‘The most important thing I do’: Teacher shares gift of the Eucharist with children

The children at St. Mary Parish in Rushville who received their first Communion on May 5 in the parish church line up for a photo with the people who supported them in their path to the sacrament. (Submitted photo)

By John Shaughnessy

Melissa Cull knows that the gifts in our lives come in many ways.

As a second-grade teacher, Cull considers it a great gift that she has been entrusted for nearly 20 years with preparing her students at St. Mary School in Rushville for their first holy Communion.

“It is, by far, the most important thing I do,” she says. “I feel like I’m very blessed that I get to help them prepare for first Communion and get to teach them about taking Jesus into their body and letting it be a special occasion for them.”

That gift takes on an added dimension when she gets to see the faces of the children as they receive the Eucharist for the first time. As an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, she is often involved in sharing the body and blood of Christ with the children, offering them the wine that has been transformed into Christ’s blood.

“It’s amazing to see their faces. It almost always takes my breath away. I see joy, love, reverence, peace,” she says. “I always make sure they know exactly what they’re doing. They know that’s Jesus. They know that’s Jesus’ body. They know the wine is Jesus’ blood. It’s truly a blessing to be there and get to watch them.

“I always tell the kids how much I love to see them grow and to be with Jesus, and now Jesus is with them.”

This year, the second-grade students at St. Mary received their first Communion on May 5 during a Sunday Mass at the parish. The following day, Cull continued a long tradition she has followed for her students.

“I always have a little gift for them when we come back to school on Monday,” she says. “The whole class, whether they’re Catholic or not, I always have a little gift for them. I let the kids who are Catholic tell the kids who are not Catholic how they feel. And how special they thought it was. And I always let them tell about their party. I show pictures to the rest of the class who were not at church, so the rest of the class feels involved and not left out.

“This year, I found some really pretty rosaries. And the kids who are not Catholic were as excited as the kids who made their first Communion.”

‘I still feel how special it is’

Receiving their first Communion definitely made an impact on the children.

“It made me feel more kind because Jesus is in me and he was kind,” Audra Mahan said.

Tuff Busald noted, “It made me feel more holy.”

“At first, I was scared,” said Luis Leon. “But afterward, I felt really good inside.”

Wes Hoeing chimed in, “It was good to have Jesus in me.”

Cull approaches the entire experience of first Communion as a great gift because that’s the way she has always viewed the Eucharist in her life. It was part of her life when she and her husband Stephen entered into full communion of the Church and were married in the Church. It was part of her life as she prepared two of her three children and her granddaughter for their first Communion.

“My husband and I joined the Church before we got married 30-some years ago,” she says. “I still feel how special it is every time I take Communion, and I want that for the kids. I hope they always feel that way.”

She pauses for a moment to consider just how much the Eucharist is a gift in her life.

“How do you describe the indescribable?” she says “How do you describe being filled with joy and love and peace when you take Communion? It’s a very important part of my life. There have been lots of times—especially in the last couple of years when COVID was going on and I was trying to teach online and when we were trying to run our family business—that it has truly kept me centered. It’s kept me thinking about what’s actually important in my life.”

Her instincts as a teacher lead her back to thoughts of her students who received their first Communion.

“I can’t really explain how cool it is to know this sacrament started with Jesus, and that we’re still passing that along, we’re still doing exactly what Jesus did, and the kids know that. I hope they always feel it’s as special as they did that day.” †
 

Related story: A timeless photo captures the joy of first Communion for a teacher and her students