Sacrilege from Ignorance

Last night, I sat praying before going to bed and as I went through my prayers, I happened to look upon "Quam Singulari" again, and it struck me straight in my heart.

As I read, this particular statement jumped off the page at me:

"From all this it is clear that the age of discretion for receiving Holy Communion is that at which the child knows the difference between the Eucharistic Bread and ordinary, material bread, and can therefore approach the altar with proper devotion. Perfect knowledge of the things of faith, therefore, is not required, for an elementary knowledge suffices-some knowledge (aliqua cognitio); similarly full use of reason is not required, for a certain beginning of the use of reason, that is, some use of reason (aliqualis usus rationis) suffices."

Beautifully written, the statement explains that knowledge need not be perfect, but that the child should have an understanding that the Eucharist is not ordinary bread, and should be approached with the proper devotion, yet as a catechist, I continually come across students, who despite being teenagers, do not recognize or know that the Eucharist is truly the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are supposed to strive to imitate
the Holy Family in our own families.

I cannot lie and say that this has not been of great pain to me, and am trying my best to provide proper instruction, but what baffles my mind is how this occured. At some point in the child's religious development something was severely lacking, especially when students tell me that the Body of Christ is purely symbolic. I cannot help but think what happened during First Communion? What were they taught? Yet, I sincerely doubt that the people whom I have come to work with and who devote so much time to these children would have had a large oversight, but it is possible that after First Holy Communion that the Body of Christ was not strongly emphasized. Still, my mind wanders further. It goes back to the first catechists, the parents, and I think have they done their duty? Have they gone through lengths to teach their children about the true presence? Obviously somewhere in this equation something is lacking, and the children are the ones who suffer.

Since becoming a Catechist, I have been utterly surprised that many of the Sacraments have been neglected or not properly emphasized, especially the Sacrament of Penance. It has been in my classes that I have learned that many students have gone more than a year without this Sacrament, yet still presume it to be okay to approach the Eucharist, even with mortal sin. Again, there is something obviously missing here, and I continually rack my head to try to come up with solutions.

In all honesty, I hardly figure that I have enough time to give to youth all that they need to know, and truthfully, it is not expected of me, but 1.5 hours a week is hardly sufficient to help form someone if their faith is not being emphasized or lived at home. I know that youth need that reinforcement, and if it is not present, they will lean towards that which is easier, mainly secular values which are abundant in school and society.

I find this current situation horribly tragic, and I know that this is not an isolated occurance, but having that knowledge is of little comfort to me; rather, it causes my heart to weep. There is little else I can do than continue to strive by the grace of God to educate and help the faith grow in these little ones and offer acts of reparation for the times they have committed sacrilege. In my opionion, something needs to change and my thinking is that it has be the reclaiming of the family and the placement of Christ in the center of every Christian's life and heart. Essentially, we need to be Catholic!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us.