A Loving and Generous Savior
By Pat Kuxhaus | Parishioner
St. Francis parishioners will share their personal accounts of how the Eucharist has impacted their spiritual journey and life. We know they are not alone. If you wish to share your story for publication in the Bulletin regarding your encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist during Mass or during Eucharistic Adoration please submit your witness to fidel@sfassisi.org. You have the choice to remain anonymous if you prefer.
It was the Eucharist that drew me to the Catholic Church.
Before becoming a Catholic, I attended a Pentecostal church for 40+ years, a place where I grew in discipleship and developed a great love of scripture. The communion services in this church were always handled respectfully but I remember thinking that there had to be something more to this rite, that it held more importance than just as a memorial. I knew that it was a Catholic belief that the bread and wine were really the body and blood of Christ. This made sense to me since Christianity is an incarnational religion. So, I started researching the teachings of the Catholic Church beginning with the Eucharist.
After several years of study I enrolled in RCIA at Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, Michigan, near where I was living at the time. I remember the excitement I had as I received Jesus for the first time at the Easter Vigil in 2015. I was so full of joy I was practically laughing! (I couldn’t understand why everybody seemed so solemn when receiving the host).
A year and a half later I moved to Colorado. What a joy it has been to be part of the St. Francis of Assisi community where I have grown in my Catholic faith. One of the great blessings I experience in this parish is the opportunity to receive the Body of Christ daily at morning Mass. What a loving and generous Savior we have Who wants to give of Himself in such a tangible way and so frequently! He said that He would be with us always, to the close of the age (Matthew 28:20).
In giving Himself to me in the Eucharist He is truly with me in a most intimate way. I get to experience this closeness every day. And when I do, there is always a smile on my face!
