Daily Scripture

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Scripture:

Exodus 24:3-8
Hebrews 9:11-15
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

Reflection:

Be then what you see and receive what you are.  -St. Augustine of Hippo

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is also known as the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, which translates from Latin to “Body of Christ.” This feast is celebrated on the Thursday following Trinity Sunday or, as in the USA, on the Sunday following that feast.

We celebrate the Eucharist at every Mass, and this solemn feast serves to remind us once each year of the tremendous gifts of the Eucharist:

—the Real Presence of Christ in the bread and wine, His Body and Blood, and                         
—the Body of Christ as it is present in the Church.

The Church is the Body of Christ because of the intimate communion which Jesus shares with us. He nurtures us with His own Body and Blood, his Life Force. “Take it; this is my body.” (Mark 14:22)
This allows both unity and diversity in the Church.

At my parish in downtown Detroit, I love to watch people process to the front of church to receive Holy Communion. The retired judge and his wife from the suburbs walk up the middle aisle with a man with a limp, who comes to church on a bike. Both have found a new church home at my parish after their parishes closed. The woman who was sleeping in her car two years ago is now studying to make vows with the Secular Franciscans. A single mother and her 19-year-old daughter are celebrating the Mom’s last chemo treatment. A woman brings Communion to her husband who waits for her in their pew; he cannot make it to the front anymore. It is very touching to witness the vulnerability and the faithfulness of my fellow parishioners.

After more than twenty years in my parish, I know many of the parishioners well. They know my story, and I know theirs. Despite our differences, our bonds of friendship are strong—when we walk together toward the altar to receive Communion, we share something that binds us together: the Life of Christ which nourishes each of us as individuals and as a community. In the words of St. Augustine, we become what we receive.

In a sermon to some new members of the Church, St. Augustine, bishop of Hippo in north Africa said: “You hear the words, the “Body of Christ’ and you reply “Amen”. Be then a member of Christ’s body, so that your ‘Amen” may accord with the truth…Be then what you see and receive what you are.”

Patty Gillis is a retired Pastoral Minister. She served on the Board of Directors at St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Retreat and Conference Center in Detroit. She is currently a member of the Laudato Si’ Vision Fulfillment Team and the Passionist Solidarity Network.

Scripture:

Jude 17, 20b-25
Mark 11: 27-33

Reflection:

The author of Mark’s Gospel writes just enough to catch our attention, and then leaves us to consider the depths of the passage.  That is the case with today’s reading. The chief priests, elders and scribes are again trying to trap Jesus. He agrees to answer their questions, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you the authority to do them?”, if they first answer His question, “Was John’s baptism of heavenly or human origin?” They are so afraid of the crowd they cannot agree among themselves how to answer Jesus, so He refuses to answer their question.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Justin the Martyr, a Greek philosopher in the early church.  He debated with and preached to Greek and Roman pagans which ultimately led to his death.  Unlike the chief priests, elders and scribes, Justin bravely answered questions while preaching an unpopular and ultimately dangerous message. Justin’s life was a living witness of the Holy Spirit’s gift of fortitude. 

Most of us will never face life threatening challenges for our beliefs, but we may be in situations that challenge us to speak out on our Christian beliefs. Perhaps we are worn down with the difficulties of daily living due to financial burden, illness, addiction, and difficult relationships. In those moments, we should keep in mind the words of Pope Francis:

“Dear friends, sometimes we may be tempted to give in to laziness, or worse, to discouragement, especially when faced with the hardships and trials of life. In these cases, let us not lose heart, let us invoke the Holy Spirit so that through the gift of fortitude he may lift our heart and communicate new strength and enthusiasm to our life and to our following of Jesus.”

Mike Owens is coordinator of the Passionist Alumni Association and a member of the Migration Commission of Holy Cross Province.  He lives in Louisville, Kentucky. 

Memorial of Saint Paul VI, Pope

Scripture:

1 Peter 1:18-25
Mark 10:32-45

Reflection:              

“. . . the word of the Lord remains forever.”

Today we remember Saint Paul VI, one of many Italian born popes, he was elected to the papacy after the death of Saint John XXIII. He saw the Second Vatican Council through to its closing in 1965. He was now tasked with leading the Church into the modern world. In his just over fifteen-year papacy he had a historic meeting with the Greek Patriarch. He established World Peace Day and wrote an encyclical, Humanae Vitae, that has had an impact not only on Catholics around the world but how the world needs to view human life.

The first reading from the first letter of Peter speaks to us of the importance of the death and Resurrection of Christ. The image of the “spotless unblemished Lamb” sacrificed on the altar of the Cross bought for us eternal life with God. Not only is the “Blood of Christ imperishable” but his word as well. We know this to be true because the Gospel message has impacted the followers of Christ for over two thousand years. I have a few scripture passages and a psalm or two that I have memorized or have heard so many times in my life that they are etched into me. I sometimes find myself thinking about those words unconsciously. This would not happen if they were not also part of my deepest self. These words give me hope and support me in my faith journey.

What words from the Scriptures are etched into your deepest self?

