20 Marian Helper • SuMMer 2024 • Marian.org Iremember the moment like it was yesterday: my first Mass as a Catholic priest, when I would consecrate the bread and wine into the Holy Eucharist — the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was 15 years ago, on Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2009, in my home parish, St. John Neumann in Gaithersburg, Maryland (coincidentally the home parish of our newest Marian priest, Fr. Stephen Castellano, MIC). I was ordained to the priesthood the day before by Bishop Martin Holley. Now it was time to celebrate Mass by myself. The church was packed. But at the consecration, I was surrounded by a hush, like the quiet sweetness of a steady wind. I remember the power of the words I spoke, slowly. It was all suddenly made real. Of course, I was already a believer, thanks in large part to my parish, one of the first in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., to establish perpetual Eucharistic Adoration. Holding our Lord But now it was strikingly different. I felt the reality, looking in awe like a child at the Host that has become the Body and Blood of our Lord. I could see through the outward appearance of bread and wine that I was holding the Lord in my hands. It brought me back to my pre-ordination retreat at Mother Angelica’s shrine in Hanceville, Alabama, and the story of how she was inspired to build her monastery by the statue (above) of the Divino Niño — the Divine Child — in Colombia. The Infant Jesus is holding out His Sacred Heart, and there’s a cavity in His chest where His Heart should be. I felt the Lord very deeply touching my heart, as if to say, “This is a picture of what your priesthood is called to be.” And so at the consecration I am holding the Heart of God. I’m called to place my heart here with His Heart, and give His Heart to the people. In a word, wow. Yes, it was very emotional. And I can honestly say that, every day since for 15 years, whenever I celebrate Mass, the same feeling of awe and reverence and humility overcomes me. It has never, and will never, grow old. How could it possibly? Eucharistic Revival That is why it pains me, and my brother priests, to hear about the lack of reverence for the Eucharist, and the lack of understanding about the Real Presence. A feeling of sadness By Fr. Andy Davy, MIC THE WONDER OF THE EUCHARIST ‘Here, taKe My Heart’ The statue of the Divino Niño in Hanceville, Alabama.
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