By Chris Grazzini
St. Benedict Parish
My wife Wendi and I were stationed at Andrews AFB and in 2001 we had our fourth child, Sam, who was born with a heart defect. He had three open-heart surgeries before the age of three and miraculously survived.
But Sam did not make life easy on us. One of the things he would do is gag himself to make himself sick when he wasn’t happy.
One day at Mass at St John the Evangelist in Clinton, Md., Sam started to gag himself. I ran out of church with him just in time to get covered in vomit.
Frustrated, I cleaned him up but by then Mass had ended. Wendi and my three daughters came out and we got into the family van to go get donuts at Cherry Hill Farm just like we did most Sundays.
Wendi said we could drop by St Mary’s Church on the way since I missed communion. I snapped at Wendi that I didn’t need to go to church again to get communion since God knew I was dealing with Sam. We started driving and had to pass St Mary’s on the way to Cherry Hill and my guilt drove me to turn into the church parking lot. I turned to Wendi as I got out to see if I could receive communion. And she smirked at me. I walked past the main window and could clearly see the priest holding up the Eucharist. This is the only time at Mass this happens and was at the exact moment I was peering into the window. I thought to myself that this was God’s way of telling me to receive communion.
But God was not done with his message yet. As I walked into the church everyone was kneeling in Mass except me, who was walking in, and an old man who was walking toward me. We were the only two people standing. As he got to within 10 feet of me, he collapsed. I, along with two ushers, carried him out into the vestibule. I immediately checked for a pulse and breathing. He was breathing but his eyes were closed. I told one of the ushers to call for an ambulance. I began shaking him and asked if he was OK. He responded without opening his eyes, “I missed Communion.”
I kneeled there in shock and asked him again, “Are you OK?” And he responded clearly but with his eyes still closed, “I missed Communion.” I could not believe what I was hearing. At this moment an elderly woman joined us. I asked her if she knew him. She said, “Yes. That is my husband, John. He has been sick but doesn’t like to miss Mass.”
I told John that the ambulance had arrived, and he reminded me again that he had missed Communion. I said I would get him Communion. I asked the paramedic if he could receive communion. He said technically no but that he would not stop us. I went up to the priest handing out communion and, after receiving myself, told him about John. Father then came to the vestibule and gave John communion before the ambulance took him away.
At this time, I rejoined my family who had no idea what happened other than an ambulance arriving soon after I entered the church. We drove to Cherry Hill, and I asked the kids to take Sam into the store and for Wendi to remain with me. I shared this story with her and wept because I knew God had spoken to me about the importance of the Eucharist.
Share your witness with The Dialog
As we arrive at the celebration of the Diocese of Wilmington Eucharistic Congress, the Dialog reaches out to Catholics who may want to share their witness to the Eucharist.
The event of the Eucharistic Congress concludes the evening of Oct. 5 in Ocean City, but the “Source and Summit” of the Eucharist is always present.
Your offering of witness, should you choose to share, will be considered for publication at 500 words or less. Include your parish and daytime phone number.
Best to send your personal reflections to email jowens@thedialog.org.
Or mail to:
The Dialog
Editor Joseph P. Owens
1925 Delaware Ave
Wilmington, Del., 19806