The Gospel speaks of the challenge of drinking from the “chalice” that Christ drinks from and being baptized with Christ as well. He was speaking to James and John who were seeking places of power or rank in the “kingdom” of Christ. They did not fully understand what they were truly asking for and most likely did not until the day of Pentecost and their own deaths. Just as we grow into our faith and what it means to truly be a Christian, we do not fully understand our own Baptism and Confirmation unless we immerse ourselves into the words and deeds of following Christ. For me, the most challenging thing about life is to live it as a Christian. And I am grateful that the Church gives the Sacraments to assist me in my faith journey because I cannot do it alone. The gifts and graces that come through the Sacraments challenge me to grow into the person that God created me to be. Remembering that God’s mercy, love, and forgiveness is beyond what I could ever imagine gives us hope that whether we are doing God’s will or not, as Thomas Merton prayed, we still please God. And that is faith.

Linda Schork is a theology teacher at Saint Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

1 Peter 1:10-16
Mark 10:28-31

Reflection:

Last weekend we celebrated the great feast of Pentecost!  Happy Birthday Church!!  In the coming weeks, we will celebrate the special Eucharistic feasts, but for the most part, we have entered into that long liturgical season of Ordinary Time!  I think you will all agree that for most of us, our lives are anything but ordinary!  We stand at the cusp of summertime; school’s out, vacation plans are being set, and springtime is giving way to warmer weather, longer days, and more time to spend relaxing, and enjoying a slower pace of life for the next few months.

My friends and I just spent several days planning a three-week camping trip out west for this coming month of August.  We pored over maps and travel books for many hours as we set up our itinerary for this long-awaited vacation.  We laughed a lot, we got frustrated at times when the places we wanted to go, and the times we had to see things, were sometimes all filled up.  We rejoiced when in some instances we got the last places on the boat excursion or gondola ride.  Several times we had to walk away from the planning, take a walk, enjoy ice cream or the hot tub, in order to refresh ourselves.  The ordinary lives we thought we had been leading up to this point took on a new aura as the excitement of the trip began to take hold of us!  At the end of the week, planning completed, reservations made, deposits sent, we returned to our ordinary lives to await the adventures to come in a few short months!

Our scriptures today give us some ideas or practices on how to make the best of this time of the church year called Ordinary.  Being the ordinary human beings we are, trying to navigate life in the fast lane, we need to pay attention to growing our spiritual life in the midst of vacation planning.  In 1^st Peter, we are called to ‘be holy just as He is holy’!  In the gospel, Jesus reiterates that for those of us who accept the challenge and gift of being a believer in Christ, in enduring the highs and lows that this life brings to it, we will in the end be rewarded.

This Ordinary time calls us to take time to recognize the holiness all around us; in the faces of our children playing at water’s edge, hiking with our friends along Canyon Pass, or celebrating the life and times of a loved one gone before us. May this Ordinary Time call us to celebrate our holiness, and to recognize the holy in those we love, as well as those we find it hard to love.  Have a safe and blessed Summer and together celebrate the Ordinary in extraordinary ways!

Theresa Secord is a retired Pastoral Associate at St. Agnes Parish, Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

James 5:13-20
Mark 10:13-16

Reflection:

TRUE REFORM

If someone were to ask you what the greatest need in the Church is today, how would you respond?  Some feel we must have more ordained priests or religious, or we must break down the abuse of power, insisting on greater transparency in governance, or empowering the laity over clericalism. Some feel we must attract youngsters away from social media or cell phones and the Internet and toward Sunday worship. Others are convinced that our energy now must be focused on supporting the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade — ending the federal constitutional right to abortion in the United States. And some challenge Church to respond to the violence in our cities, Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan.

Without denying the significance of any of these concerns, perhaps a broader need hovers around the topic of adult faith formation. It is impossible for the average Catholic to pass to the next generation a reverence for the dignity of all human life, or the imperative of participation in parish life because of our Baptismal commitment, without continued education in our faith. I find, unfortunately, that most of our people possess a high school understanding of Catholicism at best. You cannot solve complex adult problems with a sixteen-year-old’s formation.

Back in the 1960’s the Second Vatican Council reminded us that REFORM is a constant need in the Church. (“The Church…at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.” Lumen Gentium #8). If the Church is always in need of reform, how is that reform to be described for our time?

Many contemporary theologians, and the Council Fathers themselves, have said that Vatican II was largely the work of French Dominican, Yves Congar. In his book, True and False Reform in the Church, Congar states, “In those unusually fruitful years (post World War II), … there was not a conference, a retreat, or a conversation between priests and seminarians that did not take up in one way or another the same questions that were on the mind of every minister of the Gospel seeking to achieve a real and efficacious pastoral ministry, namely, a real, less artificial preaching; catechetics more apt to prepare Christians for real life; less routine and mechanical liturgy, one which really expresses the living worship of the community; forms of parish life that are less legalistic, more dynamic, truer to the real needs of the people, etc.”  Theologian Rick Gaillardetz said it simply: “Too many homilies and conferences are answering questions that people aren’t asking”!

Ancient Israel lived a faith unlike any other religion in the distant past — they filled their sacred writing with self-criticism. This wasn’t suspect as many feel today, calling such action disloyalty or infidelity; rather, we call this the prophetic Word. Other cultures simply did not have the searing condemnation of injustice from an Amos, or the personal denunciation of corrupt leadership from someone like Isaiah, to help form their identity. As the years unfolded into the Christian era, the pages of our rich history were graced with saints like Bernard, Joan of Arc, Francis of Assisi, and Catherine of Siena…men and women who spoke frankly. As we again prepare for leadership elections, how is the Holy Spirit leading us to REFORM?

Fr. Jack Conley, CP, is the local superior of St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.