Christ, the Medicine of Immortality

At the Pro Deo et Patria blog, Bill Cork blogs this about a bad editorial concerning the Holy Father's latest encyclical, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, by an ex-Catholic named Mark Marek, which aired on WLSH, a radio station in Lansford, Pennsylvania.

I have already now run into many people, many of them Catholics, who do not get the point of this encyclical. Their sole exposure to the encyclical is through secular media reports, and they always end up saying, "This isn't what the Church needs now!" as though the Church should no longer be willing to stand up for the Truth and the continuing call of the Gospel in spite of his human brokenness.

This is _exactly_ what the Church needs now! The problem of priestly sexual abuse is more than just a physical problem, it is a spiritual problem. And the effects are not just physical, they are also spiritual. In order to heal, we need to get our focus back on Christ. It must be back on living the Gospel. And for us Catholics, the Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation are ways in which God gives us the grace to answer His daily call and enhance our relationship with Him and with each other. As Bill correctly notes, the Eucharist is the "bread of life" and the "medicine of immortality" and we should never forget this.

The Holy Father knows this. And yet he also knows the terrible state that proper catechesis concerning the Eucharist and Reconciliation is in. Giving us the proper focus, allowing us to more fully understand the depth of the power and mystery of grace, the Holy Father is doing what a true shepherd does - he leads us back to Christ, the Good Shepherd. He leads us to forgiveness, reconciliation, and nourishment offered to us in the sacraments.

I ask those who feel that the time "isn't right" for the encyclical to first read the encyclical. Then I ask them, if not this, what is it time for? To toss aside the medicine of immortality for better PR? Christ never refuses someone without offering an invitation and a challenge for conversion. Our Holy Father invites those with grave sin in their life to experience and embrace the grace of forgiveness offered in Christ through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so they can be disposed by grace to cooperate with that which Christ gives us in the gift of Himself in the Holy Eucharist.

And as members of the Body of Christ, let us not bow out at the challenge to stand up and keep running the good race, fighting the good fight, and witnessing to the world the power and beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.