“Treat Him well, for me; Treat Him well!” (Saint Manuel Gonzalez).
The other day, in my local parish, the young assistant priest asked a man whether he was Catholic before he administered Holy Communion to him.
When this happened it caused a terrible backlash in the local community. People were outraged that this priest had dared to ask this man such a question. Parishioners were concerned that the priest was in some way being discriminatory or inflammatory.
In actual fact, that young parish priest was doing his job. It is the priest’s job to treat God – in the form of the Most Blessed Eucharist – well. When I was a little school girl – oh so long ago – when I went to receive communion, I would first need to ensure that my hands were scrubbed. Our school Chaplain always examined the children’s hands before placing the Holy Body of Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ into our “grubby little mitts” so to speak. And as a result of that care that he took when I was a little girl, I have always paid careful attention to the state of my hands and nails before receiving the Blessed Eucharist – and before the COVID-19 pandemic, I would never receive Holy Communion on my hands (only on my tongue) – out of respect for God.
This is actually the same reason why the Tabernacle is locked – to prevent the Eucharist being stolen and disrespected as this is God Himself – not some fake representation of God or a symbol of Him or a sign – the Eucharist is God Himself…
In 1935, Saint Josemaria was ordained (with fourteen other deacons) as a priest by Saint Manuel Gonzalez, who was his bishop. At the end of the ceremony, Saint Manuel said with tears in his eyes to the newly ordained Saint Josemaria, “Treat Him well, for me; Treat Him well!” Saint Manuel was known as the Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle.
Saint Manuel wrote, “What joy fills my soul! No matter how much God is offended, despised, blasphemed and unjustly treated by many men, we can give God infinitely more glory than the glory that all the sins of men can take away from Him. Do we understand now why God, in His wrath, has not yet smashed this bilge of sinful earth into a thousand pieces? Do we understand now why there is sunshine during the day and moonlight at night and timely rains, and joy and power, and virtue on earth, and communication of God with the children of men? Because of the Holy Mass… that's why! And every minute of the day and night these words are repeated: ‘Through Him, with Him and in Him...all honour and glory for ever and ever’.”
Saint Manuel asked to be buried next to the Tabernacle in the Cathedral of Palencia. If you visit this tomb (which I have not yet had the pleasure of visiting) you will see an inscription – I am told – which reads… “I ask to be buried next to a Tabernacle, so that my bones, after death, as my tongue and my pen in life, will always be saying to those who pass by: there is Jesus! There He is! Don't leave Him abandoned!”
And I reflect on this today as I wonder whether I have received enough Grace to be able to “treat Him well”…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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