I know I’m not alone in saying that one of the greatest struggles during this pandemic is an inability to attend Holy Mass and receive the great gift of the Eucharist. I hear these comments frequently from our parishioners as we suffer with one another. While this great longing for the Eucharist can bring about an even greater appreciation of this Sacrament, I also think there is even more we can gain.
 
While we are left without the Eucharist we are not left without Jesus. As John reminds us in His Gospel, Jesus is the Word become flesh who dwelt among us. The Son has always existed before He took on human flesh and is truly present in the Sacred Scriptures. This has what led many saints to proclaim that ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. Jesus Himself says, “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” While in the Eucharist we receive Jesus physically in His body and blood, soul, and divinity, Sacred Scripture is by no means less. We might be without the Sacraments during this time, but we are not left without God. God cannot be contained, but lives within each and everyone of us. We are all tabernacles of God and His Word.
 
God is also present in all three persons of the Trinity, not just God the Son present in the Eucharist. While we have a great appreciation of the Eucharist and the second person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit tends to be ignored and cast away as a foreign deity. But we need Him now more than ever. Jesus gave us the gift of the Eucharist, but He also gave us His Holy Spirit. We are not complete without them both.
 
The Holy Spirit is the life of the Christian Church. He consoles us in trials and difficult times like what we are now facing. He speaks through us as evangelizers. He gives us strength to live our Christian lives.
 
Not only that, but He is God Himself in the Third Person of the Trinity living within us. As much as we need the Eucharist, we also need God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus ascended into Heaven, but did not leave us alone. After the Ascension came Pentecost and this is considered the birth of the Church. This is when the apostles went from mere men, to people on fire to spread the word of God. This is when their lives caught fire and they received every spiritual gift they needed to pass down the faith we have today.
 
It's true, the Eucharist is vital to the Christian life and gives us strength, but I think now more than ever God is calling upon us to embrace the Holy Spirit and all that the Holy Spirit has to give us.
 
Also, embrace Sacred Scripture and all that God wants to speak to us through His Word. Our faith includes more than the Eucharist and now is the time to find God in all the ways He gives Himself to us.
 
I don’t want to downplay the longing we face during these times for God in the Eucharist, when this causes great suffering, but to remind us of how many places God is still available. We are not left alone. We are a people of hope and not discouragement. Discouragement never comes from God and is always to be resisted. God is still with us. Let us find Him now so that when we are blessed enough to once again receive the Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist, our hearts are prepared and strengthened more than ever before. Let us call upon the Holy Spirit to enkindle our hearts, renew the faith, and bring us closer to Him than ever before. Let us listen to the Word of God in our hearts. Let us find God in our very homes, our very lives, right where we are, and be filled with His love.