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Above: a Eucharistic procession with St. Mary’s, FSSP. Photo by Allison Girone.
A few years before Covid I was a Eucharistic Minister in one of the parishes in my area. I remember one time when a priest told me, in front of the congregation, to divide the Hosts into different containers. That caught me by surprise. When I was about to do it, I thought to myself “Isn’t this Jesus?! Why am I here doing this?”
I was so disturbed and confused about what I had done.
Then few weeks later I quit being a Eucharistic Minister. I started noticing how the people received the Blessed Eucharist. They received Our Lord very casually during Holy Communion. I started questioning a lot of things being done in the parish. I realized I had participated in many irreverent actions against the Blessed Sacrament. We had lost the idea of transcendence, and we as the laity needed to make an effort to bring reverence and tradition back into our churches. I do believe we need to start in the way we worship.
I and a few friends from the Novus Ordo community started going to a Traditional Latin Mass at a nearby parish. We started volunteering to clean our church every 1st Saturday of each month. We did this joyfully (for most part). We are known as the Marthas.
One day after about a year of going to this traditional parish, I drove one of my friends back to her old Novus Ordo parish to attend a First Communion Mass. Towards the end of the Mass I saw a Host on the floor and remember thinking “Lord what are You trying to tell me?” Why do I have to be the one to see this? I was not sure how to handle this situation properly. I was disturbed, shaken, and crying with what I saw. I then picked up the Host with a tissue wet with my tears and gave it to one of the Eucharistic minister since I couldn’t find the priest.
I was even more stunned by how the Eucharistic Minister reacted. She told me “Oh… it happens sometimes,” then put the Host in her pants pocket.
I went home crying with mixed emotion of sorrow and anger.
These experiences gave me courage to make amends and do reparation to the Blessed Sacrament. We have a lot of reparation to do for ourselves and for our neighbors as part of the Body of Christ. This why I immediately joined the Crusade of Eucharistic Reparation, then started to invite friends to join a s well.
I believe the intentions of this Crusade are crucial for our Church to flourish and experience spiritual healing. The traditional liturgy brought me closer to the Lord more profoundly than before. I have learned to make sacrifices at a much deeper level, and it sure helped my interior life. So the cleaning ladies aka “The Marthas” joined the Crusade.
There were times when I would question if I was really doing God’s will, but I would find answers or reassurance along the way. When I was scheduling the day we would have our first Rite of Investment, we were having lots of scheduling issues. Finally, we ended up doing it on July 22nd. I checked the liturgical calendar and to my surprise it was the Feast of Mary the sister of Martha! So I just smiled and thanked the Lord! God speaks!
I then decided to name the first prayer group Charity, then the second group Faith, then third group Hope. I pray that more Catholics will participate in this wonderful work of love. Whenever I invite folks to join the Crusade I typically tell them that this is another way of praying and uniting ourselves with the Lord in His suffering, as well as receiving merits if we are in the right dispositions to receive them. I have encountered resistance and that’s fine. I want folks to be willing, so I don’t push them to join. The heart and the will must be in it. We do our weekly duties to make reparation to God for the offenses against the Blessed Sacrament. I also added other offenses such as abortion, Euthanasia, Transgenderism, Blasphemy against the Blessed Mother, Sodomy, Child Abuse, and prelates that lead souls to destruction. We start our week from Thursday (day of the Eucharist) through Wednesday.
The following are what we commit to each week.
1. At least two hours of Adoration for Reparation
2. Official prayer of Crusade by Athansius Schneider (Long Version)
3. Memorare – done everyday
4. Penance – once a week
5. Go to confession often – the more we are in the state of grace, the more our prayers are efficacious. But more than any other reason, it’s because we love God. Our Blessed Mother in Fatima calls for Penance, Reparation.
Why do we do this in a group? I usually say we are crusaders so we do the battle together and journey together like an army. It’s good to be with friends to remind us to do our duties. And there is no need for meetings, which can be time consuming. This way those folks already in a ministry at church can still join with no hassle. No meeting conflicts. We just keep each other motivated, reminding each other that we have a weekly duty to fulfill and remembering the reason why we are committed.
I also mention that being a Crusader we are uniting with Our Lord in the healing of our Church. In June, we will have our first annual Crusade Mass followed by Adoration.
I’m grateful for Bishop Athanasius Schneider and Tim Flanders. Thank you for your commitment and services to our Church. Viva Cristo Rey! God reward you and our Blessed Mother keep you always.