My Dear Friends:
I can’t thank all of you enough for your patience, cooperation, and words of encouragement as we began celebrating the Sunday Mass here in our old church last week. The compliments Father David and I received after each Mass are a testament to the hard work our parish staff and dedicated volunteers put in to transforming this building back into a temporary church. As with all transitions, there were some hiccups which we hope to iron out, but we are overjoyed that we could bring you the Holy Eucharist in a fitting and sacred environment.
Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi which reminds us that the Eucharist is the center of our Catholic faith. If I may share with you an excerpt from a homily Pope Benedict XVI once preached on this feast:
St Leo the Great recalls that “our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ aspires to nothing other than to become what we receive”…
St John Mary Vianney liked to tell his parishioners: “Come to communion…. It is true that you are not worthy of but you need it.”
With the knowledge of being inadequate because of sin, but needful of nourishing ourselves with the love that the Lord offers us in the Eucharistic sacrament, let us renew [today] our faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
We must not take this faith for granted! Today we run the risk of secularization creeping into the Church too. It can be translated into formal and empty Eucharistic worship, into celebrations lacking that heartfelt participation that is expressed in veneration and in respect for the liturgy.
The temptation to reduce prayer to superficial, hasty moments, letting ourselves be overpowered by earthly activities and concerns, is always strong… With the Eucharist, therefore, Heaven comes down to earth, the future of God enters the present and it is as though time were embraced by divine eternity. (June 17, 2009)
Let us reflect today on what draws us to this altar every Sunday: the Body and Blood of our Lord that in this Divine Sacrifice unites heaven and earth and calls us to be Eucharist for others.
God Bless You All,
