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Archive for the tag “eucharist”

21 Jun 2025

Corpus Christi

As  we gather for the feast of Corpus Christi we remember all those places at war this weekend sadly we add Iran to the list of countries at war. With all that is going on it would be very easy to loose hope or at least be a lot less hopeful that things will improve but I am reminded of the saying that hope springs eternal. Even though things seem to be hopeless for so many we have to continue our prayer for peace and not loose our hope.  Our prayer for peace as well as praying for the leaders of the nations to have the wisdom to do the right thing are indispensable and we have to keep on praying  especially in the current world situation.  

In the First Reading  Melchizedek, king of Salem and priest of God, brought bread and wine and blessed Abram. Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything. In the Second Reading Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, saying the bread is his body and the cup is the new covenant in his blood, to be done in remembrance of him. In the gospel we hear the story of the feeding of the five thousand. The reading and the feast itself are filled  with the richness of faith. Jesus fills us with nourishing food both spiritual and physical. Then we are sent out to proclaim the good news of God’s kingdom to all around us, in doing this we provide spiritual food for others through the Word of God and the Eucharist. The Eucharist  is the sacrament of thanksgiving. When we see the Eucharistic Bread, we believe that it is Jesus who is there before us in the real presence such is our faith in the Blessed Sacrament. The Church tells us that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” (CCC 1324)  

At the Eucharist God sees our hunger and feeds us through Word and Sacrament. Remember, the crowd in our gospel story was first taught, healed and then fed. Their hungers were both spiritual and physical . Now it is our turn, as well-nourished disciples, to find ways to address the physical and spiritual needs of the people we have noticed along the way who may be hungry. These needs can seem overwhelming. But, as with the bread and fish in the gospel story we take what the Lord has given us and give it freely to others. He will do the rest and all will be satisfied. The eucharistic meal is also a promise: one day we will sit at the banquet feast where there will be no more hunger,  no more illness and our satisfaction in God will be complete.  Corpus Christi is the solemn commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist on the first Holy Thursday in the upper room.  It is the Church’s act of homage and thanksgiving to Christ, who by instituting the Holy Eucharist gave us the members of the Church the body of Christ our greatest treasure.

The  feast of Corpus Christi celebrates the enduring sign of Christ’s presence with us personally in the Bread and Wine. It also celebrates Christ’s presence with us in the community of faith where we are. The Eucharist is our sacrament of communion, not only with Christ and God, but also with all those called into the Christian faith. Our communion binds us to one another in a sacred union of mind and heart with Jesus the Son of God our hope in an often times hopeless world.

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09 Aug 2024

19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The readings for the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time demonstrate that God sustains us despite everything that is going on. In the First Reading Elijah, overwhelmed, sought death in the wilderness but was sustained by an angel with food and water, enabling his journey to Horeb the mountain of God.  The Second Reading  tells us to a avoid behaviour that grieves the Holy Spirit. Instead, we should be kind, compassionate, and forgiving, just as God forgave us. We  are called to lead lives of love as we follow Christ’s example. The Gospel reading deals with a doubting audience, and at times we  are also members of that doubting audience.

The people who heard Jesus were shocked and critical of his claim to have come down from heaven as the Bread of Life. Despite the miracles they had witnessed, and the words of wisdom they heard preached with such convincing authority, they could not go the extra step to accept his words and deeds. We, on the other hand  are able to take that extra step because our Christian faith has come to us from Jesus, passed down through the generations of those who went before us. We know where he came from, we know where we are going and we know how to reach that destination our heavenly homeland. The personal faith that we have means that “God out of the abundance of his love, speaks to us as a friend and lives among us as  the living bread which came down from heaven.  All of us have doubts when it comes to our faith and we search for answers to our questions.  When we search we find Jesus who is the answer to our doubts.

Through the teachings of the church and through our communion with him through the eucharist we understand who Jesus is and we also understand his message.  When we gather at the Eucharist we bring ourselves and our needs in prayer to God. We bring ourselves to God because God is with us and continues to be with us in good and bad times through the sacramental life of the Church. When we see the Eucharistic Bread, we believe that it is Jesus who is there before us:  such is the faith we have in the Eucharist.    So  today we give thanks for all our blessings, families, friends and all that we have and hold dear. We also give thanks to God for the presence of Jesus in our lives as we remember that Jesus is the bread of life. The food for our journey that comes from the God who sustains us and loves us and is there for us as a friend, a  helper and a guide.  

