communion with Him. All of this happens through a priest, who is a sinner and wounded like me.
Growing up, I once asked my dad, “Why does Jesus remain in the Eucharist when there are sacrileges done against Him?” His response to me has been a steady reminder that our God is a loving and humble God. My dad said, “Hija (daughter), did Christ come down from the Cross when He was being crucified? So too, He stays in the Eucharist even when He is treated without love or reverence”.
The Lord stays.
He doesn’t leave because the minister is not worthy enough or because we who are praying the Mass are not attentive enough. The Lord doesn’t regret time spent with us even if we wished we were elsewhere. He doesn’t withhold His blessing from us even when we half-heartedly or mindlessly make the sign of the Cross as the priest pronounces the final blessing. The Lord still blesses us and the blessing cannot be undone.
Grace and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.