Sacraments of Every Day

 By Student Prachi Vinata Murarka

I first experienced communion as an eighth-grader in Catholic school. Because I was not a Catholic, I was not allowed to receive the sacrament. However, I could still be part of the choir and sing my praises for God’s holy name. It was not until I came to a CLM retreat that I was exposed to communion again. It felt very strange to me. The beckoning of Jesus’s body as bread and wine felt very far away, and the whole process felt ritualistic. I could not connect with it. This all changed at the student retreat at the Shrine of Saint Therese of Liseux, the Little Flower, in Illinois.

CLM’s Bishop Bobby was leading part of the service, and he was so devotional and entranced. As he lifted the bread to be blessed, I could see Padre Ron Roth and Jesus come up to the forefront. I could literally see the wine and bread being transformed by subtle essences with my very eyes. This was a great blessing, a great gift. I kept this experience to myself at first. Then I shared it with Bobby. Since we know that Bobby is deeply into seeing the unseen, he affirmed that my experience was real. This began my relationship with communion.

Communion for me became an act and an opportunity for devotion and connection with the divine. It also brought an opportunity for me to be in community. When the pandemic hit, a friend and I started having communion service over Zoom every week. We would read different passages from interfaith texts, pull cards as appropriate, and bless the sacrament ourselves. We were claiming our place as sons and daughters of Christ able to transform the physical into Christ consciousness. These Zoom communion services allowed me to stay connected to a dear friend and bring in the divine during times of fear, destruction, and consecrate myself to the true will of the divine. It provided me an opportunity to acknowledge that the divine was working even in a dark world.

This relationship began to develop and go further. During a CLM retreat, Rev. Susan Wallace- the educational program director-shared a story of her getting little communion cups. I had an intuitive knowing, and ordered some right away. I did not know what I would do with over 100 communion cups. This was a premonition of what was to come.

I had a new housemate move in, and we began to pray most evenings, bringing communion as a regular ritual for our home. We would take turns blessing the bread and the wine, and this became a cornerstone of healing. Even if there were troubles in the house, communion, union with the divine, seemed to resolve it.

Praying in communion helped me develop the sense that I could connect with God and bring God into this physical world. It is teaching me to pray not only for myself, not only silently, but out loud in a way that consecrates the atmosphere. Now, I am praying with communion, out loud, near and far.

Prachi's website: http://www.prachihealing.com/