“Children are the supreme gift of marriage,” says Vatican II. Marriage is directed by its very nature toward the procreation of children. Beyond this, parents are the primary educators of their children, responsible for their holistic formation. Sadly, many couples suffer from infertility. Even in their struggle, they can provide a powerful witness of love, sacrifice, and fidelity. In all this and more, we see the family as the Domestic Church. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 1652-1658.
Christ’s death is the unique and definitive sacrifice. It is both the Paschal Sacrifice that accomplishes redemption and the sacrifice of the New Covenant that restores man’s communion with God. Fr. Mike tell us that Jesus Christ is the one mediator, and yet invites us to participate in his sacrifice when he calls on us to take up our crosses and follow him. When we accept our sufferings out of love, we are united to Christ. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 613-623.
Today Holy Mother Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ or the Feast of Corpus Christi. In the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, is made physically present under the veil of bread and wine. We call that transubstantiation. “Wow, that’s a big word!” It’s six syllables. I know; I learned Catholic school English. “But it’s tough to remember.” Well, first and second graders learn it, so how tough can it be? “It’s hard to understand.” No, it’s not. You’ve all had experience with it. “What do you mean, Father?” For example, my mother’s apple pie was the best. Nobody could make the same apple pie as my mother. Granted, they all had apples, bread, dough, and whatever else goes into an apple pie. I’m not a culinary kind of guy…I’m a real man. They used the same ingredients, but it was different. Now it should have tasted like the pies you can get at Harris Teeter because, as chemistry tells us, it has the same ingredients. But it is different. Why was that? Because my mother’s love transformed those ordinary elements into something wonderful and unique. You will never have that again this side of Heaven. And gentlemen, please do not go to your spouse and say that your mother’s pie was better. It’s different – you don’t have to say it’s better, otherwise you will get so badly hurt that you will need to seek medical treatment. Just an offering of some marriage counseling. But this is what happens here. We experience it all the time. Christ changes the essence of ordinary elements into His love which Himself. If our mothers can do it with their apple pies, why can’t Christ do it?
The priest takes the place of Christ and makes present the Sacrifice which is before the Father in Heaven. We become one with the Sacrifice in the Offertory when the priest takes your human natures and makes them one with Christ on the altar. Christ received His human nature from the Blessed Mother, and He suffered, died, and was redeemed with it. From the Cross, He took the human natures of Saint John, Mary Magdalene, and Mary of Clopas. He took their human natures and united their suffering with Himself. He takes your human nature and unites it with His suffering always before God and present in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. This is our faith. The central doctrine is that God is with us. God is physically here and not in the ethereal sense. That’s why the Blessed Sacrament is kept in the middle of the church. The Blessed Sacrament is central to everything, and everything points to it. We are surrounded by the best way to have a foretaste of Heaven.
Over the years, you have made this church something really beautiful. People who come and visit here always remark about how beautiful it is, and that’s because of your love. Your love for God is expressed in the beauty that is present in testimony of what is here – not what is here – but Who is here. You make a profession of faith every time you receive Holy Communion. Like the apostles at the Last Supper in the Upper Room, you receive from the hands of the priest, who is acting in the person of Christ, Christ Himself. When you are given Holy Communion, I say “Body of Christ.” This gift is so sublime that Paul said there are rules about it. These are not exclusionary rules. Our Lord had rules about it… this greatest act of love. In order to receive this gift, we must show our greatest act of love by a total renunciation of ourselves and sin.
This is our faith, and we are transformed by it. I had a quinceañera which is a Mexican event for 15-year-old girls. The girls wear dresses similar to those in “Gone with The Wind,” and I always ask them, “How do you sit down?” Of course, that’s a mystery I’m not meant to understand on this side of Heaven. I tell these girls to be holy and they will have a joy that no one can take from them. Always be united with our Lord in the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession as Saint John Paul II said. Those are the Sacraments of the Most Precious Body and Blood. Then you will have a joy that nobody can take. We can lose that joy only through sin. So, we are the makers of our own misery. You will be transformed. When you leave here you become your own ciborium which is the covered chalice that contains the Blessed Sacrament. You bring God to other people from within yourself. When Saint Therese of Lisieux was too young to receive Holy Communion, after her mother received Communion and returned to the pew, Saint Therese would put her head in her mother’s lap because Jesus was there. You can bring that love. It’s a personal choice, but do what you can
This is our Faith…our wondrous Faith. If you are in a state of grace, you can receive Communion every time you go to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. What a wonderful gift. The Lord remembers every gift. How can we surprise our Lord when we receive His gift? By saying “thank you.” Remember the lepers He cured and how many of them thanked Him? How will you apply this message to your life? __________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________
Father’s Reflections. . .
It’s Fathers’ Day, and during my morning meditation it occurred to me that the greatest lessons my father taught me were never spoken.
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While we are quite familiar with being disappointed by the worst we see in the world, we cannot deny the extraordinary heroism of which humanity is also capable. All around us, ordinary people are performing acts of sacrifice, giving up their own lives so that others may live. It is nearly impossible to look into the world and not see love overflowing at every turn. Science cannot explain it; logic doesn’t understand it. And yet, love emanates more powerfully than any substance we can measure. Truth transcends any instrument or equation. In moments of pessimism, when we find ourselves impatient with the world, do not grow hopeless, but trust in the unexplainable love lived by so many. Trust the goodness you see. Be still, and know that God is the source of all that is Good, Beautiful, and True, and that all love exists because God wills it.
“God is not an obligation or a burden. God is the joy of my life!” —Fr. Mychal Judge
On the bright fall morning of September 11, 2001, firefighters across New York were summoned to a scene of unimaginable horror: Two hijacked airliners had crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. As firefighters rushed into the burning buildings, they were accompanied by their chaplain, Fr. Mychal Judge. Hundreds of them would die that day, among the nearly three thousand fatalities in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Fr. Judge would be among them. There seemed to be special meaning in the fact that Fr. Mychal was listed as the first certified casualty of 9/11. A photograph of his fellow firemen carrying his body from the wreckage to a neighboring church became an icon of that day: an image of loving service and sacrifice, a hopeful answer to messages born of fear and fanaticism.
