Nothing For Granted

On Friday morning, my students started clapping for my co-teacher's substitute - this was largely due to the fact that he was the boys' 4th grade basketball coach and many of the students had been hoping to have him as a sub all year long. (As my mom says, Oh, to be a man in education.)

That was all well and good, but then I said to the students (in a somewhat joking manner), "You never clap for me" to which one student responded, "That's because you're always here."

Yes...I'm always here...Interesting...

And it got me thinking - Do we treat Jesus in the Eucharist the same way? Do we sometimes lose sight of how special receiving the Blessed Sacrament is in our lives that the awe and wonder surrounding Communion gets lost or lessened simply because He's there all the time?

I'm pretty sure I'm guilty of having done that more than a few times in my life. (I believe we often take for granted those people or things that surround us, oftentimes without even meaning to.) And that's definitely not something I'm proud of.

But the thing is, Jesus IS always there. He IS always with us. He IS always ready to welcome us back, sins and all.

It is because He is always with us that we should stand in awe of His presence as we receive the Eucharist.

He should never become something or someone that we take for granted.


***Getting in the spirit for Tuesday night's concert - woo hoo! - here's a song by Brendan James about taking nothing for granted...