CATECHETICAL MEETING OF THE HOLY FATHER
WITH CHILDREN WHO HAD RECEIVED
THEIR FIRST COMMUNION DURING THE YEAR
St Peter’s Square
Saturday, 15 October 2005
CATECHESES OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
3. Andrea
In preparing me for my First Communion day, my
catechist told me that Jesus is present in the Eucharist.
But how? I can’t see him!
No, we cannot see him, but there are many things
that we do not see but they exist and are essential. For
example: we do not see our reason, yet we have reason.
We do not see our intelligence and we have it. In a word:
we do not see our soul and yet it exists and we see its effects, because we can speak, think and make decisions,
etc. Nor do we see an electric current, for example, yet we
see that it exists; we see this microphone, that it is working, and we see lights.
Therefore, we do not see the very deepest things, those that really sustain life and the world, but
we can see and feel their effects. This is also true for electricity; we do not see the electric current
but we see the light.
So it is with the Risen Lord: we do not see him with our eyes but we see that wherever
Jesus is, people change, they improve. A greater capacity for peace, for reconciliation, etc., is
created. Therefore, we do not see the Lord himself but we see the effects of the Lord: so we can
understand that Jesus is present. And as I said, it is precisely the invisible things that are the most
profound, the most important. So let us go to meet this invisible but powerful Lord who helps us
to live well.
4. Giulia
Your Holiness, everyone tells us that it is important to go to Mass on Sunday. We would
gladly go to it, but often our parents do not take us because on Sundays they sleep. The parents of
a friend of mine work in a shop, and we often go to the country to visit our grandparents. Could
you say something to them, to make them understand that it is important to go to Mass together
on Sundays?
I would think so, of course, with great love and great respect for your parents, because they
certainly have a lot to do. However, with a daughter’s respect and love, you could say to them:
“Dear Mommy, dear Daddy, it is so important for us all, even for you, to meet Jesus. This encounter enriches us. It is an important element in our lives. Let’s find a little time together, we can find
an opportunity. Perhaps there is also a possibility where Grandmom lives”. In brief, I would say,
with great love and respect for your parents, I would tell them: “Please understand that this is not
only important for me, it is not only catechists who say it, it is important for us all. And it will be
the light of Sunday for all our family”.
5. Alessandro
What good does it do for our everyday life to go to Holy Mass and receive Communion?
It centers life. We live amid so many things. And the people who do not go to church, do
not know that it is precisely Jesus they lack. But they feel that something is missing in their lives.
If God is absent from my life, if Jesus is absent from my life, a guide, an essential friend is missing, even an important joy for life, the strength to grow as a man, to overcome my vices and mature as a human being.
© Copyright 2005 – Libreria Editrice Vaticana
