"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
In case you don’t know, this Sunday evening (10th February) in San Diego there is going to be “Mega Adoration” at the Immaculata:
Several hundred Young Adults will be praying a Holy Hour from 5pm-6pm. There will be a social afterwards. For more details, please see the Facebook event.
Metaphor? Metaphor?
[N]o ambiguity or room for metaphor remains when He declares that “the bread also which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” If that is a metaphor, then we are in trouble, since our salvation depends upon the death of Jesus’ actual body of flesh and blood on the Cross! – Jeff Cavins, “I’m not being fed!”
The Readings this Sunday ask a basic question: whom do you choose?
In the First Reading, Joshua asks this question of Israel. Whom will they serve? Yahweh or some other god? In the Gospel Reading, after hearing the “hard teaching” of the Lord about His Body and Blood, Jesus asks the Twelve if they wish to leave along with some of the other disciples. Peter answers the question in the same way I hope we would all answer: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life”.
We have a fundamental choice in life. Do we choose God, or do we choose something or someone else? As we hear God’s Word this week and gather around the altar to “taste and see that the Lord is good”, let us renew our commitment to the Lord and say with Peter “We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God”.
Once again, in the spirit of regaining more of my free time to engage in other projects, these notes will be fairly terse and to the point…
The Readings this week continue on a similar trajectory to those of recent weeks. In Proverbs we hear how Lady Wisdom has “dressed her meat [and] mixed her wine” and sent out an invitation to all to come eat and drink at her table. In our Responsorial Psalm, the psalmist invites us once again to “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord”. St. Paul continues his moral exhortation to the Ephesians in the Second Reading , commending them to be “filled with the Spirit” rather than wine. Finally, in our Gospel extract, the Lord again affirms that He is “the living bread that came down from heaven” and He promises that “whoever eats this bread will live forever”.
For the last few weeks the Readings have all been about food and drink. Are you hungry yet? Are you spiritually salivating? Are you hungry for holiness? Do you long for the flesh of Christ?
I have no delight in corruptible food, nor in the pleasures of this life. I desire the Bread of God, the heavenly bread, the bread of life, which is the flesh of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was of the seed of David; and I desire the drink of God, namely His blood, which is incorruptible love and eternal life. – St. Ignatius to the Romans, Chapter 7
These notes have been taking up too much of my time again. I’m really going to try and concentrate on keeping them brief…
Our Readings this week continue building on the themes of the past few weeks. In our First Reading we hear about how God provided bread and water for Elijah in the desert and in our Gospel Jesus continues with His the “Bread of life Discourse”. In our Second Reading Paul continues His moral exhortation to the Ephesians.
O sacrament of mercy, O sign of unity, O bond of love! Whoso wishes to live, let him draw nigh, believe, be incorporated, that he may be quickened. – St. Augustine
The Readings this week focus on God’s gracious provision and in the First Reading and the Gospel this gracious provision is manifested through bread.
In the First Reading, bread is multiplied by the Prophet Elisha and in the Gospel, bread is multiplied at the hands of Jesus. These Readings teach us trust in God, to proclaim with the psalmist that “The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs”. Both of these miracles allude to the Eucharist, pointing towards the time when Jesus will be consumed throughout the world under the appearance of bread and wine.
In our Second Reading St. Paul tells us that Christians are called to be united in “one body…one Spirit…one hope…one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father”. This oneness and Church unity finds its clearest expression in the Eucharist. At the Mass, we come together as God’s family, and because though “many, [we are] are one body, for we all share the one loaf” (1 Corinthains 10:17).
As we gather together at the Liturgy this week, let us be mindful that the whole family of God, both in Heaven and on earth, is gathering together with us. United as one, we celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection and are once again fed by the hand of the Lord.
There He is: King of kings and Lord of lords, hidden in the bread. To this extreme He humbled Himself for love of you –St. Josemaria Escriva
Life continues to be a bit hectic so I’m afraid these notes will be rather brief again…
This Sunday is the feast of “Corpus Christi” (Latin for “Body of Christ”), a feast which came about during the 13th Century. Our First Reading describes the institution of the Yahweh’s covenant with Israel through the Patriarch Moses. While instituting the Eucharist in our Gospel Reading, Jesus speaks about a new covenant in His blood. In the Second Reading we hear more about this covenant, brought about through Christ, our great High Priest.
Every time we go to Mass we renew our covenant with the Lord. Let us approach the Eucharist this week mindful of this great covenant, purchased for us by the very blood of Christ.
In all He did from the Incarnation to the Cross, the end Jesus Christ had in mind was the gift of the Eucharist, his personal and corporal union with each Christian through Communion. He saw in It the means of communicating to us all the treasures of His Passion, all the virtues of His Sacred Humanity, and all the merits of His Life. -St. Peter Julian Eymard
