Father! Over here, Father!

At the closing Mass for World Youth Day 2008 I was privileged to distribute Holy Communion to a few of the thousands of faithful gathered for the Mass. It was a tremendous experience.

As the Holy Father prepared to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation, one of the Masters of Ceremonies and his assistants directed the priests who wished to distribute Holy Communion to proceed from our seats to receive a ciborium with hosts to be consecrated. These contained far too few hosts, at least for the section to which I was taken.

As I distributed Holy Communion, I was surprised not by the number of people who came forward, but by the order in which they approached.

As might well be expected, as I began to distribute Holy Communion the faithful came forward in whatever manner they could, circling around one another as they attempted to move away from the rail after they received so that others might come forward. There was the usual jostling and even a few outstretched hands, a beautiful gesture of their desire to receive the Lord.

But after a few moments the faithful organized themselves in two lines, just as they do in churches throughout the world. This amazed me, and pleased me. It demonstrated for me the reality that people, by nature, desire order and not chaos. It also showed that people have a reverence for our Eucharistic Lord that involves order and chaos.

It didn’t take long for me to distribute each of the consecrated hosts in my ciborium and as I returned to the altar I was deeply moved. Walking along the aisle, many of the faithful - thinking my ciborium full - called out to me, “Father! Over here, Father!” Their desire for the Eucharist led them cry out in longing. Would that it were this way in our parishes!

My heart broke because I could not give the Eucharist to them. I wanted to direct other priests to them, but none were near (others later were directed to these sections).