Print Issue: June 6, 2002

Eucharist Is Key To Victorious Christian Living

By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer

COLLEGE PARK - From very different perspectives, speakers Kimberly Hahn and Father John Corapi, SOLT, drew parallels between the sacrament of the Eucharist and life itself as they spoke at the June 1 Eucharistic Congress.

The mother of six children ages 18 to 2, Hahn spoke of the Eucharist and marriage as "two sacraments of union and communion." Like the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross, "likewise we are called to sacrifice ourselves in marriage," she said. "We give until it hurts and we give more."

Her favorite Bible verse is Romans 12: 1-2, she said, which asks Christians to worship God "by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice."

It continues, "Do not model yourselves on the behavior of the world around you, but let your behavior change, modeled by your new mind."

Focusing her talk on the gift of motherhood and on a complete openness to children in radical faithfulness to Catholic Church teaching, Hahn said in order to renew one's mind, "we have to feed our hearts and minds with truth."

"The primary end of the act of marriage is the blessing of a child," she said. "When we meet in the act of marriage we are saying, 'I receive all of you and I give all of myself.'"

Calling the use of contraception "disordered," Hahn acknowledged that it is difficult to live married life in faithfulness to "life-giving love, self-donating love."

"Is it difficult? Yes, but it is possible by the power of the Holy Spirit . . . God doesn't ask us to live faithful Catholic lives or faithful marriages on our own strength because we can't."

"We have got to be so much more than anti-abortion. We have got to be for life," Hahn said, to loud applause.

In addition to their common roots in sacrifice and in selfless love, both the Eucharist and marriage "are calls to give thanks for holy Communion," she continued.

When Catholics come to Mass they should come "full of humility to receive the Lord" and not with an eye to criticize the celebrant, the worship or the parish. "We are not the liturgical police."

Similarly "we are to approach our spouse full of thanks" and "we have to learn to say, 'I am sorry.'"

A Catholic apologist, Hahn co-wrote "Rome Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism," with her husband, Scott, an ordained Presbyterian minister who became a Catholic in 1986 after his studies of Scripture convinced him of the authenticity of the Mass and Catholic tradition and the apostolic origin of the church. Kimberly Hahn followed her own path to the Catholic Church, entering in 1990. She holds a master's degree in theology from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and has written a book on "Life Giving Love."

As she praised the Catholic Church teaching on life, she spoke of the blessings she believes it brings to children, including the gift of siblings, the witness of a sacrificial lifestyle and the environment of unconditional love between parents.

Marriage, like the Eucharist, also requires "us to place our total trust in God," Hahn said. "We have got to give permission to God to do with us as he wills . . . He is looking for yieldedness."

She closed calling for people in every vocation, whether married or single, ordained or consecrated in Religious life, to be wholehearted in giving all of themselves to Christ in their way of life.

"Pray for one another. We must be the body of Christ for each other. We must unite our hearts together so we will be faithful to whatever vocation God has called us to," Hahn said, as she received a standing ovation.

From the call to have faithful Catholic marriages, those attending the general track next heard a call to arms as Father Corapi painted a picture of darkness threatening the world and the church, with Jesus in the Eucharist as the saving light.

"Midnight is approaching, I say, midnight is approaching in this pagan land," said the priest, who was ordained 11 years ago after a secular life that included the military, Las Vegas wealth and eventual drug addiction and homelessness.

"Who would have thought when you and I were young we would have seen in our country and in our own church some of the headlines we have had today?" he asked.

A professed priest member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, Father Corapi was ordained by Pope John Paul II in Rome in 1991 and earned a doctorate in sacred theology.

But he spoke of continuing to have to use his street savvy to rescue people from the darkness, including crack houses and places of prostitution.

"Who would have thought I would have encountered such things in my life as a priest, but I have and it continues," he said. "We are at war and the battle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers."

Using battle terminology, he said the Eucharistic Congress in Atlanta was a staging area where people can prepare for a spiritual battle.

Citing the Catechism of the Catholic Church, he said "in the blessed Eucharist is contained the entire spiritual good of the church," a phrase he repeated so those in the audience would realize how critical the Eucharist is in overcoming evils facing the world and the church. At the same time, he said, when one receives the Eucharist, one must be disposed to receive the grace that is available.

Turning to the current scandal of priest sex abuse, he pointed out, "no priest, no Eucharist."

For many years, he said, there has been a subtle attack on the teaching on the Eucharist and on the discipline of the church, and on the priesthood. With the present crisis in the church, he continued, the Eucharist itself, which is the "entire spiritual good of the church," desperately needed by the world, is threatened.

"There's only one answer and it is Jesus in the Eucharist and anything less than that will not suffice," Father Corapi said. Without the Eucharist "the power is drained out of the church and the church begins to falter in her fundamental mission of holding up the world."

He urged the audience to pray daily for priests, to pray the rosary and to seek Mary's intercession in every spiritual battle. His talk ended with a standing ovation.

Audiotapes were made of Scott and Kimberly Hahn's presentations, as well as Alex Jones' talk at the Eucharistic Congress 2002. Those interested in purchasing tapes should contact St. Joseph's Communications at (800) 526-2151. Tapes are $6 each. Other talks by those three speakers are also available.