Being a priest, I have been blessed to be able to celebrate Mass and receive Holy Communion each day and so I am guessing that my experience of the government shutdown of our churches is different than the experience of those who had no access to the Sacraments the last few months. The Eucharist is one of the most important things in my life and I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to receive it each day.
And yet, that is exactly what so many people experienced these past weeks. Some, myself included, never thought we would see a day, at least not in this country, when the government would prevent people from going to Church and (most) bishops remaining silent as their people were spiritually starving, not fighting for the church to be considered "essential." This all still seems so unbelievable.
But this past weekend here in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we were once again able to open our Church doors and celebrate Holy Mass with our parishioners. And I couldn't think of a more appropriate, fitting and symbolic day than Pentecost Sunday to reopen. Pentecost is that day in which the Holy Spirit came down upon our Blessed Mother and the Apostles and gave them the courage, strength and grace to go out into the world and be witnesses of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection. Pentecost was a day of great joy for the Church as it was for us to be able to experience a sort of "New Pentecost" and encounter the Holy Spirit in a profound way.
Many people shared with me their feelings about being in the Church again and being able to receive Holy Communion. It might seem a bit extreme, but I must say, it was one of the happiest days of my priesthood to see people so filled with joy and hope and peace. On the final weekend in which we were able to have public Mass, I told the people of the pious expression that priests are often reminded of, "To celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass, your last Mass and your only Mass!" I was trying to convey to my parishioners that we should never take the Mass and the Sacraments for granted, because one day, we might not be able to have access to them.
I will say, that in addition to having public Masses again, what made this weekend so beautiful is that I realized that I had been taking something for granted, and that is the great privilege of being able to give people Jesus when I distribute Holy Communion. Normally I would give Communion to hundreds of people each weekend and sometimes it is easy to forget exactly what it is that I am doing at that part of the Mass; we actually give people Jesus!
Watching the majority of parishioners receive with profound devotion, piety and emotion was such a blessed experience for me as a priest. Seeing how much my parishioners love Jesus in the Eucharist gives me great hope. Yes, our crowds were smaller than usual as many are still filled with some apprehension about being in large crowds, but what was clear to me was the deep hunger that people had for the Blessed Sacrament.
I know it wasn't easy to put all of the social distancing guidelines in place and logistically it was a challenge for many priests, but in my opinion, it was all worth it to see the joy on people's faces to receive Holy Communion.
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