George Weigel on Rediscovering the Reality of the Eucharist

 "Thinking out loud about a return to 'Sunday normal,' a veteran pastor recently told me that he thought it would take one year for each month of lockdown/quarantine/ shelter-at-home for Mass attendance to return to where it was in February 2020. I said I hoped that people's hunger for the Eucharist would bring them back more quickly, once they concluded that it was reasonably safe, for themselves and others, to do so. But whether 'Sunday normal' returns this year or next year, the 'Sunday normal' of February 2020 isn't something for which we should easily settle. Because 'Sunday normal' isn't what it should be. This extended moment of Eucharistic fasting may be a providential moment to do something about that.

"Why isn't pre-pandemic 'Sunday normal' the norm to which we should aspire? Because too few Catholics take the Sunday Eucharist seriously enough to participate in it weekly. And because too few Catholics understand just what the Eucharist is.

"'Never let a good crisis go to waste' is a maxim that applies beyond politics. Applied to the Church, it suggests that this in-between time is a privileged time to re-catechize (or in some cases, catechize) the Church in the U.S. on the full, amazing, supernatural meaning of the Eucharist. . . ."

In a recent commentary, George Weigel (columnist and Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, DC) reflected on the coronavirus crisis as a time to teaching the truth of the Eucharist', "turning plague time into a time of renewed faith in the wonder of what we are offered in holy communion."

To access Mr. Weigel's complete post, please visit:

The Boston Pilot: Echoes: The Catholic Difference: Rediscovering the reality of the Eucharist (12 AUG 20)