In October 2015, the Church raised a new saint to her altars: St Manuel González, the “Bishop of the Abandoned Tabernacle”. The defining moment of grace that spurred him on to become the great Eucharistic saint that he was came at the outset of his priestly ministry. Sent to work in a rural parish, upon arrival he was greeted by the sight of a dusty, abandoned tabernacle, covered in cobwebs.
This was a clear sign of the spiritual state of the parish: rather then surround him with love, this parish had left Jesus surrounded by nothing but spiderwebs. As he knelt down to gather his thoughts about how best to proceed with the mission he had been sent there to accomplish, he felt himself overpowered by a tangible awareness of the living presence of Christ in that tabernacle. The sheer goodness and patience of the Lord to put up with such neglect and indifference flooded his soul with a wave of sadness mixed with love.
