The priest who saved the Blessed Sacrament in the Notre-Dame de Paris fire

On 17 April Fr John Zuhlsdorf posted on Fr.Z's Blog a video interview with Fr Jean-Marc Fournier, a chaplain to the firefighters of Paris. Fr Fournier told of how he rescued the Crown of Thorns and the Blessed Sacrament. Fr Zuhlsdorf translated what Fr Fournier said in French.

Here is an extract, with my emphasis added.

Everybody understands that the Crown of Thorns is an absolutely unique and extraordinary relic, but the Blessed Sacrament is Our Lord, really present in his body, soul, divinity and humanity and you understand that it is hard to see someone you love perish in the blaze. As firefighters we often see casualties from fire and we know its effects, this is why I sought to preserve above all the real presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fr Fournier was telling clearly what the Church has always taught: in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by the power of the Holy Spirit acting through the priest, the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of the Risen Lord. 

John Lambert R. Minimo

This story reminded me of an article I edited and published in the July-August 2016 issue of MISYONonline.com, the Columban magazine in the Philippines of which I was editor from 2002 until 2017, Saving the Blessed Sacrament. This was written by a graduating student in the University of the East, Manila, John Lambert R. Minimo, when a fire destroyed the university chapel.

First Holy Communion in Croatia [Wikipedia]

'I am the living bread that came down from heaven.' Sunday Reflections, Corpus Christi, Year A

Main Altar, Monastery of Miraflores, Burgos, Spain

Gil de Siloe [Web Gallery of Art]

For Readings and Reflections for Corpus Christi, Year A,  click on the following: 

Corpus Christi, Year A

For places that celebrate Corpus Christi on Thursday, 15 June, you will find the readings for the Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, here.

St Norbert in Adoration, Martin Pepijn [Web Gallery of Art]

'You forgot to genuflect!'

I came across the video above last week while looking for a version of the hymn O, Sacrament Most Holy to include in an article I was editing for MISYONonline.com, the Columban magazine here in the Philippines of which I am editor.

In the article, Saving the Blessed Sacrament, a young Filipino, John Lambert Minimo, tells how he was able to take the Blessed Sacrament to a safe place after a fire at University of the East (UE) Manila, from which he had just graduated, had badly damaged the chapel.

I presume the video above was made somewhere in North America, though most of the scouts are clearly of East Asian ancestry.

There's  a scene at 0:13 that reminds me of something that happened to me shortly after my First Holy Communion in 1950. It was probably a First Friday, when we would be brought to the semi-public chapel pf the Irish Sisters of Charity, Stanhope Street, Dublin, for confession. Fr Henry Cunningham, one of four curates (assistant priests) in our parish, Holy Family, Aughrim Street, was usually the priest who heard our confessions.

Most of the boys had already gone back to our classroom and only five or six of us were left. When we were leaving the chapel, for some reason I genuflected towards the door, not towards the tabernacle. As we were walking back to the classroom the other boys told me that they would report me to Sister Stanislaus, the principal of the Boys' Kindergarten School. She had prepared us for our First Confession and First Holy Communion. Not wishing to be reported, I went back to the chapel and genuflected to the Blessed Sacrament in the tabernacle. 

I had learned an important lesson.

In the video a young scout coming from the direction of the altar sits down on the pew without genuflecting. His companion says something to him and the youngster then genuflects before they exchange places. I take it that the older one said to him, You forgot to genuflect!

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, UE chapel before fire

I have noticed over the years that fewer and fewer people bother to genuflect even some who go to daily Mass. The General Instruction on the Roman Missal describes genuflection this way: A genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore it is reserved for the Most Blessed Sacrament, as well as for the Holy Cross from the solemn adoration during the liturgical celebration on Good Friday until the beginning of the Easter Vigil (No 274).

But it is the centuries-old practice in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, to which most of us belong, to genuflect when we come into a church or chapel where the Blessed Sacrament is present, and to genuflect when we leave. This is an act of adoration, a profound expression of faith in the presence of Jesus the Risen Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. (In Japan, in some other countries and in the Cistercian Order a profound bow is made instead of a genuflection.)

St Norbert in Adoration, Marten Pepijn, 1637. 
Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp [Web Gallery of Art]

'The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.' Sunday Reflections, Corpus Christi Year A

The Institution of the Eucharist, Federico Fiori Barocci, 1609

Basilica di Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome [Web Gallery of Art]

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is on the Universal Calendar of the Church for the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, this year 19 June, and is a holy day of obligation. However, in the Philippines and in many other countries it has been transferred to the following Sunday.

