Here I owned Thy Presence

ESUS IS TRULY PRESENT in the Blessed Sacrament, under the appearance of bread and wine. Really present. He sees you, He hears you. We should be on our knees in His Presence. It is right and just (as in justice) to adore Him.

Don’t take my word for it, read the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #282:

Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist in a unique and incomparable way. He is present in a true, real and substantial way, with his Body and his Blood, with his Soul and his Divinity. In the Eucharist, therefore, there is present in a sacramental way, that is, under the Eucharistic species of bread and wine, Christ whole and entire, God and Man.

Somewhere, somehow, I learned this. I can’t remember where first, but I remember coming back many times the enormity of this mystery. A mystery is a truth we cannot fully understand. Not that we just throw up our hands in despair and abandon the idea. A mystery is something we can keep coming back to and still get something more. An all you can eat buffet of spiritual meditation for the rest of your life!

It is old news that too many people miss this teaching. My first thought was to lament the neglect of all the hymns which back up the doctrine of the True Presence, but even good hymns are not enough. Poetry may be employing metaphors. We need to be taught. We want to be taught.

Hymns can be a starting point. If you have the privilege of teaching hymns, take a moment to check people understand what they’re singing. There are also many different levels of understanding. A young child may be content with just “Jesus is there”, but as we get older we have more questions, need more information. That’s when we need ideas like “substance” and “accidents”, what a Sacrament is, biblical references and the examples of the Saints.

In case you’re wondering, the title up there comes from Fr Edward Caswall’s hymn O Jesus Christ remember

That here I bowed before Thee, upon my bended knee,
That here I owned Thy Presence, and did not Thee deny,
But glorified Thy greatness, though hid from human eye.

Download the sheet music HERE (hymn 303 from the Vatican II hymnbook).