The Master is here and is calling You

Our Lord often spoke of a King who returns from a long absence. What will he find when he returns, Christ often asked. In some sense, every Mass is a dress rehearsal. He comes to us truly…We are to act from love’s volition, not from obligation. Our longing takes the form of preparation, of engagement, and of resting in his advent. If we come to Mass without such love for him, we should beg for it. We can receive him sacramentally in Holy Communion without sanctification. Another analogy Christ used…was that of a wedding feast. Recall that on one occasion, a man was asked to come…after others had refused. Another was censured for coming without the proper wedding garment. To be there was to be clothed in the friendship of his son; it is to be clothed with divine charity. Not only can we manifest a lack of love by refusing to come as so many did in the parable, we can also come without the baptismal garment of divine love. Furthermore, if we receive him in Holy Communion without reconciling with him first, we commit sacrilege. Holy Communion…is dependent upon an interior disposition of self-offering. We must receive Holy Communion spiritually as well as sacramentally, otherwise the latter is of no avail. Sacraments are not magic.

[Fr. Matthew Kauth: The Sacraments, St. Benedict Press, 2018 pp.76-78]