Earlier in the day ahead of an alcohol-soaked party celebrating my 22nd birthday I had the surprise gift to go to confession. I’m not sure if I mistakenly thought of this move as a preemptive strike or simply a graced occurrence when I needed all the spiritual help I could get. Either way, it was the right place to be. Even to this day when someone offers me a beer, I gleefully respond “No thanks, I drank enough in college to last me a lifetime.”
While I don’t remember a word of what I soberly said in the confessional that afternoon, I do remember what the priest said to me. And based on his response it must’ve been quite clear to him too that I was drowning not just in dreams of party time, but also in great spiritual need. He memorably shared with me that “there are two sacraments you can receive everyday if you wish: Eucharist and confession.”
This line stuck out to me for two reasons.
First, it would never have occurred to my unconverted young adult self to ever receive the Eucharist more than once a week and go to confession more than once or twice a year. When businesses aim to launch a product that meets the lowest standards of agreed upon acceptability they refer to it as their “minimum viable product.” At that point in my spiritual development, I was opting for something similar, a “minimum viable spiritual life.”
Second, like a pebble in my shoe, this comment embedded itself uncomfortably in my mind. It continually thrust a beautiful idea to the forefront of my thought: I never have to go a day, if I don’t want to, without the gift of eternal food for my earthly journey or the forgiveness and freedom of being in right relationship with God.
It wasn’t me coming to God that day in the confessional; it was God moving heaven and earth to meet me in that sacred space. And to deliver a message that I would not soon forget: He wants to always be available to me, and in the sacraments of Eucharist and confession, I can always find him.
After my conversion unfolded in the months and years that followed, I learned an important truth about all of the sacraments. They are each a “guaranteed encounter with Jesus Christ,” or so says Barbara Morgan, famed professor of Catechetics at Franciscan University of Steubenville. This mantra unlocks what I began to ponder that day in the confessional. I wasn’t just speaking to a man about my mistakes; I was being loved, in spite of my sin, by Jesus Christ, and being drawn into a deeper relationship with him in the sacraments. Every day, if I avail myself, he will mercifully meet me there.
I am reminded of my days at the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN, last July. Amidst powerful presentations, beautiful exhibits, glorious liturgies, and friends reuniting after many years, one idea persisted: Jesus Christ, fully present in the Eucharist, is on a mission.
I’m not sure why it took me so long to realize this, or why I thought the Eucharist was simply something transcendent, divine even, but static and stationary. No, every human heart was meant for the Eucharist, and Jesus, in the Eucharist, is on mission, partnering with the faithful to draw all men and women to his Eucharistic self.
Something is beautifully shifting in our Church. We are in a period of a Eucharistic sending. If you are a baptized Catholic, that includes you. Jesus is inviting you to join him on mission.
The list goes on and on. The above just happen to be some of the ways Jesus has invited me, in this last year after the Eucharistic Congress, to partner with him on mission.
What will you do to join in this Eucharistic sending?
With 25+ years of ministry experience with college students and young adults, Ryan O’Hara continues to serve the Church across the country through speaking, consulting, and podcasting. He has a B.A. in History from William Jewell College and an M.A. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame. Ryan and his wife Jill live in West St. Paul, MN, and are parents to four teenage and young adult sons.
Reprinted with permission from the Lumen Christi School of Evangelization, Diocese of Orange
