Dear Parish Family:
During April, I hope you checked out the Eucharistic Miracles projects created by our confirmation candidates, which we had on display in the narthex. Over the last thirty years, many of these Eucharistic miracles have been able to be tested by scientists who have discovered that those hosts transformed into a bloody tissue substance and became actual real human heart tissue when examined under the microscope!
How significant is that? This means the Eucharist is the heart tissue of Jesus! That tells me that inside our tabernacle is the living, beating heart of Jesus! We could spend hours sitting before Jesus meditating upon that one thought!
So, keep that in mind as we enter this second year of National Eucharistic Revival. The tabernacle is the heart of our church. It is the beating heart of Jesus present among us. So, prayer in front of the tabernacle is something extraordinary.
After praying with this idea for so many years, I have felt moved to shepherd us into a greater sense of this reality, including more Eucharistic adoration times, increased solemnity in handling the Blessed Sacrament, and better catechesis on receiving Holy Communion worthily and well.
One thing the Lord had put on my heart when I arrived at this parish five years ago was the potential of a perpetual adoration chapel here at St. Malachy in our Blessed Sacrament Chapel. I believe perpetual adoration gives God great gladness and joy when his children choose to dedicate one hour per week to adoring his Divine Son throughout every hour of the day and night. To keep Jesus company and console his Sacred Heart is a beautiful endeavor for any parish family.
On Corpus Christi Sunday, when we start the Eucharistic Revival “Year of the Parish,” we will make our first move towards such a future dream of a perpetual adoration chapel by moving the tabernacle into the main body of the church and placing Jesus’ Eucharistic Presence at the center of our church under the stained glass window.
To give the tabernacle the honor, glory, and respect its contents (Jesus’ heart) deserve, a parishioner is building something called a reredos. A reredos is an ornamental structure behind the altar. It usually contains the tabernacle. In addition, ours will have a wood carving of Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper and hold pedestals for six statues we steward from the former Holy Trinity Parish, which closed in 2014.
The statues of SS Cyril and Methodius were recently restored and placed on the pedestals framing the doors between the church and the narthex. We have also fixed the statues of St. Anthony of Padua and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We intend to eventually complete this restoration with the statues of Mary, St. Joseph statues and the two Guardian Angels.
We can better lift our minds and hearts to heaven when we surround ourselves with sacred and beautiful images. God wants to get heaven into us through the renewal of our minds. He wants our hearts because He has given us His Heart—Jesus in the Eucharist.
We will continue to make the Eucharistic Jesus the center of everything here at St. Malachy. When we walk through those church doors, I pray one of the first things we see is the beating heart of Jesus in the tabernacle. And as our Eucharistic devotion increases, I pray we can fulfill this dream of a perpetual adoration chapel in our parish.
In Jesus, through Mary and St. Joseph,
