From Mrs. Pauline O'Callaghan re the Year of the Eucharist.

In 1916, according to the memoirs of St. Lucia, the Guardian Angel of Portugal appeared to Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco. Kneeling on the ground, he bowed down with his forehead touching the ground, and had them repeat three times: "My God, I believe, I adore, I hope and I love You. I ask pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love You."

Not long after this, during the summer of the same year, the children were praying as the Angel had instructed them. As Sr. Lucia tell us, "An extraordinary light shone upon us. We sprang up to see what was happening, and beheld the Angel. He was holding a chalice in his left hand, with the Host suspended above it, from which some drops of blood fell into the chalice. Leaving the chalice suspended in the air, the Angel knelt clown beside us and made us repeat three times:

'Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I offer you the most precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges, and indifference with which He is offended. And, through the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart, and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of you the conversion of poor sinners.'

Very few people go to confession any more; yet the entire congregation receives Holy Communion. The fact that one of the precepts of the Church is the requirement to confess our sins at least once a year, is never mentioned ... They are not told that it is a serious obligation! The bishops and priests remain silent.

Is it any wonder that there is so much disrespect for the Blessed Eucharist? Is it any wonder that the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings is so much denigrated?

In many parishes, the tabernacle is treated as though it were just a "storage area". Extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion open the tabernacle to retrieve the already consecrated hosts, in many cases without genuflecting; they leave the door of the tabernacle wide open during the distribution of Holy Communion; some parishes have no veil at all on the tabernacle. The list is endless.

There is so much loud conversation before and after Mass that it is impossible to pray. Because of the sequence of the Liturgy, there is no time to make thanksgiving after Holy Communion. Many people sit immediately after having received Our Blessed Lord, and don't make any thanksgiving! The announcements have to be made, and then it is time to go!

There was no time for thanksgiving, but there is plenty of time to have loud shouted conversations with friends! The bishops and priests remain silent.

The year 2002-2003 was a year dedicated to the rosary, and in the Archdiocese of Toronto it was celebrated a year later in 2003-2004.

From my own experience and observation, apart from the announcement at the beginning of the year that it was to be a year dedicated to the rosary, no attempt was made, other than the suggestion that each family should try to say the rosary at home, to promote special devotions during the week, as a church family.

Posters were posted on bulletin boards, and the Year of the Rosary ended with the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass by Aloysius Cardinal Ambrozic, at Marylake. Only in those parishes where the recitation of the rosary has been in effect for as many as 20 years was there any evidence of the rosary devotion.

St. John Bosco said, "There will be chaos in the Church. Tranquillity will not return until the Pope succeeds in anchoring the barque of Peter between the twin pillars of Eucharistic Adoration and devotion to Our Lady."

St. Pio has told us repeatedly, "The rosary is the weapon." Our Lady has asked for it for centuries. She always points the way to her Son: "Do whatever he tells you."

The Year of the Eucharist must not suffer the same fate as the Year of the Rosary.

If the Guardian Angel of Portugal prostrated himself in adoration in the presence of the Blessed Eucharist, is it not time for us to do the same?

Mississauga, ON