For those receiving their First Communion

Dear Second Grader,Before you were born, your parents thought about certain days. They thought about and wondered exactly when you would be born.They also wondered whether someday you might get married. They wondered whether you might have children yourself. God calls you to great things whatever they may be.The day of your First Communion is another day they thought about (and God thought about) from the beginning. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit came upon you in your baptism. God reinforced his life in you in your First Confession. Now, Jesus comes to you entirely — Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. What a great gift! What a great day! Today is one of the most important days in your life. Today, you have received for the very first time, the Body and Blood of Jesus the Lord! I am so happy for you. God has richly blessed you in many ways. First, he made you — loveable, adorable and wonderful. Next, God gave you the Sacrament of Baptism and then the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Now, God has given you the best Sacrament of all, the Holy Eucharist. Baptism and Confession get you ready to receive Jesus, and now you have. God has given you many, many wonderful gifts: family, friends, fun times. But the very best thing God can ever give to anyone is Himself because it is God who ultimately makes us happy. Have you ever seen the movie “The Prince of Egypt?” Moses was so unhappy that he ran away from his home into the desert. In the desert, Moses knelt before the burning bush because he was in the presence of God. He got to talk to God face to face. How important he must have felt and how loved by God. What we have in Holy Communion is even better than what Moses had. Like Moses we are in the presence of God. But we also get to have God right within us. Moses waited for the day God's Savior would come. We get to meet Jesus the Savior ourselves in Holy Communion and become one with him.Why did Jesus give us Holy Communion? Well, when you love someone you want to be with them. Your parents love you so much and that is why they like to be with you. But Jesus loves you even more, and that's why Jesus will always be eager for you to receive him in Holy Communion. God made it so that he could be together with us on earth. One of the best ways God does this is through Holy Communion. God wants us to be very happy, and God knows that we will be happy if we are united with God in Christ. Jesus wants to be with you always. He wants to live in you, and you to live in him. And that's what Holy Communion does. It is Jesus’ way of being our best friend, our most true friend. Friendship with anyone is wonderful, and now you have deepened your friendship with God himself. Every time you receive our Lord in the way you have, your friendship with Jesus can grow stronger. I am so happy for you today as you receive your First Holy Communion. The whole purpose of our lives is to love God and other people so that we can be happy. I want you to have a great life and so does God. By receiving Holy Communion, you get a chance to increase your love for God and also your love for other people. Holy Communion makes us happier by uniting us with God, our families, and other people. You are an important member of your family. And you are also an important part of God’s family. In having Holy Communion — the Body and Blood of Christ — you become more closely united with Jesus. As you grow older, you can become more and more like Jesus; you can become a stronger child of God. Remember you can always talk to God and listen to God, but one of the very best times to listen to God and speak to God is right after receiving Holy Communion. Now, any day you would like to, you may unite yourself with Jesus in this wonderful way. Nothing is more wonderful than being united with God, and that’s what you get in Holy Communion. God is right inside of you in the Host. The Host is Jesus himself, the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. I hope that you always remember your First Communion, even if you live to be 100 years old. You are lucky because you can look forward to many, many times of being united with Jesus in Holy Communion in the future. I hope you continue to receive Jesus every Sunday, or even more often, for the rest of your life. Congratulations on your First Holy Communion. Dr. Christopher Kaczor is acting chair and Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, and the author of “The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church.”{gallery width=100 height=100}gallery/2013/0510/kaczor/{/gallery}