Father Hathaway’s Column — August 17, 2025

Guest Columnist:
Father John Meyerhofer, Parochial Vicar

THE EUCHARIST AS THE SOURCE OF OUR HOPE

I think it can be said without exaggeration that the Eucharist is the source of our hope. The virtue of hope is not optimism or a feeling that things will turn out alright. Hope is our trust in God, that He is good and will fulfill His promises to us. That is the basis upon which we have hope, that God loves us and will never abandon us. And it’s because of that firm faith in the promises of God that we can face the ups and downs of life with peace, secure in the knowledge that God knows what we need.

The Eucharist is unique among the sacraments because it is what it signifies. In each and every sacrament, God is giving His life and grace to us, under some visible sign. For example, the waters of baptism signify the washing away of sins that is occurring in the sacrament. But in the sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ isn’t just signified. He, Himself, is truly and really present. The God in whom we place our trust and hope is really there in front of us. The most Blessed Sacrament is an opportunity for us to have an intimate encounter with God, so we can learn to trust Him.

In my own life, I can say I began to experience the Eucharist as a source of hope after I graduated from college. I moved to Akron, Ohio, to go to graduate school. Once there, I connected with the local Newman group of Catholic students at the university. That Newman Center had a perpetual adoration chapel, where the Eucharist was exposed 24/7. Students regularly went there to pray. It drew me in for some reason, and it was only two blocks from where I was working.

The first summer I was there, I began to visit the little chapel everyday when I finished work. I would kneel before the Blessed Sacrament, and, not knowing what else to do, I would rattle off all the things occupying my mind: my thoughts, my dreams, my fears and, especially, anything causing me anxiety or worry. When I’d finished my list, it always felt like there was something missing from my prayer, and I didn’t want to simply complain to God. So, I thought of the psalms, and tried to imitate them. The author of the psalms had no problem listing all his grievances before God, but then almost every psalm would end with some act of faith or trust in God, recalling His goodness. I made that part of my prayer too. After telling God everything that had me worried, I then ended my prayer by recalling God’s goodness and love, as the psalmist had done.

That is how God taught me to trust in Him. The time I spent in the little Newman chapel grew and grew. I began to experience a peace and calm there unlike anything I had experienced. I began to stay longer and longer. I found myself wanting to remain there, even after my prayer was finished.

This act of sharing everything with our Lord in the Eucharist, and offering prayers of trust based on the psalms, slowly taught me to put my hope in the Lord. This was not a hope of optimism, but a recognition that God was present to me; He was listening and would care for me. That was the source of my hope, and I only learned it through a close encounter with my Lord Jesus, present to me in the Eucharist.