A personal encounter with Christ

I've always been faintly jealous of those "born again" Christians who claim a personal conversion experience. I am very much a cradle Catholic and have been aware of my faith since at least the age of 3 (I was part-raised by a pair of Irish aunt's who both had very strong faith and practice and my deepest childhood memories are of rosaries and Benedictions). However, in a strange way, my faith has always been there so that moments of doubt rather than certainty are the things that have punctuated my faith journey.

This is not to say there have not been high-points of faith for me. In particular, the first time I attended the Chrism mass at the cathedral on Maunday Thursday I had a profound experience of Christ present in the church assembled round our bishop, successor to the Apostles.

Before my untimely accident, I had been attending an undergraduate university module on Sacraments and indeed I broke my leg while walking to my study to write a presentation on Baptism. Thus when I arrived in hospital my thoughts were very much on the subject of sacraments and it was against this background that my personal encounter with Christ happened.

My wife Monica saw informing the hospital Catholic chaplaincy as her highest priority (I have to confess it was not mine!) and so on the morning of my first day in hospital Sister Sheila arrived with holy communion.

This was the moment of my encounter with Christ. As a Catholic I believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but never was this so profound as on that morning! As a Deacon, I am active in the celebration of Mass and so, to some extent, at the moment I receive communion the sense of encounter is brief because I move on immediately to administering the chalice during the distribution of holy communion to the congregation.

Also at that moment in hospital I was utterly vulnerable, on my back in bed with my leg in a temporary plaster (and semi-naked in those ridiculous gowns hospitals provide). So as Sister Shiela brought communion to me I became aware, as never before, of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist -but I also became aware in a new way that the Eucharist is effective spiritual food and I discovered a personal spiritual hunger usually submerged in the routine of my life. Most of all, I became especially aware of the presence of Christ in Sister Sheila herself, for the Church is the spiritual body of Christ and Sister Shiela, acting on behalf of the church was the hand of Christ reaching out to me on that morning. All that I had been thinking about during my course on Sacraments was distilled in that moment. Here was an effective sign and a source of grace.

Over the next few days or weeks, I will continue to write on the sacraments but I'd like to summarise some thoughts in a few short sentences.

To fully experience the sacraments we need to be open to them. We have to realise our spiritual hunger and be vulnerable to the presence of Christ.

We need to see the presence of Christ not just in the consecrated host but in the church -the people of God assembled. Indeed I would say, in human terms, the presence of Christ in the people of God is a more powerful and effective sign.

Anything the Church does in Christ's name makes Christ present; so taking communion to the sick and housebound and the work of organisations like the SVP should be seen as a critically important part of the life of our parish communities.

There is more to come, but I hope these thought may form a basis for reflection by those who read them.