By Jessica Murphy
Parishioner at St. Joe’s University Church, Terre Haute, Indiana
It was a Sunday morning and, after three years of trying, we had just learned that our baby had no heartbeat. My husband and I left the hospital and went straight to our church, St. Joseph University Parish in Terre Haute, Indiana.
The first person to find us was friar Mario Serrano, OFM Conv., who was then a transitional deacon at St. Joe’s. My husband explained what had happened and it noticeably caught the young friar off guard. He gathered his thoughts and after a moment of silence, he came to my eye level and spoke just to me. I learned that friar Mario had lost his mother, a deep pain, and he shared how he finds comfort and connection to his mother through the Holy Eucharist and encouraged me to do the same. I will never do his words justice, but what I remember in my heart every Sunday is this:
We are all One in the Body of Christ. Through the sacrament of Holy Communion, our Catholic faith tells us that simple bread becomes the true body of Our Lord, Jesus. When we participate in that sacrament, we connect to the Body of Christ in both a physical and spiritual way. When I take communion, I am one with my baby girl whom I lost that August day in 2016 – I am one with the three babies that I would lose after her. The comfort, peace, and true healing that the Eucharist brings to my heart is something I will forever be grateful for. When he is old enough to understand, I plan to share this story of the Eucharist with my son, Daniel, so that he might feel connected to the four siblings he never met.
The Sacrament of the Eucharist is what makes us Catholic. The next time you take the Bread of Life into your body, remember, and experience the peace of those who have gone before you.
