“Every eucharistic celebration is an encounter with God,” priest says

By Natalie Hazel Quimlat, MD

NAGA CITY --- “We have to be pure before we encounter Christ. Otherwise, it will not be a fruitful encounter.” This was the message of Fr. Mario Arnulfo Gaite in his homily as he celebrated the novena mass in honor of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception last December 2, Monday, at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Naga City.

Mary, Mother most pure

“Purity is a condition for entering heaven,” Gaite said. “Only those who are pure can enter heaven. [This is] because the beauty of God cannot allow anything impure to [be] close to it. God is a pure spirit [and] only those who are spirits and [those] spiritualized can come close to God.”

“Purity cannot be mixed with impurity,” he continued to say. “Thus, when God chose to become man, He cannot be born [just] by any woman. [God] has to live in the womb of a pure person, so Mary was immaculately conceived -spared from the effects of original sin.”

The Liturgy affords us reflections for purity

Moreover, Gaite said that man cannot be close to God if he has impurities. First, he must be clean and purified. This he does at the start of every eucharistic celebration when he prays the Penitential Act. “In our Liturgy, we always want to purify ourselves before we become close to God,” Gaite said.

“Let us acknowledge our sins, so we may worthily celebrate the sacred mysteries, “ he continued to exhort. “Let us remind ourselves [that every eucharistic celebration] is an encounter with God [and so] we have to be clean and purified before and at the start of [each mass].”

In addition, he said, “The Liturgy offers us [many] symbols and prayers for us to be cleansed before we accept Christ.” The priest constantly prays for purity and cleanliness during the mass, most especially before the Communion.

Spiritual Stains and being pure

According to Gaite, there are three avenues for man to sin as stated in the Penitential Act: “in my thoughts, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do”. Man acquires spiritual stains through evil thoughts, speaking bad words or saying bad things about other people, and by doing sin. But more importantly, also failing to do what is right or the inability to stand up for what is right when one knows what must be done is also sin or a way of acquiring spiritual stains.

Thus, Gaite offers two ways that one can try to do in order to avoid sin. First is running away from the occasions of sin. “The body or the flesh is the most attacked by sin,” he said. “We are spirits living in a material body and we must be masters of our body. This is our challenge in life.” Second is through prayer. “[We] lift our minds and hearts to God to be closer to [Him] and be more in contact with the Divine,” he further said.

In closing, Gaite prayed, “Let us ask [Mary’s] intercession that we may be pure in our thoughts, words and deeds.”

Gaite is currently the Rector and Parish Priest of the Archdiocesan Shrine and Parish of St. Anthony of Padua in Iriga City. He served as Parish Priest of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Naga City from 2008 to 2014, where he spearheaded the establishment of Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs) in the said Parish.