This past Sunday, 34 children received their First Holy Communion at the 11 am or 12:30 pm Masses. What a perfect day to receive Jesus for the first time on Pentecost Sunday! The children arrived in their First Holy Communion finest! The boys were so handsomely dressed in their suits and ties, the girls beautifully adorned with bows, beads, and ribbons!

They were very nervous as we waited for Mass to begin, but that quickly turned into excitement as we lined up, and they began to process down the center aisle. They had put in two years of learning about our Catholic faith so they could receive the most blessed sacrament.

One of the girls commented after Mass how happy she was that she just received Jesus for the first time and how excited she was that she could now receive every Sunday! She had seen everyone else go up to receive each Sunday for her whole life until this moment when she could finally go up and receive for the first time! We can learn something from her. We receive Jesus at every Mass, and sometimes, we take it for granted and rush out after receiving it without sitting with Him and thanking Him for all of the blessings he has bestowed on us. We receive the Maker of the Universe, so why not give him those few minutes after we consume Him to be truly unified with Him? Jesus said in Mark 10:15, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”