Abortion affects men too
November 22, 2019
Ghanaian monk to be ordained deacon
November 22, 2019

See with eyes of faith

By Kaelanne Jordan
Email: mediarelations.camsel@catholictt.org
Twitter: @kaelanne1

“Have you ever touched God?” Archbishop Jason Gordon posed this question to altar servers as they celebrated their annual Mass last Sunday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Port of Spain. By a show of hands, some said ‘Yes’ and others ‘No’.

“So, I’m assuming those who raised their hands never made First Communion,” the Archbishop said.

Archbishop Gordon emphasised Christ appears in many ways: in the Word, on the altar, in the person of the priest and especially, communally in the Eucharist.

“When you are on the altar, you are stepping in to the place that is closest to where God is….But when you come to serve, when you come to Mass, when you come to assist the priest, you are coming to something that is so holy, so sacred, so wonderful, so amazing,” Archbishop Gordon asserted.

He told the assembly that every time they celebrate Mass, Heaven and earth connect. “Every single time,” he reiterated.

The bread being brought up to the altar in the Offertory does not become John, James or Janet. Rather, it becomes the Body of Christ.

“That’s how we know that the wine and chalice contain something that is so precious, so amazing that what it contains is the very substance of God that requires the eyes of faith to see it,” he said.

Archbishop Gordon gave the scenario of two persons attending Mass. One looking on saying ‘Hmm, that looks interesting’, while the other ‘My Lord and my God’.

“One is looking with the eyes of faith and one is looking with the eyes that are natural….But when you open that door in your heart, and allow it to be open and see through the eyes of faith the actions of the priest at the altar, then you see the miracle of all miracles, because God comes in amongst us,” he said.

The Archbishop made the analogy of an end-of-term exam to the apocalyptic theme of the readings for the 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Like any exam, you either pass or fail. But there’s one particular exam: “a time that will come when we will meet with God face to face and God will ask us some hard questions.”

Archbishop Gordon prayed that all those gathered will “pass” and invited them to pray for the grace to encounter God when and wherever He appears