Eucharistic Devotion with Dr. Scott Hahn

Adam Wright:

We are happy to be on the road today at the BOS Center in Springfield, Illinois with Covenant Network at the Eucharistic Congress for the Diocese of Springfield. After a few years’ worth of phone interviews, it is a joy to say we are sitting down now in person with Dr. Scott Hahn. Dr. Hahn, thank you so much for being with us today.

Dr. Scott Hahn:

Adam, it is wonderful to actually be with you in the flesh and not just, you know, via the phone.

Adam Wright:

That’s a very Catholic statement that you’ve made in there.

Dr. Scott Hahn:

Yes, it is.

Adam Wright:

And as everyone’s filtering into the center, you can hear the energy, the joy is certainly picking up from when I first arrived a few hours ago. And that whole phrase you just said, “in the flesh”, is the reason we are gathering here today. That our Lord has made Himself available to us under the humble appearance of bread, but not bread, sacramentally present body, blood, soul, and divinity in the most Holy Eucharist. I wonder if you could share some thoughts about the significance of today and what you’ll be saying in your talk to the pilgrims who have come from all across the Diocese to be here today.

Dr. Scott Hahn:

Well, I’m going to be sharing some lessons I learned on the road to Emmaus, by rereading the story that we all know, we all love it. But I continue to find it’s almost like an onion. Layer after layer, deeper and deeper. You know? I want to share then, but also now, the fact that Jesus decided to spend His first day back from the dead doing what? I mean, I would have dropped in on Pilate, Herod, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin. He leads a really long bible study for hours, mile after mile, igniting these two lowly laymen, Clopas and his unnamed friend. Setting their hearts on fire as they themselves admitted later on, did not our hearts burn within us as He opened up the scriptures, but not once did they ever recognize Him until they arrived, and they’re at the table. What does He do? He takes, He blesses, He breaks, and He gives. The same fourfold action in Luke 24 that we read about in Luke 22 on Holy Thursday, in the upper room when he instituted the Eucharist.
And so, what we recognize then, is what they recognized finally. And what does Jesus do? He vanished. And not because He was playing hard to get, but because He brought their faith to the point where they would recognize and discern the resurrected body, blood, soul, and divinity in the breaking of the Eucharistic bread. And so He vanishes so as not to become a distraction. Because once our faith reaches that climax, that Zenith, then we recognize something that we would never know on our own. This is the basis for Eucharistic faith. This is why Eucharistic devotion is a reasonable response, but it’s also why Pope John Paul II, Saint John Paul, called for Eucharistic amazement. In his final encyclical, he was saying, okay, let’s restore Eucharistic faith and devotion, but let’s really recognize how amazing it is that God has come to us in the flesh and empowered mortal men like my own son, Father Jeremiah, to do what? To transform earthly matter into Christ’s resurrected body, blood, soul, and divinity? Yeah. Exactly. Well, I mean, if this is the truth, if this is reality, then we simply can’t afford to neglect it and get caught up in news cycles or election cycles and that kind of thing.

Adam Wright:

I remember back in the late nineties in my hometown of Saint Louis. There was a very strong push coming from our archbishop at the time to promote Eucharistic Adoration. He established a committee, the Archbishop’s Committee on Eucharistic Adoration. Slowly but surely, you started seeing perpetual adoration chapels pop up in churches across the Diocese. You spoke about that road to Emmaus and that encounter that the apostles have, and I think sometimes we take for granted the fact that our Lord has that invitation. If you need an encounter, come spend some time with me.
Now you have been a biblical scholar for most of your life, but at one point, you were not a believer of the Catholic faith. You would not have come to the chapel and spent some time. What difference has that made for you to be able to have that encounter, to not only spend time with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and the Adoration Chapel but also to receive Him so intimately in Holy Communion?

Dr. Scott Hahn:

Yeah. So on the one hand, I had a profound intellectual conversion in the early eighties after seminary when I became a Presbyterian pastor and a professor at a local seminary, teaching a course, a graduate seminar on the gospel of John, when I ran into John 6 like it was a brick wall. We were studying the Greek, and I discovered that my interpretive tradition just couldn’t stand up to what the text was saying. And so I went in search of a church that had an interpretive tradition that did. And that, of course, led to my conversion back in ’86. But what you discover in becoming a Catholic is the conversion is not what happened to me simply when I was 14 or when I entered the church in 1986. Conversion is what happens every morning when we awaken and we make the morning offering. Conversion is never perfect, so it has to be ongoing, lifelong.
But, you know, you’re converting to not just simply a body of truths, you’re converting to Christ, and Christ is here. And when He said, “Lo, I am with you always even to the close of the age,” it wasn’t just, you know, sort of like a farewell. It was a pledge of a presence that is not only out of this world but in it. And that is, of course, real in the seven sacraments, but most especially in the Blessed Sacrament. If you just stack up all of the truths that we profess to believe about the Holy Eucharist, to not pay a visit, to not stop by, to not have prayer and adoration and benediction just doesn’t really make a lot of sense. But to do it, not only deepens our faith, but it also renders our faith authentic. Then instead of simply professing our belief in the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ in the Eucharist, we really come to possess it. So much more than simply taking a test and getting the answers right.

