Welcoming God in Eucharist

By Bishop David Zubik

	Bishop David Zubik

The most frequently asked personal questions since my arrival in Green Bay six months ago have been: "What about your parents? How are they?" "Will they move here to Wisconsin?" or "Will they continue to live in southwestern Pennsylvania?"

These questions have been yet another sign to me of the genuine hospitality of the faithful of our diocese and the sincere warmth of the people of northeastern Wisconsin.

As I already mentioned in my last column, I am an only child. My mom and dad, Susan and Stanley, were born and lived all of their lives in Ambridge, Penn., a small town 18 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. My parents' parents, Susan and John Raskosky and Helen and Carl Zubik, settled there about 1920. My mom's parents emigrated to Ambridge from Czechoslovakia; my dad's father came to Ambridge from Poland and his mom from Everson, a small town east of Pittsburgh. For just short of eight decades, Ambridge was my parents' home.

Changing zip codes

Shortly after I learned that the Holy Father was appointing me as Bishop of Green Bay and for a number of weeks afterward, my parents and I discussed their future and whether their zip code would remain 15003 of Ambridge or become 54301 of Green Bay.

As with any important decision, the best perspective comes via prayer and honest family discussion. Since both my parents have gone through some very serious health challenges over the last several years, that became an important part of our deliberations. Since my mom and dad were home owners, that also became an important part of our deliberations. Since the distance between Green Bay and Ambridge is approximately 700 miles, that too was an important consideration. Since I always have promised God and myself to care for my parents, that was a penultimate discussion point.

That being shared, on Memorial Day, the moving van from Ambridge pulled up to the "Bishop's Residence" and my parents moved in. With the help of St. Joseph and Dee, a great real estate agent, their house sold within a week.

With great sensitivity on the part of the diocese, a rental agreement was arranged for my parents to move into the "housekeeper's apartment" in the residence. When Bp. Wycislo, my predecessor three times removed, built the Bishop's Residence in 1975, he included a separate living space for a housekeeper. Those quarters have been uninhabited for the better part of 15 years - until now. Welcome home, Susan and Stanley, Mom and Dad!

Words we need to hear

Welcome home! They are words that we all like and need to hear. There is no more important place where we need to hear those words - "Welcome Home" - than in Church.

One of the hallmarks of our Church - One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic - is that whenever we step into a Catholic church - in Manitowoc or Marinette, in Madrid or Milan - whenever we step into any of our churches anywhere - God's message is: "Welcome Home."

The most important reason for which we step into Church is to do what Jesus asks us to do in memory of Him: to celebrate the Mass, to commune with Him. In every church, there are two tables. The first table - the ambo, the pulpit, the table of the Word - is where we are fed the Word of God from Scripture, which both nourishes us and challenges us. The second table - the altar, the table of the Eucharist - is the table from which we receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus. It is about this second table that I invite your attention.

Politics and Communion

Over the course of the last few months, there has been much interest in whether Catholic politicians who support abortion rights and still claim to be Catholic should receive Communion. Newspapers, weekly magazines, radio talk shows and T.V. commentators have brought the question center stage in this national election year. And the question poses the ripe opportunity for me to review the question within the broader perspective of any one of us receiving Communion. Bear with me!

• First, to receive Eucharist, to receive Communion, means receiving the Body and Blood of Christ sacramentally. The Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Jesus; not merely a representation or symbol. This is an essential belief of our faith.

• Second, to receive the Eucharist is a gift. It is not a right. It is a gift freely given by Christ through His Church. No one of us is worthy or deserves to receive the Eucharist. But, while it is a gift given freely, it is also a gift that demands our serious and sincere preparation. Just as God says "Welcome Home" when we come into Church, we must reciprocate and be prepared to say "Welcome Home" to God as we prepare to receive the Eucharist.

It is imperative that our heart is in order to receive Christ, that we acknowledge our sins, ask for forgiveness, buy into a change of heart and, to the best of our ability, make sure our lives reflect the Body of Christ - both in the Eucharist and as the Church.

• Third, the Church has always left the responsibility for preparing for the Eucharist up to the individual. Challenged to be people with an informed conscience, a sine qua non is that we know the difference between good and evil, between grace and sin. And as such, we have the serious responsibility of knowing if we are in a state of grace and being honest about that reality especially with God and ourselves.

Welcome Home, Jesus

Receiving Communion is more than a part of the Mass. It is above all else a communion with Jesus Himself. Through our act of receiving the Eucharist, we say to Him: "Welcome Home" as we welcome Him into our heart. By that act, we publicly say that we are in union with Christ, in and through His Body, the Church.

Just last week, the Bishops of our country met in Denver for our annual spring meeting. During our time together, as a unified body, we reaffirmed the following:

• that all life is sacred, from the first moment of conception to the point of natural death;

• that the killing of an unborn child is always intrinsically evil and can never be justified;

• that making intrinsically evil actions legal is itself wrong;

• that failing to protect the lives of innocent and defenseless members of the human race is to sin against justice;

• that those who formulate laws have an obligation to work toward correcting morally defective laws;

• that the separation of church and state does not require division between belief and public action, between moral principles and political choices, but protects the right of believers to practice their faith and act on their values in public life;

• that we, as Church, and especially as bishops, counsel Catholic politicians who support abortion and inform them that doing so makes them co-operators of evil in a public manner;

• that we will do all that we can to inform their consciences in the face of the scandal of their supporting abortion as Catholics;

• that, as the Eucharist is the source and summit of Catholic life, every Catholic must examine their conscience as to their worthiness to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord. This examination includes fidelity to the moral teaching of the Church in personal and private life;

• And finally and germane to the point of this article, respect for the Eucharist "demands" that it be received worthily and that neither the Eucharist nor our Catholic teaching about it be misused for political ends.

Long-standing tradition

As a Body of Bishops, the issue of whether Communion should be denied to Catholic politicians because of their public support for abortion on demand is left up to the prudential judgment of each bishop. After much prayer and reflection, after much discussion and deliberation with my brother bishops, I believe that the most prudent action is to follow the long standing tradition and teaching of the Church.

It is the ultimate responsibility of each Catholic to examine his or her conscience. It is the responsibility of each Catholic to have an informed conscience. In the end, each person who receives Christ in Communion will also be judged by the same Christ who will judge us on how prepared we were, not only to receive Him, but also on how we sought to live His teachings in, through and by the guidance of His Body, the Church.

Never a divided heart

Pray God that no one of us ever presumes to receive Christ in Communion with a divided heart. As God so generously says "Welcome Home" when we come to Church, we cannot but be prepared to reciprocate the welcome by truly being of the right mindset and right intention before we ever presume to receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ in the Eucharist.

The bottom line for receiving the Eucharist is to lead us to heaven. May the Body of Christ enable us to embody Christ and his church so that we may live with him forever and not without him forever in hell.