From Our Pastor's Desk
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From Our Pastor's Desk
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FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH
Our fidelity to God begins with fidelity to our commitments. Among Jesus’ followers, some began to question his way of speaking about fidelity to God’s plans. There were even those who considered leaving for good. No doubt, Christ demands a well-defined and radical position. “Do you also want to leave?” he asks. Today he asks us the same question, but our answer can only be Peter’s: ““Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” Brothers and sisters, 1. We need to recognize that fidelity is a value that is in crisis. In emergency situations, we don’t lack bouts of enthusiasm, but afterwards, do we persevere in our purpose? Are we capable of risking it all forever, as in a marriage or priestly vocation? You have to be generous to take risks! What is virtuous always seems difficult; we feel a mysterious force that pulls us down. Only with great effort can we succeed in being faithful. Euripides confesses his bewilderment: “Frequently, I have reflected upon mankind’s vices – he says. We see the good, and we do what is bad; we learn virtue and give into vice. Life is sown with diverse pitfalls towards which we are drawn by a dangerous current”. Giovanni Papini adds, “Man, however great he may be, is never all of one piece; alongside generous acts we can find lapses of weakness”. 2. Jesus speaks of the Eucharist, but we can also understand the fidelity he expects in marriage. Both have much in common. Christ gives himself in body and soul. The same occurs between spouses through their total surrender. Both imply a limitless generosity. Through the sacrament of marriage God gives security, fruitfulness and harmony to the spouses. God does not act as a safety net, nor as protective umbrella; instead he works within theme to give them strength, hope and comfort even in the most painful circumstances. 3. Only strong spirits can take on serious commitments. Deserters tend to be weak people. Jesus knew human psychology well. After the discourse on the bread of life, he sees that some of his followers begin to doubt. “Do you also want to leave?” he says, and he lays out the dilemma of following him or leaving him. When the master’s demands become radical and the cross in our life emerges, some disciples leave and others turn him off. But not all. There is also a group that stays. To choose means to commit all of one’s life. Brothers and Sisters: Do not postpone your decision to be faithful. When you are faced with the temptation to abandon everything, pray like the disciples: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” You will always find Christ in the Eucharist. Receive him frequently in communion. There lies the secret to fidelity to the things of faith, but also to matrimonial fidelity. Amen. Source: ePriest.com / Best Practices and Homily Resources for Catholic Priests BREAD THAT RAISES THE DEAD
God’s Word, as well as the Eucharist, is the repast that feeds our soul. It would be reckless not to take part in the banquet that God’s Wisdom has prepared for us: Bread and the Word. The Gospel enlightens our mind; the Eucharist moves our will. Christ’s promise makes a new light shine within us on the horizon of our hope: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” Brothers and Sisters, 1. In the Eucharist Jesus instills in us an immense desire to live, to be simple and authentic. Jesus, before consummating his bloody sacrifice on the cross, wanted to invite us to a banquet that he himself had prepared with a surprising and almost disconcerting type of food: his body and blood. What is the meaning of a banquet in which we are offered food and drink that can only be present through the sacrifice of a victim? There is a lot to understand here, much to adore, much to believe and much to love. The Eucharistic banquet nourishes us and at the same time drives us to solidarity with others so that everyone may take part in the feast. It teaches us to embrace the little ones, foster friendship, and lead our brothers and sisters to the banquet a “common union” where what is “mine” becomes “ours”, and God changes it into “his”, God’s. 2. Holy Communion not only nourishes the soul but also gives us strength and makes our spirit enjoy the sweetness of divine things. It is not the sacrament that becomes, like the bread and wine, part of our substance, but rather we who mysteriously become like Christ. The Jews argued, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” We can no longer argue as they did; we must adore, thank and commit ourselves. He left us a last memory, beating and warm throughout the ages, to remind us of that night when he promised to remain upon the altars until the end of time, insensitive to the pain of loneliness he would experience in so many tabernacles. 3. The Eucharist is not only strength and food for the road; the Eucharist is not only for the present. It is also a pledge of future glory. What does “Whoever eats this bread will live forever” mean? Already from the present moment, the Eucharist plants a little “heaven” inside us, because in the Eucharist we receive the suffering and glorious Christ. We are pilgrims of this land, yet citizens of another country towards which we journey and where we will dwell eternally. Our final destiny cannot be this world. God opens our poor existence on to the horizon of eternal life. His promise must inspire us. “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood already has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” How do we nourish our hope and yearning for the final feast? Let us ask the Lord to welcome us into heaven because we have fed on the bread that raises us to true life. Amen. Source: ePriest.com / Best Practices and Homily Resources for Catholic Priests BREAD THAT HEALS THE SOUL