Readings (New American Bible: Philippines, USA)

Readings (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, India [optional], Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland, South Africa)  [This link is to the readings for the Vigil Mass and for the Mass on Sunday]

Gospel John 6:51-58  (New Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, Canada) 

Jesus said to the Jews:

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.  Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.  Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

Corpus Christi Procession, Bamberg, Germany [Wikipedia]

Twenty years ago, when I was a parish priest in Mindanao, one of our volunteer catechists came to me one Saturday afternoon and said, 'My father would like to receive the Bread of Life'. She told me that though he was gravely ill he was fully conscious and so I prepared to to hear his confession, celebrate the Sacrament of the Sick with him  and to give him Holy communion.

On the way to the house I learned that the sick man had been married three times, having been widowed twice. When I arrived there were children from his three marriages and grandchildren from at least two. All who were present gathered around, except when I was hearing the man's confession. He was fully alert, knew he was near the end of his life and participated joyfully.

At the very end I asked some of the family to lay hands on him as we said a final prayer. However, the dying man turned this into something far more beautiful. He took one of his grandchildren, an infant only a few months old, and embraced it. Then he embraced each of his children and grandchildren in turn.

There was a tangible sense of joy about the house and afterwards the family served me a snack. This is not the usual practice when the priest makes a sick call.

The following morning, Sunday, the catechist came to tell me that her father had died during the night.

What really struck me was the fact that the dying man had asked for 'The Bread of Life'.

Today's feast, the Solemnity of Corpus Christ, is a celebration of the Body of Christ as the Bread of Life. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. These words of Jesus caused many to walk away - because they understood what he was saying, but couldn't accept it. Others could and did.

Catholics believe, in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) No 1374, In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist 'the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained the Body and Blood, soul and divinity' of Christ'.

Perpetual Adoration, Chihuahua Cathedral, Mexico [Wikipedia]

The CCC clearly states in No 1376 what the Church teaches: The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: 'Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly his body that he was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, and this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood. This change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly called transubstantiation.'

The Catechism goes on to explain in Nos 1378 and 1379 two developments in the life of the Church: In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. 'The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession.'

The tabernacle was first intended for the reservation of the Eucharist in a worthy place so that it could be brought to the sick and those absent outside of Mass. As faith in the real presence of Christ in his Eucharist deepened, the Church became conscious of the meaning of silent adoration of the Lord present under the Eucharistic species. It is for this reason that the tabernacle should be located in an especially worthy place in the church and should be constructed in such a way that it emphasizes and manifests the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

There is an intimacy and a real 'communion' between people when they are together in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, whether they are just 'dropping in' to be in the presence of the Lord for a while or engaged in a more solemn form of adoration when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, such as in the photo above taken in Mexico. And no matter where in the world we are, we are in the presence of the same Lord, Jesus Christ, Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God who became Man.

Tabernacle, Dietfurt, Germany [Wikipedia]

I recall when I studied for a year in Toronto, Canada, in 1981-82 being inspired, when I used to visit a particular chapel of adoration, by the presence of university students, men and women, some spending long periods in prayer. I remember staying on a number of occasions in a home for children run by Sisters in Iriga City, in the Bicol Region of the Philippines, to see young boys and girls, all of them from a background of brokenness of one kind or another, praying in perfect silence before the Blessed Sacrament as they waited for Mass to begin.

So the Bread of Life is kept in the tabernacle of a church for two purposes: to enable the priest or an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion bring the Blessed Sacrament to someone who is sick and to allow people to adore Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.

It is customary for priests in parishes to bring Holy Communion to sick parishioners on the First Friday of each month. Pope Francis has spoken of the need for priests in particular to 'know the smell of the sheep'. When a priest brings Holy Communion to a sick person he often enough encounters the smell of illness, of poverty. And yet he is bringing the Saviour himself, the Bread of Life to someone who takes him at his word: I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Irish poet Seán Ó Liocháin captures something of this, of the journey of the Lord from the tabernacle to the home of a sick person, using whatever transport is available, in his poem An Chéad Aoine, 'The First Friday'. [The not very poetic English translation is mine.]

An Chéad Aoine The First Friday

le/by Seán Ó Liocháin

Nuair a tháinig an sagart

When the priest came
chuig m’athair inniu,

to my father today
mar a thagann de ghnáth

as he usually comes
i dtús na míosa,

at the start of the month
le lón na beatha

with the food of life
                     a thabhairt d’fhear                    t

to give to a man
nach bhfágann an chlúid

who’s been bed-ridden
in aon chor le tamall,

for some time now,
ní hé an gnás ab ait liom féin.

It wasn't the ritual that was strange to me.

     me.                                       

Ní hé ba mhó

What really
ba bhun le m’iontas

caused my wonder wasn't
fear dá chlú,

a man of such repute,
dá chleacht, dá éirim

of such experience, of such learning
ar cuairt na sean

visiting the old
i dtús na míosa

at the beginning of the month
le comhairle a leasa

with good counsel
a chur ar dhream

to give to those
nach bhfágfadh clúid na haithrí choíche,
who would never leave the cover of repentance again,
ach Críost a theacht

but Christ coming
i gcarr athláimhe

in a second-hand car
a cheannaigh an sagart

the priest bought
ó fhear i Ros Comáin.

from a man in Roscommon.

