3rd Sunday of Lent - "Take off your Shoes" Eucharist

 

In today’s first reading from the book of Exodus, Moses came in contact with God through a burning bush. The bush was burning, yet was unharmed by the fire. As Moses approached the bush to look at the remarkable sight, God spoke to Him calling him by name, “Moses! Moses!" and he answered, “Here I am!” God said,“Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look at God.  

Removing one’s shoes and covering one’s face are signs of reverence in the presence of God. It was Jewish belief that a person would die, if he or she were to look upon the face of God.

When the fullness of time had come, God willed mankind to be able to truly see the face of God in the person of Jesus. When Jesus came down from heaven in the womb of Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, He took on our human nature. And as He walked the earth those whom He met, most likely first thought Jesus was an ordinary man, but He wasn’t ordinary. He is God with both a human and divine nature.

Recall when Jesus gave His Eucharistic discourse He said, “I am the Bread of Life, come down from heaven”. And they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” So He appeared to be an ordinary man, but by His words, His teachings, His miracles and especially by His death and resurrection, many would come to believe Jesus is truly God and truly man.

All who lived during the time of Jesus were blessed to see the face of God and live. But that same face would be slapped, spat upon and from the crown of thorns, blood would drip down His face. The apostles in the upper room, Mary Magdalene, Peter, James and many disciples all saw the glorious face of Jesus after He rose from the dead. This is Divine Revelation and found in Sacred Scripture, we are bound to believe.  There is also a tradition Jesus appeared to His Blessed Mother first before He appeared to the apostles, which Pope St. John spoke about in one of his encyclicals.

We are so fortunate to have this new Divine Mercy image of Jesus, as He appeared to St. Faustina. Our Lord’s appearance to St. Faustina and other saints, as well as ordinary people-- after the Apostles had died--- is called private revelation, which we may choose to believe or not.

All of us believe the Eucharist is really and truly Jesus in all His glory. We are so blessed to be able to receive Him in Holy Communion and come and adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament. St. Faustina saw the face of Jesus in the Eucharist. In her diary she said, “In place of the monstrance, I saw the glorious face of the Lord, and He said to me, “What you see in reality, those souls (others in the chapel) see through faith. Oh, how pleasing to Me-- is their great faith! ….for Me to be able to act upon a soul, the soul must have faith. O how pleasing to Me is living faith!” #1420

You may be interested to know, a boy about the age 12, from Sacred Heart in Halstead told me Jesus appeared to him during Eucharistic Adoration in their adoration chapel. The boy, his grandmother, and his two sisters went through RCIA. His grandmother and the grandchildren became Catholic at the Easter Vigil that year. They signed up for a Holy Hour and were faithful to it. Just a few months after they became Catholic, as they were doing their Holy Hour, the boy said, “As I was looking at the Host, Jesus suddenly came out of the Host and stood before the altar. He was wearing a long white garment, with a gold sash and had a golden crown on His head. He had a scepter in His hand. Jesus spoke and said, “Take off your shoes. And ask the others to do the same. You are on holy ground.” The grandmother and sister saw him take off his shoes while looking at the Host and they suspected He was seeing something. He told those with him, “Take off your shoes.” And they did. Jesus then told the boy, “Tell the priest to ask the people to remove their shoes before entering the chapel. It is up to them if they want to remove them or not.” Jesus then told the boy, “I desire you to be a witness and to bring others to me.” The boy said Jesus then went back into the Host.

After their Holy Hour, they immediately came to my office and told me what happened. I was astonished and asked the boy,“Are you aware what God told Moses when he saw the burning bush?” The boy had no idea. He didn’t know God told Moses to remove his sandals because he was on holy ground. Since the boy just became Catholic, he had no idea it was a common practice in the Philippines to remove their shoes before entering an Adoration Chapel. All of this seemed to give credence the boy really did see Jesus during Eucharistic Adoration.

Getting back to St. Faustina. Remember the main reason why Jesus appeared to her so often was to reveal His divine mercy. Jesus asked that the feast of Divine Mercy be established on the Sunday after Easter. To prepare for the feast, Catholics are to go to Confession, do works of mercy and to pray for mercy, especially the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at the 3 o’clock hour. Jesus asked an image of Him be painted with the words, “Jesus I Trust in You” signed on the bottom. Our Lord said those who go to Confession and receive Holy Communion on the Feast of Divine Mercy, will not only have their sins forgiven, but the punishment due to their sins washed away. All would be washed away in the ocean of God’s mercy. He said, “Though their sins be as scarlet, their soul would become white as snow”. He said the greater the sinner, the greater right one has to His mercy.

My friends, to have all your sins washed away and all the punishment due to your sins washed away, only happens once a year. I strongly encourage you to go to Confession during Lent and prepare for Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday after Easter by doing works of mercy and praying for mercy. O how badly, does the world need God’s infinite and unfathomable mercy. St. Augustine said “The pains of purgatory are worse than any pains we can suffer in this life”, so who wants to go to purgatory? Why not get your soul cleaned up for Easter and allow Jesus to also wash away the punishment due to your sins, when receive Holy Communion the Sunday after Easter.

May the Virgin Mary, who gazed upon the face of God when He was born, kissed His face when She lived with Him, looked upon His bloody face as She stood beneath the Cross and covered His face before He was placed in the tomb, give us the grace to believe and to see with our spiritual eyes the face of Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass when the Host is elevated above the altar and during Eucharistic Adoration, when we come to adore His face as we kneel in humble adoration of our Savior.

For truly because the risen Jesus in the Eucharist is present in every Catholic Church, we are standing on holy ground. We don’t need to remove our shoes when we come to adore Jesus, unless we want to. But we do need to remove our sins in Confession, so they won’t be an obstacle for us in receiving His mercy and graces when we come before Him at Mass and in adoration. Make a good and thorough Confession. Do it soon!