Psalm 121, which we read at today's Mass, was a song of the pilgrims approaching Jerusalem: "What joy," the pilgrims recited as they approached the city, "when they said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord. Already our feet are treading on your threshold, O Jerusalem.
This joy is also an image of Advent, in which each day that passes is another step towards the celebration of the birth of the Redeemer. It is also an image of the joy that our hearts experience when we approach Holy Communion.
It is inevitable that, along with this joy, we feel more and more unworthy as the moment to receive the Lord approaches, and if we decide to do so, it is because He wanted to remain under the appearances of bread and wine precisely to serve as food and, therefore, as strength for the weak and the sick. He did not remain to be a reward for the strong, but a remedy for the weak. And we are all weak and find ourselves somewhat ill.
Every preparation must seem little, and every gentleness insufficient to receive Jesus. Thus St. John Chrysostom exhorted his faithful to prepare themselves worthily to receive Holy Communion: "Is it not absurd to take so much care of the things of the body that, as the feast approaches, for many days beforehand you prepare a most beautiful dress..., and adorn and beautify yourself in every possible way, and, instead, you have no care for your soul, abandoned, dirty, emaciated, consumed with hunger... ".
If at times we feel cold or physically listless, this does not mean that we are going to stop receiving Communion. We will try to get out of this state by exercising more faith, hope and love. And if it is a matter of lukewarmness or routine, it is in our hands to remove this situation, since we count on the help of grace. But we must not confuse other states, for example of weariness, with the situation of an accepted spiritual mediocrity or of a routine that grows by the day. The one who does not prepare himself, who does not do what is in his power to avoid distractions when Jesus comes to his heart, falls into lukewarmness. It is lukewarmness to approach communion by keeping our imagination with other things and thoughts. It is lukewarmness not to give importance to the sacrament being received.
The worthy reception of the Body of the Lord will always be an opportunity to inflame us with love. "There will be those who will say: this is precisely why I do not receive Communion more often, because I am cold in love (...). And because you feel cold, do you want to stay away from the fire? Precisely because you feel cold in your heart, you should approach this Sacrament more often, provided that you nourish a sincere desire to love Jesus Christ. Come to Communion," says St. Bonaventure, "even when you feel lukewarm, trusting everything to divine mercy, because the sicker you are, the greater your need for a doctor.
When we think of the Lord who awaits us, we can sing with joy in the depths of our soul: What joy when they said to me: Let us go to the house of the Lord...!
The Lord also rejoices when he sees our efforts to be well disposed to receive him. Let us meditate on the means and the interest we put into preparing for Holy Mass, into avoiding distractions and discarding routine, so that our thanksgiving may be intense and in love, so that we may be united to Christ all day long.