Importance of Daily Eucharist

A STORY
Let me begin with a story. You may take it for what it is worth and nothing more. However, it is an extraordinary story. It has all the power of a metaphor. The change in the attitude and the conversion the story brings about are unusual and amazing! Let us “listen” to it with no pre-conceived ideas or prejudice!
“The story was told to me,” says Sr. veronica Murphy, “by an elderly nun who heard it from the lips of the late Rev. Fr. Stanislaus SS.CC.” It took place in a small town in Luxembourg.
One day, some years ago, a captain of the Forest Guards was in deep conversation with a butcher when an elderly woman entered the shop. The butcher broke off the conversation to ask the old woman what she wanted. She had come to beg for “a little meat”, but had no money. The captain was amused at the conversation which ensued between the poor woman and the butcher. “Only a little meat! But how much are you going to give me?” “ I am sorry, I have no money. But I’ll hear Mass for you.” Both the butcher and the captain were good men, but very indifferent about religion. So they at once began to scoff at the old woman’s answer.

“All right then”, said the butcher finally, “you go and hear Mass for me and when you come back I’ll give you as much meat as the Mass is worth.” The woman left the shop and returned later. She approached the counter, and the butcher seeing her said, “All right then, we’ll see.” He took a slip of paper and wrote on it, “I heard Mass for you.” He then placed the paper on the scales and a tiny bone on the other side, but nothing happened. Next he placed a piece of meat instead of the bone, but still the paper proved heavier. Both men were beginning to feel ashamed of their mockery, but continued their game. A large piece of meat was then placed on the balance, but still the paper held its own. The butcher exasperated, examined the scales, but found they were all right. “What do you want, my good woman, must I give you a whole leg of mutton?” At this he placed a whole leg of mutton on the balance, but the paper outweighed the meat. A larger piece of meat was put on, but again the weight remained on the side of the paper!

This so impressed the butcher that he was converted, and promised to give the woman her daily ration of meat. As for the captain he left the shop a changed man. In the course of time he became an ardent lover of daily Mass. Two of his sons became priests – one a Jesuit, and the other a Priest of the Sacred Heart.

Fr. Stanislaus finished by saying, “I am that Religious of the Sacred Heart, and the captain was my father.”

Take the story for what it is. But seen as a metaphor, it is not without its power to influence one’s life