Last Friday I was at the Funeral Mass for Father Joseph Gilbert at Saint Peter's Cathedral. Bishop Martino was the main celebrant.
Ahead of me in the communion line was an odd looking woman with big dark glasses, kinda like Liz Taylor. She took communion (in the hand, of course) closed her grimy hand around Our Lord, turned, and proceeded to walk to the grieving family.
Well, Bishop Martino, ( I call him eagle eyes now) lurched forward and snatched the woman's arm, telling her she had to consume the host right then. The woman, without missing a beat, didn't even look at the Bishop, put the host in her mouth and continued to console the family.
The Bishop returned to the faithful to finish distributing, visibly peeved for a moment.
And this is a moment that is played over and over every day in our churches. Attempted sacrilege of the Lord is not something that can be ignored or downplayed, it must be stopped. Early Catholics struggled with this question, the profanation of the Lord's body, and again and again the practice has been banned. But somehow it keeps making a comeback. I've posted on this topic before. Give it a read.
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