We pray for peace as there are many communities and countries at war with one another. From Ukraine to the Holy Land and even on our local streets where racism has reared its ugly head. And so we pray: God of peace, you are peace itself; a divided heart cannot find you, a violent mind cannot welcome you. Grant that we who are one in heart may hold fast to the gift of peace and that those who are divided may forget their strife and come to know your gift of peace. Through Christ our Lord

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31 May 2024

CORPUS CHRISTI

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ also known as Corpus Christi. The readings for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi Year B give background for the notion of sacrifice and explain why we call Jesus the Lamb of God. The first reading describes how the Israelites sacrificed animals to seal their covenant with God. Moses relayed God’s laws to Israel, recorded them, and confirmed the covenant by sprinkling blood on the people, symbolizing their commitment to God’s commands. The second reading explains Christ is our high priest, but he also demonstrates sacrificial love. Christ, the perfect high priest, entered heaven with his own blood, not that of animals, offering us eternal redemption and mediating a new covenant. in the gospel Jesus instructs his disciples to prepare the Passover in a designated room, where he institutes the Eucharist and predicts he will not drink any more wine until he drinks the new wine in the kingdom of god.

 When we see the Eucharistic Bread, we believe that it is Jesus who is there before us what is known as the real presence such is our faith in the Eucharist.  We are thus in the presence of Jesus who has risen and conquered death and is now in Heaven, in the Glory of the Father!  The Church teaches that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” (CCC 1324) This means that, because Christ is really, truly and substantially present in the Eucharist, we recognize that all the graces we enjoy come from this great Sacrament, and all we aspire to, the fullness of the life of God. Corpus Christi is a Eucharistic solemnity that is, the solemn commemoration of the institution of the eucharist. It is, moreover, the Church’s official act of homage and gratitude to Christ, who by instituting the Holy Eucharist gave to the Church and to us as members of the Church our greatest treasure the bread of life.  Each time we celebrate the mass we embody the covenant of Christ, wherein God sees in us anew the flesh of Jesus. It was not by the “blood of goats and calves that we hear about in the first reading but by the blood of Jesus that our sins were forgiven and our redemption was achieved.

Jesus Christ, “body, blood, soul, and divinity,” becomes substantially one with us as our food and sustenance. Thus God beholds each of us and sees in us the beloved Son he sent to save us. But it is not only God’s vision of us that is affected. Our own vision of ourselves and of each other is transformed. If we fully enter into the eucharistic mystery of Jesus we will  see each other as God sees us. By following in our Lord’s footsteps. Christians over the centuries have sacrificed greatly, in a labor of love, for their faith, their Christian way of life and their families. Then as now, it begins with each individual humbly asking God to show the way and to provide the eucharistic food needed to follow in His footsteps. This strength comes from the Eucharist the Bread of Life which is the body of Christ.

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28 Mar 2024

HolyThursday

On this day  we recall Jesus’ commandment to love one another, his washing of the disciples’ feet and the breaking of the bread. The liturgy on Holy Thursday is a meditation on the essential connection between the Eucharist and Christian love expressed in serving one another. In the 1st Reading we hear  The Lordcommands Moses and Aaron to mark the new year and prepare for Passover. Each Israelite family is to select a flawless lamb, share as needed, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The lamb’s blood will protect them from the impending plague, signifying the LORD’s mercy as He strikes Egypt but spares His people, establishing an eternal commemoration. The Second Reading tells us  how Jesus established the Eucharist.Breaking bread, He offered it as His body, and the cup as the new covenant in His blood, instructing us to commemorate His sacrifice in this act until He comes again.

The Gospel  tells us that Before Passover, aware of his imminent departure, Jesus demonstrated his love by washing his disciples’ feet, a task for servants. Peter initially resisted but accepted upon understanding its necessity for fellowship with Jesus. Jesus used this act to teach humility and service, emphasizing that followers should emulate his example of serving others. Christ is not only present in the Eucharist but also in the deeds of loving kindness offered to others through us. We are the ones who make ‘real’ the presence of Jesus in the world today in what we do and say as Christians. The theme running throughout this day is one of humble service of God and his people.  The Evening Mass commemorates the Last Supper with the theme of service and sacrifice both of these are aspects of the same mystery.  We see Jesus as one who serves, who gives himself.  Just as he freely gives himself in washing the feet of his disciples, so too he gives himself  in the bread and wine he takes, blesses and hands to the disciples.  

In the same way we receive Jesus in the form of Bread and wine from the hands of our priests. All these acts of self-giving are the same act that of the Son of Man who came ‘not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’ The action of the Church that is our action  as the body of Christ on this night also witnesses to the Church’s respect for Christ’s Body present in the consecrated Host in the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, carried in solemn procession to the  Altar of Repose. No Mass will be celebrated again in the Church throughout the world until the Easter Vigil on Saturday evening when we proclaim the Resurrection of Christ.  As people who are Christians that is followers of Christ We should embrace all those who are in need of any kind as Christ did. We should be leading lives of generous service to all those who need our help wherever they are and there are many people around who may need our help and care.    When we serve our brothers and sisters we are called them that our God is an all-loving and caring father in heaven then the Eucharist whenever we partake of this great sacrament will bring us joy and peace.May we take up the mantle of humble service giving a helping hand to others and not counting the cost to ourselves. Many people over the years have given much at great personal cost and have not failed in their example of humble service and that for me  is what  Holy Thursday is all about  Humble service for others and not being afraid of being the presence of Christ for others in our world.

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