Ford Escort, European model (1974-80). [Wikipedia]

Antiphona ad introitum   Entrance Antiphon   Cf. Psalm 80:17

Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti, [alleluia],

et de petra melle saturavit eos, [alleluia, alleluia, alleluia]. 

[Exultate Deo adiutori nostro: iubilate Deo Jacob.

Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritu Sancto:

sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper. Amen.

Cibavit eos ex adipe frumenti, alleluia,

et de petra melle saturavit eos, alleluia, alleluia, alleluia].

He fed them with the finest wheat, [alleluia],

and satisfied them with honey from the rock, [alleluia, alleluia, alleluia].

[Sing joyfully to God our strength: acclaim the God of Jacob.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.]

The texts in [squared brackets] are from the fuller version of the Entrance Antiphon used in the Extraordinary Form of the Mass, ie, as in the Missal promulgated by Pope St John XXIII in 1962, an updating of the Missal used since the Council of Trent. In Summorum Pontificum, issued in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the celebration of the 'Old Mass' or 'Tridentine Mass', using the term 'Extraordinary Form' for it and 'Ordinary Form' for the Mass as it has been widely celebrated since 1969.

A setting of the Entrance Antiphon by an anonymous composer.

From Sacrosanctum Concilium, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, proclaimed by Pope Paul VI during Vatican II:

116. The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.

But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations, so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action, as laid down in Art. 30.

Poll: many Asian Youth don't understand Eucharist

John Paul II, World Youth Day, Manila, 1995

CBCP News, the newsagency of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, reported yesterday that a poll shows that many Asian youth don't understand the Eucharist.

I'm not surprised by this. I find that many older people, not only in the Philippines, but in Ireland and elsewhere, seem to lack an awareness that the bread and wine brought up at the offertory of the Mass becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. I frequently hear Catholics referring to the Precious Blood as 'the wine'. Very few seem to genuflect when the enter a church.

The five recent Sundays when the Gospel reading was taken from John 6 was an opportunity to teach people the basics, an opportunity that I took. I also heard Archbishop Charles J, Chaput OFM Cap of Denver do the same in his homilies during that period and which can be heard online.

A couple of years ago when I did the same one Sunday in the parish where I now go home to in Ireland. Afterwards a man around my own age came to me and thanked me.

Here is the CBCP News report:

MANILA, Sept 2, 2009—In this modern age, still many young Asian Catholics do not fully understand what the Eucharist is all about, according to a survey.

This situation has served as an “eye opener” for the Catholic hierarchy to make theological and pastoral reflections on the Eucharist and the young faithful.

The poll, they said, also provided them a more “factual look” at the youth who are not just the future of the Church “but the hope of the present.”

Initiated by the Youth Desk of the Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences (FABC), the survey showed how young people have taken the Eucharist out of context.

In the 1, 033 youth respondents aged 15 to 35 from 12 Asian countries including the Philippines, 30 percent believe that it protects them from harm and 17 percent think that it is a mean to obtain luck.

Infanta Bishop Rolando Tirona, however, said the result should not be a cause alarm because a bulk of those surveyed has a “tremendous” appreciation of the Mass.

“Majority of them or 65 percent believe that they are receiving the body of Christ in Holy Communion,” the survey said.

Also, half of the respondents have recognized that the Eucharist “help them grown in their relationship with God.”

The Youth Desk was organized under the Office of the Laity, chaired by Bishop Tirona, as the official arm of FABC that responds to the needs and concerns of Asian youth.
Little influence

While majority of them claimed of actively participating and have ‘adequate’ understanding in the Eucharist, still some said it really doesn’t have much weight into their daily lives.

“Though young Catholics generally rated themselves as adequate in terms of their understanding(2.2 mean rating) and average in their participation (7.06 mean rating ) in the Eucharist, they also revealed that it has had a very little influence on their daily activities (1.97 mean rating),” the survey showed.

Only 0.6 percent of Asian Catholic youth acknowledge the parish as their source of information and understanding on the Eucharist and more than 50 percent claimed to have known through “personal readings”.

When asked about their reasons for attending the Mass, majority expressed their desire to worship, give thanks and pray.

“This has more weight compared to the community dimension and the formative component that the Mass offers,” the FABC said.

“61% of the respondents maintain that silence before the Eucharist helps them to prepare for the celebration. There may be a need however, to support them in preparing through reflection on the Sunday readings (33%) going on a Eucharistic fast (37%) and going to confession (33%),” it added.

