for the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ
This weekend the Church celebrates a wonderful feast day in honor of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The traditional name for this feast day is Corpus Christi – the Latin name – meaning the Body of Christ – these days we extend this name and call the feast day – the commemoration of the Body and Blood of Christ.
This morning I am preparing for a funeral – a young man – something like 62 years old – a husband and father and grandfather – actually, I don’t know this family well – they have visited Ticonderoga often as summer visitors – but decided to have the funeral Mass here at St. Mary’s – I was rather impressed at the Wake last night with the large number of friends and family who have come up from the New York City area to be part of this man’s funeral services – he must have been well liked and respected.
On the other side of the coin – yesterday – I had a funeral for a woman who had been part of my other parish for most of her life – she was always at Church – Sundays and weekdays – right up in the front pew – a wonderful woman – deeply involved in her parish – deeply faithful to her God. She also was surrounded by so many folks – family and friends.
I mention these funerals in connection with Corpus Christi – because each time we celebrate someone’s death, our funeral liturgy is a Mass – the celebration of the Holy Eucharist – this is our way of remembering – remembering the person who died – and also uniting that memory with the Memorial to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Our Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is rather unique – this is not some sort of reenactment of the Last Supper – rather it is our moment – to unite ourselves with the Lord and with each other. In this most wonderful sacrament we become one with the Lord – we accept the Blessed Eucharist – the consecrated Body and Blood of Jesus – and allow it to become one with us – just as we would any food. This sacrament becomes our food of life – our strength to live well – truly our sustenance.
It is interesting that in our day so much is written and broadcast about eating well – about knowing the ingredients of what we eat – about eating or not eating certain stuff – carrying this over to our spiritual life – we must never underestimate the importance of receiving the Holy Eucharist – of knowing that this is truly the Body and Blood of Our Savior – and that this Eucharist must be a regular part of our spiritual diet. We need to often come to the altar of the Lord – and bring the strength and goodness of Our Savior into our lives.
We often speak of someone putting love into their preparation of meals – I associate it usually with my Aunt Kate – whose cookies are an important childhood memory – not so much because they were the best cookies I ever tasted – but because I knew that they were prepared for me – and the rest of the family – filled with her love for each one of us. So we believe very firmly that Holy Eucharist – that Holy Communion – brings us the love of Jesus in a very special and important way. We must never approach the altar of the Lord for Holy Communion without a total awareness that this consecrated Body and Blood of Jesus will bring us the love of Our Savior in a most unique and wonderful way.
I may have told you this story before – but I remember ages ago – at a conference for priests on the liturgy of the Church – that the priest who was presenting this – spent a great deal of time on the way that Holy Communion was given to the people of the congregation. I remember one of the priests – I guess he was tired – but he did sound rather facetious – suggested that we must put the paten with the consecrated hosts out on a table in the middle aisle and everyone could just take their own – and the presenter calmly said – but this is their moment – this is a most important moment as each person comes to the priest or Eucharistic Minister to receive the sacrament. I know it would be a little too long – but I wish we had time for each person to express their prayer at the moment they were about to receive the Sacrament – “I believe – thank you, Lord, for coming to me this moment in this Holy Sacrament – I have so many cares and worries, I need you – I want to be strong this day to do all that I can to help my family and those I meet – stay with me and guide me.”
So this will be my prayer for today – I do hope that you will discover the beauty and importance of the Holy Eucharist – I do hope that you often allow the Lord into your life in this Sacrament.
Please join me now as we say together the Lord’s Prayer.
Again, I invite you to our parish website - http://www.smsh.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment