We had the last of our First Holy Communion Masses last Saturday. I've heard (and experienced) some real horrors over the years, but they are always done with reverence and sensitivity at my current Parish.
One of the highlights for me is being able to watch the children as they come up to the altar rails for Communion - I'm lucky enough to sit by the organ, on the sanctuary side of the rails (under the pretext of helping with the singing) and so I get the best view in the church.
The sermon is usually pretty stunning too. One theme which Fr Tim mentions quite often is enough to reduce me to tears: he points out to the children that Jesus has been waiting for them to be ready to receive him, and has been waiting for each one of us, has thought about each one of us since before the stars were made... wow.
One of the highlights for me is being able to watch the children as they come up to the altar rails for Communion - I'm lucky enough to sit by the organ, on the sanctuary side of the rails (under the pretext of helping with the singing) and so I get the best view in the church.
The sermon is usually pretty stunning too. One theme which Fr Tim mentions quite often is enough to reduce me to tears: he points out to the children that Jesus has been waiting for them to be ready to receive him, and has been waiting for each one of us, has thought about each one of us since before the stars were made... wow.
It was a theme which resonated in the homily of Pope Benedict XVI at his Inaugural Mass in April 2005:
And only where God is seen does life truly begin. Only when we meet the living God in Christ do we know what life is. We are not some casual and meaningless product of evolution. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed, each of us is loved, each of us is necessary. There is nothing more beautiful than to be surprised by the Gospel, by the encounter with Christ. There is nothing more beautiful than to know Him and to speak to others of our friendship with Him.
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