Search
From the Pastor's Desk: June 19, 2022
-
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you; he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."- John 6:53, 54
Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Today in our celebration we share in the essence of our faith what Jesus tells us in the Gospel, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My body has eternal life." The significance of Jesus’ statement is echoed by St. Paul who reminds us that we "participate in the body of Christ," when we break the bread and the cup we drink is "a participation in the blood of Christ." On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi we proclaim the greatest gift of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, "the source and the summit of the Christian life" - reality from which everything in our life flows (source) and the reality toward which everything in our life is directed (summit), reality that gives us – the faithful – an energy, vision and hope to foster a true civilization of love.
Today we celebrate Christ's gift of the Eucharist, the source and summit of our life together as a Church. "The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the God-man are really, truly, substantially, and abidingly present, together with His Soul and Divinity, by reason of the Transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. This takes place in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass."
It is with incredible joy that we celebrate the jubilee of three religious sisters who dedicated their lives to the service of the church. God called. Our Sisters responded “YES.” Jubilarians- Sr. Danuta, Sr. Barbara and Sr. Kazimiera- Missionary Sisters of the Holy Family- are celebrated in our community with appropriate ceremonies at the 5:00pm Vigil Mass. During the Mass the sisters will renew their religious vows and their commitment to the consecrated life. Jubilee years are counted from the date of one’s first profession. What a wonderful gift to celebrate the anniversaries of our Sisters who profess vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience for 50 years. It truly is a public proclamation that Religious Consecration is Baptismal Consecration lived deeply.
“For each religious, formation is the process of becoming more and more a disciple of Christ, growing in union with and in configuration to Him. It is a matter of taking on increasingly the mind of Christ, or sharing more deeply His gift of Himself to the Father and His brotherly service to the human family, and of doing this according to the founding gift which mediates the Gospel to the members of a given religious institute.” – Lumen Gentium
I want to extend special words of thanks to Laura Austin and her entire team who made the Vacation Bible School such a splendid success. Your dedication, commitment, love of sharing your time and talents and those of all your collaborators are incredible signs of your faithfulness and blessing to all of us. Thank you!!!!
“Why did Our Blessed Lord use bread and wine as the elements of this Memorial? First of all, because no two substances in nature better symbolize unity than bread and wine. As bread is made from a multicity of grains of wheat, and wine is made from a multiplicity of grapes, so many who believe are one in Christ. Second, no two substances in nature have to suffer more to become what they are than bread and wine. Wheat has to pass through the rigors of winter, be ground beneath the Calvary of a mill, and then subjected to purging fire before can become bread. Grapes in their turn must be subjected to the Gethsemane of a wine press and have their life crushed from them to become wine. Thus, do they symbolize the Passion and Sufferings of Christ, and the condition of Salvation, for Our Lord said unless we die to ourselves we cannot live in Him.” -The Wisdom of Fulton Sheen
Please congratulate our Jubilarian Sisters, keep them in your prayers, and have a blessed week!
With prayers,
Fr. Andy