Adam Wright:

The other day, you and I had the opportunity to talk about your book, Catholics in Exile, and one of the points you made in that book was the importance of families living out their vocation. And I chuckle when I ask this question because, originally, we had been set up to have this interview earlier in the month, but you had to reschedule for what I thought was the most fantastic of reasons. All of your children and grandchildren had descended upon your house, with you and your wife. And it was a very joyous time. I remember seeing your Facebook posts about how wonderful that was. What’s the importance of this devotion? Especially for parents with young children, in a culture that might say, “Oh, the children aren’t ready to spend time with our Lord. They’re not ready to go to adoration. Don’t bother to take them there, just stay in the back of church.” Especially when we hear so many priests, praise God, say, “No. No. No. Bring the children. Let the children come. It’s okay if they cry. Bring them here. They need to be here.”

Dr. Scott Hahn:

Right. Well, I would just affirm what you just said, because when we had this great family reunion, the staycation at our home with all six of our kids and 21 grandkids, including Father Jeremiah, we got to have Mass set in our home. He heard confessions as well, from his nieces and nephews. It was just beyond spectacular. It was very special, but the kids also really enjoy going down for adoration. Now, it might be a little bit of a stretch to make it an hour long for them. You know, sometimes we find ourselves distracted or just getting tired and worn out, so you’ve got to be realistic. I also would like to say something about married couples with lots of kids or really young ones, because I wrote a book years ago, it’s still one of my favorites, called First Comes Love: Finding Your Family in the Church and the Trinity.
What I explained in the back of that book, near the end, was that I would do adoration. I made a point of doing it every day, but sometimes I had to put it off until the evening. Well, after a few months of doing adoration in the evening, I ran into a different kind of brick wall. Namely, Kimberly was unhappy because when the kids were going down, I was slipping out. And so I went to my spiritual director, and I said, “I’m really having trouble scheduling that adoration time earlier in the day.” He said, “Well, you know, this is the Blessed Sacrament, but marriage is a sacrament, too. So time spent with your spouse, with your bride, helping her clean up and get the kids ready for bed, that is also time before a blessed sacrament.” And so I would say, don’t sacrifice the peace and the harmony of good marriage and family life. That also is sacramental. And you can create a sort of feedback loop, that if before my bride, I can express my gratitude, my thanks for such a sacrament, then when I go to the Blessed Sacrament the next day or later that night, I think it creates a sort of loop. A sort of sacramental circuitry that is not only enhancing my own prayer life but also my family life.

Adam Wright:

One final question for you because I know it’s going to be a busy day. You have to prepare for your talk this afternoon. I would imagine most of our listeners think, “Wow. It must be amazing to be in Dr. Scott Hahn’s family.” And you as the father, and your wife Kimberly, have had a tremendous impact on your children’s lives because you are their parents. But now you have a son, you keep mentioning, Father Jeremiah. And just as my children changed my life, I imagine that all of your children have changed your life, but he in particular in a very unique way.
What has that meant for you and for Kimberly, to have a son who is an ordained priest, who has dedicated his life to bringing the sacraments, acting in the person of our Lord, for the church?

Dr. Scott Hahn:

Okay. So first of all, let me clarify something that you and I already know, Adam, and that is there was only one holy family, and it was in Nazareth, not Steubenville, Ohio. So, I tell my kids, “If I didn’t know me, I might be impressed. So if you meet people who are really impressed, realize you know me better than they do.” But having a priest for a son, a son who became a priest, you talk about circuitry. I mean, it really completes it. I never put any pressure on any of our five sons to become priests. They all pursued it, they all discerned it, but only one became a priest.
You know, I must admit that my oldest son, Michael, who is now 40. He is a professor of scripture at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland with seven kids, and he has taught me so much about scripture as a professor. Likewise, Gabe, who’s got nine. So, I am so deeply thankful for the vocations of all of our kids. There is something absolutely unique and special about having a priest, but every other one also has a vocation that is absolutely unique and special, too. I’m grateful, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t think that makes Jeremiah our favorite.

Adam Wright:

I can only imagine if your grandchildren are anything like my children, the questions they ask that when two scripture scholars and a priest and the family get together around the table. If the children start asking questions, where that conversation can go —

Dr. Scott Hahn:

It’s a lot of fun.

Adam Wright:

I would imagine. Dr. Hahn, this has been an honor to sit down and talk with you today for our Covenant Network listeners. Thanks for all you do for the faith and for all you do for our radio listeners. And until the next time we get to talk, we wish you all of the best.

Dr. Scott Hahn:

Adam, you’re most welcome, but thank you for what you do on Covenant Radio. And I would just say keep up the great work, dear brother.