Challenge

Bishop Tirona said what the Church now wants to do if for the young faithful realized that the Eucharist is a “very powerful force” that can move them to be “agents of transformation.”

“That is the challenge,” said the chairman of FABC’s Office of the Laity.

One way of doing this, according to him, is for the Church to come up with a “creative liturgy”.
In other words, he added, the celebration of the Mass should speak to the young people.

AYD: A catalyst

The survey book was launched during the 9th FABC plenary assembly last August 2009 at the Pope Pius XII Catholic Center in Manila.

It is hoped that the study may be considered in evaluating catechesis for the young as well as pastoral programs that aim to instill a “Eucharistic spirituality” among them.

The survey will also serve as a major resource paper to be used in the upcoming Asian Youth Day to be held in the Diocese of Imus from November 20 to 30, 2009.

“We hope that this event would serve as a catalyst,” Bishop Tirona said. “We really want them to help the Church in its mission to transform.”

San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Roberto Mallari said Asian Youth Day is a pilgrimage of faith, where young people from diverse backgrounds meet and experience the love of God.

“We wanted to bring together young Catholics from Asia to celebrate and learn about their faith on a more regular basis,” he said.

He said the Catholic festival is a way to reach out to the next generation of Catholics and ensure that the core teachings of Christ are transmitted and lived. (Roy Lagarde)

World Youth Day, Manila, 1995, Closing Mass

Tabernacle in Mariukirkjan, the Church of Mary, Torshavn, the only Catholic church in the Faroe Islands. Designed by Ole Jacob Nielsen, a parishioner.

I came across an article on Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on KATÓLSKA KIRKJEN, Tórshavn, Føroyar (Faroe Islands), the website of the tiny Catholic community there. It teaches the basics.

COME, LET US ADORE HIM!

On the last Sunday of each month, there is Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in the parish church (Mariukirkjan) between three and six o´clock in the afternoon, followed by Evening Prayer (Vespers) in Faroese. When the Wise Men followed the star to Bethlehem after the birth of Jesus, they fell down on their knees when they saw the child with his mother and adored him. Every time we hear about people in the Bible meeting God, we are told that they fall on their faces and adore God. Adoration is the reaction of a believer in an encounter with the almighty God.

Once, many years ago, a mother told me that she came into a Catholic church with her seven or eight-year-old son. They went to the tabernacle, where the Real Presence of Jesus under the form of consecrated Bread is kept. The boy threw himself down spontaneously in front of the Blessed Sacrament. The mother got embarrassed and looked around her to see if anyone had seen it. I asked her: “What did you feel?”. She replied: “I wanted to do the same, but didn´t dare!”

Jesus shows us his great love by making his dwelling amongst us under the form of bread, which is reserved in the tabernacle in the Catholic church: “And look, I am with you always; yes, to the end of time” (Matthew 28:20).

Why is Jesus really present in our Catholic churches in this way? In order to draw everyone to himself in a very “earthly” way. It is a place where we can go and meet Jesus today. The church is his dwelling, not just when we gather for Mass or prayer services, but all the time. The church is a holy place, because it is God´s house on earth.

We, Catholics, believe with all our heart, that the bread and wine really change during Mass to the Body and Blood of Jesus. The Bread is therefore the sign of Jesus´ real presence also after Mass. Faith in Jesus´ Sacramental and Real Presence has been deeply anchored in the hearts of Catholics for hundreds of years, with the result that we not only gather around him during Mass, but also have Adoration in front of the exposed Sacrament or privately seek him in the church for our personal prayer in front of the tabernacle.

There is a story about a priest who once came into a country church and saw an old man sitting quietly before the tabernacle at the altar. The priest had noticed him before. He asked him: What are you doing?” He answered. “I look at him and he looks at me, and then we ´re happy”. That is faith!

Benediction in Mariukirjan, Tórshavn

The individual and communal adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a continuation of the Mass. It is as if we can never stop being together with Jesus whom we meet during Mass.

Just as it is Jesus himself (and not the priest) who invites us to come to Mass and to his table, it is also he who invites us to pay him a visit in the church during the day or during the course of the week.

The monthly adoration in our church is an invitation from the Lord to be together with him in order to receive his love and to adore him as our God. Come, therefore, as often as possible, even if it´s only for part of the time. Non-Catholics are also welcome!

It is the Church´s ancient tradition to close each day with Evening Prayer (Vespers), which is the liturgical evening prayer service. It is prayed daily in convents, but many parish churches also pray, for example, on Sunday, just as there are many lay people who pray it privately and unite themselves with the whole church in the daily praise of our Triune God. Therefore, we end Adoration with Evening prayer, so that our parish can also be united in this worldwide fellowship of prayer.