Anorexia is a disease of modern times. When bread is most abundant in rich countries, people lose their appetite. Scientists say that it is a psychosomatic syndrome. The Eucharist is bread come down from heaven. It is bread that gives life. "Whoever eats it will live forever." For lack of responsibility, many Christians are systematically deprived of the Eucharist. It is a kind of suicide by starvation because this weakness can lead to a death of the soul. Sisters and brothers: 1. The anorexia of the soul is defeatism and discouragement. We can not avoid in our lives the arrival of extreme situations of physical and moral suffering that lay us low. How do we usually react? Normally we go through three stages: First we deny that the evil we are experiencing is real; we believe that the ills of others would never happen to us. The diagnosis of a tumor, job loss, an aborted project, the death of a child, a failed test, etc... Then we recognize the reality, but we rebel against it: Why me? The others are at fault! Why does God not intervene? This makes me lose faith! My life has no meaning I'd rather die! Finally, we accept it with resignation because we see no escape. Only with the help of God will we accept it with love. 2. We can lock ourselves in a vicious circle. The defeatist would rather sit under the tree to die, but you can find reasons to be optimistic. Optimism makes a harsh road bearable. The defeatist has three lives within the soul: the past, present, and future. All of them disturb him. He is convinced that their faults, illnesses, and failures will happen again. The pessimist carries the root of his troubles in his own thoughts: He only sees one part of the truth, the darkest. He is color blind. The one-sided view of the world and of things makes him unhappy, unsociable, and unpleasant. Joseph Zuhr says that "Pessimism overshadows one's existence, numbs dynamism, saps energy, paralyzes action, and finally ends in discouragement and despair. That is, it ends in the destruction of life." Pessimism is a contagious disease and a form of moral decay. 3. "Get up and eat for the way is long!" God always sends his angel at the right time. The sacrament of the Eucharist is the very person of Jesus who feeds us only if we eat it with the necessary dispositions. Unfortunately there are among us many anorexics who lose their appetite for God. They stop eating, so they are sterile and are in danger of starvation. Let us resolve not to let this plague called discouragement, weariness, defeatism enter our soul. Rather, let us cultivate optimism and high ideals. Let us say like Peter, "Lord, to whom shall we go? Only you have the words of eternal life." Source: ePriest.com / Best Practices and Homily Resources for Catholic Priests GIVE US THIS BREAD ALWAYS!
Every Sunday, we leave our homes and forget the worries of work to go to Mass in the parish. Why we do it? Why have believers been doing this since the early centuries of Christianity? It will be very helpful for today and the two following Sundays to seek an answer in the reading from the Gospel of John in which he narrates the multiplication of the loaves and the Eucharistic discourse of Jesus. Jesus is the bread of life. Sisters and brothers: 1. The people followed Jesus because he had multiplied bread and had satisfied the hunger of thou-sands of his followers. But Jesus reproached them: You seek me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you had eaten your fill. They were not really looking for the Jesus of the miracles, but the miracles of Jesus. Man is a beggar. Man is a being full of needs. Nothing quite satisfies all of his desire. Then his cry is ad-dressed to someone to come to his aid. What about us? Do we participate in Sunday Mass because we feel hungry, afraid, we are overwhelmed? 2. Man needs salvation! It is true that many people just ask God for things. We ask for our daily bread and all we need to live, but these specific requests are expressing our need for God. Thus, St. Augustine warned: "God hears your call if you seek him. He does not listen if you are looking for other things through him." At the time of the communion, we also feel that Jesus makes that great revelation to us: "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." 3. Jesus speaks of another bread. Life is a journey where we need to be fed in order to continue on, Jesus reminds us that He is the bread that gives eternal life. The great spiritual weakening of many people (lack of feelings, lack of love, lack of faith and hope, lack of solidarity with the weakest...) is because they do not eat properly, are anemic in spirit and stunted of hope. Brothers and sisters: Let's make each Mass a true celebration as a personal encounter with Christ. It gives us the bread of the Word and the bread of his Body. A feast cannot be improvised. So let us promise to prepare for it during the week. Our prayer, our service to others, the fulfillment of our duty should be the bread that we take with us on Sunday for the Lord to bless and multiply. Jesus has left us his life, his Church, and his body so that we might have life and abundant life. Our pray-er should be this: Lord, give us always this bread! Source: ePriest.com / Best Practices and Homily Resources for Catholic Priests |
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