To my dear godchild on her First Holy Communion,

Praise be to God for this day!  How blessed you are to have come to the moment when you receive Jesus in the Holy Eucharist for the first time!

Before the busyness of this day begins and the importance of the first sacrament of the Eucharist gets lost in the parties, gifts, and endless pictures, let me share a few thoughts to focus the day on the miracle that it is!

First, do not forget your Baptism!  Yes, I know you cannot remember that day as you were so small.  I remember it well and the joy I felt when you were baptized. We truly became family that day. With God as our Father, you and I are one in the same family!  I watched as the holy water was poured over your little soft head and I wondered how your life would be a gift to God even in little ways.  I promised that day to never stop helping you on your spiritual journey toward heaven, and today as you receive the Eucharist for the first time, you are tasting a little bit of that heaven to come.  The Life of God came to dwell in you as the priest pronounced the Trinity and poured the holy water over the crown of your head, and today in the Eucharist you are able to experience the Real Presence of God as the Host is placed on your tongue.  What love is this God to share His very life with us!

Second, your soul is the most precious thing you will ever own!  Guard it well.  Keep it clean.  Be a friend of the confessional!  Today you will wear a beautiful white dress just as you did on the day of your Baptism. White for purity of body and spirit just as you were on the day of baptism when you became a new creation in Christ.  God is a good and loving Father who gives us a clear direction on how to live His command to love Him and to love each other.  Remain in His love by staying away from sin and returning to the confessional when you have stumbled along the way.  Our loving Father always receives us with great joy when we return to Him when we have lost our way.  My dear child, ALWAYS TRUST GOD.  Never doubt that His will for you is good and true.  Trust that His desire for your obedience is so that you may be holy as He is and be able to be with Him forever in the next life.

Finally, there will be times when you are, well, bored with Mass.  Let me share a secret.  Our Lady is there at every Mass as her Son’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity is made present on the Altar.  Ask her to help you!  Oh what a precious treasure our Mother Mary is to our spiritual life!  Her only desire is to lead souls to her Divine Son. She will help you “see” the Mass spiritually as all of heaven and earth come down onto the Altar to worship Jesus in the Eucharist.  Do not forget also that you are there to “assist” at Mass.  You are there to make an offering of yourself!  Just when the ushers are bringing up the basket of money and bread and wine to the Altar, imagine your guardian angel bringing up your offering as well!  Make sure that your angel’s basket is full!  Fill it with all your prayers, petitions, and sacrifices.  Offer your entire self to Jesus.  Whatever you offer to God, He returns back to you with even greater value.  This is the cycle of grace!  God is always desiring to shower His grace and mercy down on us.  He loves you so much!  Love Him back!  My dear child, every time you approach the Altar to receive Him in the Eucharist you are inviting God to pour His love into your soul.

If I could fill one thousand more pages it would not be enough to explain this mystery of the sacrament of love!  For now it may be enough to end with the nearly unimaginable truth that the God of the universe, the one who created you out of nothing, has humbled Himself to come to you as bread and wine.  He has done this so that he can share His Life with you and be near to you in a very real and tangible way.  This Amazing Nearness is a sign of His perfect love for you.  

I love you so very much! You are always in my prayers!

– Your Godmother