Sunday, June 19, 2022

Pope Francis: The Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect; it is medicine for all of us who stand in need.

 

Body and Blood of Christ  C 2022

 

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Eucharist; the Feast of Corpus Christi; the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.  At the in initiative of our National Conference of Catholic Bishops, we are beginning a three-year process of Eucharistic Renewal in which we seek to deepen our relationship with Christ Jesus by being fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord and continuously giving thanks to the Lord our God for the many blessings we enjoy.

May we ponder in faith and in awe the mystery that we celebrate.

Today as we receive Communion, as we receive the host in our hands at Communion, we are holding the Body of Christ.  We are holding Jesus who taught us his parables of love and forgiveness for one and all.  We are holding in our hands Jesus who walked on the water.  We are holding in our hands Jesus who died on the cross to save us from our sins.

What a profound privilege we have to receive the Body and Blood of Christ!

Regrettably we too easily take for granted this mystery of the Eucharist.

Sad to say, it is easy to neglect spiritual food.  It’s too easy to skip daily prayer and the weekly celebration of the Eucharist.  We often don’t seem any worse for the wear and tear.  But over the long haul, we can get out of touch with our deepest spiritual hungers.

The thing of it is with spiritual hungers; we can be spiritually hungry without being in touch with our deep hunger.  As the great St. Augustine, you have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.

Far from being a pit stop for fast food and entertainment in the journey of life, the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ is the necessary sustenance for the spiritual growth of each member of the community and for the community itself.

As we reflect on the mystery of the Sunday Eucharist, we are reflecting on the central prayer of our faith tradition.  We are part of a tradition that is nearly 2000 years old.  The Sunday Eucharist is our participation in the paschal mystery of Christ Jesus.  The Sunday Eucharist satisfies the deepest hungers of the human heart.

Today is Father’s Day.  We congratulate and bless all the fathers of our faith community.  You are a blessing to us all.

May the fathers of our parish community keep us in touch with the deepest spiritual hungers are for Jesus’ power to love and forgive his enemies rather than embarrass and crush them.  What we hunger for is Jesus’ power to be bighearted; to love beyond one’s own family, and to love poor and rich alike; to live inside of charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, despite everything in life that militates against these virtues.

Left to our own will power and our own desires, we get too easily trapped in self-centeredness.  The truth of the life of all of us is that we are deeply flawed by sin.

With great joy, we have recently celebrated two First Communion weekends in the parish.  The spiritual joy experienced in our First Communicants and in their families is so very precious.  The ritual of our First Communion celebrations is so inspiring.  It is a moment of joy for me as a priest to give First Communion to one of our younger parishioners.  In age-appropriate ways, they celebrate the life-giving presence of Jesus within them.  Thanks be to God.   

The challenge we have as a parish community is to sustain our Eucharistic faith and joy continuously throughout the year.  Even though our First Communicants won’t be wearing their communion dresses and suits Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, nonetheless the God whose love for us is unending continues to offer to us the Bread of Life and the Cup of salvation always.

As the congregation approaches the altar and receives communion, it is as if the Church is filling up with Christ.  We are not only in union with Christ, but we are also in communion with all those who receive him.  The Eucharist is a community affair, not simply Jesus and me.  We are not only in union with Christ; we are in communion with all those who receive Christ.  This is the meaning of Church.  The Church is a people of God who are in union with Christ in the mystery of the Eucharist.  We are also a people in communion with all those who receive Christ Jesus in the Eucharist.

There are some who want us to judge whether a person is worthy or eligible to receive Communion.  I am clearly not in that lane.  I believe that none of us are worthy to receive Communion as we pray before receiving Communion:  Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof but say but the word and my soul shall be healed.”  This is a profound truth that it is the love and mercy of Jesus that enables us to approach the altar.

As Pope Francis, the Eucharist is not a prize for the perfect; it is medicine for the sick.

The Eucharist is our bond of communion with Christ who cleanses us our sins and unites in marvelous communion with God and gives our dignity to be God’s beloved sons and daughters.  Further, the Eucharist binds us together with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.  We are called to the Body of Christ – the bearers of hope and love to people who are sick in body and spirit.

The Mass is our greatest prayer; we gather to give thanks to the Lord our God.  Yet it is what we do outside the Mass that also determines the genuineness of the offering we make at the altar each Sunday.  By our mutual love and by our concern for those in need we will be recognized as true followers of Christ.  Go in peace glorifying the Lord by our lives in all that we say and do this day and every day.

As a Eucharistic community, we gather with an attitude of gratitude.  We gather to give, to give thanks to the Lord our God.  We give thanks because we have been fed and nourished at the Table of the Lord with a food that enables to live as Jesus lives, to love as Jesus loves, to forgive as Jesus forgives.  Amen

 

Have a Blessed Day.

 

 

 

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