By Annie-Rose Keith
Connecting Liturgy and Life
Editor’s note: For 2026, the weekly “Connecting Faith and Life” column has been renamed “Connecting Liturgy and Life.” The column consists of reflections on Part Two of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), which focuses on the Liturgy and the Sacraments.
cf. CCC 1391-1395; 1396-1401
As is the case with any six-year-old boy, my son is very focused on all manner of superheroes. Whoever and whatever the superhero is, he is into it as long as he can make sense of the story line, and if they have an achievable costume. He is not a villain kid, which I suppose is a good thing for both our wallet and his growth in virtue.
What is it about our attraction to either villains or superheroes? Is it about the journey of a superhero in their fight for truth? We’re naturally inclined to want truth, beauty and goodness and to be fed by something real. We are being told that real things (truth, beauty, etc.) are harder and harder to find, but this reality that we so crave is right in front of us each weekend when we attend Mass. I’m sure this is obvious to most reading this, but as a full-time minister at my parish and a mom of three, it’s hard not to connect what my children are taking in with the next sacramental milestone for both my children and the children of my parish. Bear with me here.
The Eucharist is the ultimate unifier (CCC 1396). Not only does it unify, but it also strengthens everything about us on both an individual and communal level (CCC 1391). It is always very easy for the crowd to rally behind a superhero vanquishing evil because we see immediate results. We are gratified because evil is outsmarted and good prevails (over Gotham, etc.). Jesus’s precious body in the Eucharist does not always work like that, but it’s the most real and tangible way to fulfill our desire to see truth and goodness prevail. Those strengthening graces are always present in the Eucharist; we just have to know what to do with them.
My son (and Spidey) likes to tell us that “with great power comes great responsibility,” and yet the great power and responsibility that comes from being able to receive the Eucharist is often missed because, quite frankly, we’re flawed humans. Mass to many is just a gathering of other humans doing the same motions every week, but I encourage you to dig a little deeper. Are you honestly coming because “it’s just what we do” or are you coming to feed a desire for yourself and/or your family? What or who is calling you to be there?
God wants to provide for us from start to finish. “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26). Our Christian journey is made more sustainable by the Eucharist until the moment of our passage into eternity (CCC 1392).
I want to highlight that the definition of a journey is very broad. Sure, there’s a certain sense of drama that comes along with calling something a journey, and rightly so, because life shouldn’t be boring. The journey of our souls encompasses any other journey we might find ourselves on throughout our time on earth. We need food for this journey and Jesus is that food (CCC 1394). He gives us the most generous and intimate gift imaginable: he gives us himself, his own body and blood to nourish our souls and sustain us until we get to heaven. The Eucharist even preserves us from future mortal sin (CCC 1395)! This truly is the most complete gift, as Jesus himself satisfies our longing for truth, beauty, goodness, and to be fed by something real.
Imagine how studio profit margins would sink if each superhero cartoon series only lasted one episode because once the first bad guy is conquered, they’re all conquered. I would be pleased, but my son and his ever-evolving attention span would not. Yet, the story of God’s victory over the ultimate foes of sin and death, and therefore all other evils, plays out at every single Mass.