"Dear children, because we love you, we tell you the truth and bring you today to Emmaus with Jesus. In a few moments, this unworthy minister who has a share in Christ’s priesthood will, similarly, take bread, bless it and break it. I will speak in the first person, or rather, Christ will speak in me: “Take, eat: this is my Body, given for you.” When I do (when He does), I pray that the scales may fall from your eyes and you will see no longer bread, taste no longer bread, smell no longer bread, hear no longer bread, feel no longer bread – but look beyond, with the eyes of faith – and see your Savior come to you in a way you have never yet experienced.
You are about to be initiated into the highest of all the sacraments: Holy Communion. Com-union means to become one with Jesus himself, for that is what communion means: union with Him. He is God; and you are only a human, a mere creature – but God will grant you the extraordinary privilege of becoming one with Jesus. That means you will be God’s own child, just as Jesus is God’s Son. That means the Father must love you, as He loves His own Son Jesus – for they are one.
The place of this union will be in your heart. In confession, yesterday, you made her heart ready for the Lord; and today, you open your heart to receive the whole Lord and God of the universe into your little heart. He will fill it with his presence and make her know real love and joy like nothing else will ever compare! This is the greatest day of your life, your First Communion; it is the day everyone has been waiting for since the day you were baptized. Because in baptism you were made one Body with Jesus; today — now that you are old enough — Christ will make His own home in your heart. He gives His whole heart over into yours. It becomes a true tabernacle of God’s indwelling on earth, a place of unrivalled intimacy with the Lord, an outpost of the Kingdom here on earth, and a cause for your own ennobling and heightened dignity, worthy of the comportment of saints, hereafter. May God bless you and find a worthy home in your hearts. Happy First Communion day!"
Excerpt from Fr. Justin Wylie's homily for First Holy Communion (September 20, 2020)
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