Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 102

Reading 1

Is 66:10-14c

Thus says the LORD:
 Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,
 all you who love her;
 exult, exult with her,
 all you who were mourning over her!
 Oh, that you may suck fully
 of the milk of her comfort,
 that you may nurse with delight
 at her abundant breasts!
 For thus says the LORD:
 Lo, I will spread prosperity over Jerusalem like a river,
 and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing torrent.
 As nurslings, you shall be carried in her arms,
 and fondled in her lap;
 as a mother comforts her child,
 so will I comfort you;
 in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort.

 When you see this, your heart shall rejoice
 and your bodies flourish like the grass;
 the LORD's power shall be known to his servants.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20

R. (1) Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Shout joyfully to God, all the earth,
 sing praise to the glory of his name;
 proclaim his glorious praise.
Say to God, "How tremendous are your deeds!"
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
"Let all on earth worship and sing praise to you,
 sing praise to your name!"
Come and see the works of God,
 his tremendous deeds among the children of Adam.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
He has changed the sea into dry land;
 through the river they passed on foot;
 therefore let us rejoice in him.
He rules by his might forever.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Hear now, all you who fear God, while I declare
 what he has done for me.
Blessed be God who refused me not
 my prayer or his kindness!
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Reading 2

Gal 6:14-18

Brothers and sisters:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
through which the world has been crucified to me,
and I to the world.
For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision,
but only a new creation.
Peace and mercy be to all who follow this rule
and to the Israel of God.

From now on, let no one make troubles for me;
for I bear the marks of Jesus on my body.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit,
brothers and sisters. Amen.

Alleluia

Col 3:15a, 16a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let the peace of Christ control your hearts;
let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 10:1-12, 17-20 

At that time the Lord appointed seventy-two others
whom he sent ahead of him in pairs
to every town and place he intended to visit.
He said to them,
"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.
Carry no money bag, no sack, no sandals;
and greet no one along the way.
Into whatever house you enter, first say,
'Peace to this household.'
If a peaceful person lives there,
your peace will rest on him;
but if not, it will return to you.
Stay in the same house and eat and drink what is offered to you,
for the laborer deserves his payment.
Do not move about from one house to another.
Whatever town you enter and they welcome you,
eat what is set before you,
cure the sick in it and say to them,
'The kingdom of God is at hand for you.'
Whatever town you enter and they do not receive you,
go out into the streets and say,
'The dust of your town that clings to our feet,
even that we shake off against you.'
Yet know this: the kingdom of God is at hand.
I tell you,
it will be more tolerable for Sodom on that day than for that town."

The seventy-two returned rejoicing, and said,
"Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name."
Jesus said, "I have observed Satan fall like lightning from the sky.
Behold, I have given you the power to 'tread upon serpents' and  scorpions
and upon the full force of the enemy and nothing will harm you. 
Nevertheless, do not rejoice because the spirits are subject to you,
but rejoice because your names are written in heaven."

 

 

 

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

This is not a perfect world, and this is not a perfect life. All of us are a testament to that fact. We have suffered and have caused suffering. We have disappointed and have experienced disappointment. We have experienced pain and have caused pain. Even though this is the case, we are reminded today that we do not have to experience all these things alone. Jesus Christ can be our comforter and the one who can make all thing new. Where there is darkness, He can bring forth light and joy. With calamity, there can be an acceptance and an understanding that, in the end, we will okay, and things will get better. Our brokenness is only a temporary condition that can be overcome by being open to Jesus’ love and divine mercy.

 

God is perfect. He is the perfect goodness and everything that flows from Him is good. That means there is good in all of us, a spark of divinity that has its origin from God. Unfortunately, this ultimate good can be overshadowed by what we say and do. In other words, we are our worst enemy. The good is often not realized, being overshadowed by our own choices and our bad behavior. Instead of embracing that good, we rebel against it by sinning, turning away from God. With that comes consequences from our actions which are never good when it goes against the will of God. What is God’s will? It is to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and body. There is hope though, for God is waiting for us as our comforter, nurturer, and healer.

 

This conflict and state of rebellion never ends. Sin is ever-present in our lives. It is a constant condition that we need to be healed from. There is no complete transition from bad to good. Instead, there a state of constant maintenance and healing. As we become closer to God, the wounds that we inflict on ourselves will hopefully become less as we are we correct ourselves with the help of God and learn from our mistakes. God knows everything and He wishes to pass much of this wisdom onto us. It is up to us to be open to receiving this wisdom, along with the love He has for us that He wishes us to experience. Realizing this love and accepting what He has to offer will always bring us to a better state of being than we were before.

 

Saint Augustine wrote,

 

“But men are hopeless creatures, and the less they concentrate on their own sins, the more interested they become in the sins of others. They seek to criticize, not to correct. Unable to excuse themselves, they are ready to accuse others.”

 

This is what occurs when we do not focus on the betterment of ourselves through a relationship with God. Sin becomes a central aspect of our lives instead of something we are battling against. Self-justification and pointing out the fault of others is a weapon we use that has been given to us by Satan. Disordered desires and the constant judgement of other people invite us into a world of sin. Focusing on the transgressions of others takes the focus off ourselves and the things that we have to do to recover from a seemingly hopeless situation. We all are in a state of recovery. We ask for forgiveness from God, should we not be ready to forgive others and accept them as they are: sinners unworthy of redemption just as we are?

The Apostle Paul writes today how, “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” This is a model which we are asked to follow. Jesus Christ must come before all else in our lives. The spiritual needs to come before the physical, guiding our thoughts and actions. It is through Jesus, with an understanding of what He did for us, that we encounter The Father through the guidance of The Holy Spirit. Too often we place too much importance on our material well-being instead of what is truly important which is a relationship with God. This has, for the most part, led us back to our previous condition. Crucifying things of this world and focusing on the spirit brings us closer to God. This brings us closer to His love and allows Him to do the necessary work within us to become new creations.

 

When we are working on ourselves, we are working on others as well. Free from judgement and from judging other people, we are then able to do the good works that we are encouraged to do as a reaction to our relationship with God. As Jesus commissioned His disciples to go out to heal the sick and proclaim that the Kingdom of God, we too are commissioned to do the same, following the example of the first disciples. The healing we bring is a spiritual type that is a reaction to the presence of The Holy Spirit at work within us. We are prompted by what God has done for us and we will naturally want to share freely what we have received freely. It is through these actions that The Kingdom of God is built up upon this earth.

 

It all begins with us and what we do. All of us are a central aspect of The Beatific Vision of God. When we enter relationship with God, allowing Him to comfort, heal, and guide us, we then become instruments of His peace. We can then learn to become builders instead of those who bring about destruction in our lives as well as the lives of others. Receive God, embrace Jesus, and experience The Love of God, just as God implores us to do. This is the path to fulfillment of Joy. What other path would we ever want to follow?

 

Deacon Tom

 

 

 

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Lectionary: 169

Reading I

Gn 14:18-20

In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine,
and being a priest of God Most High,
he blessed Abram with these words:
            "Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
                        the creator of heaven and earth;
            and blessed be God Most High,
                        who delivered your foes into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4

R (4b)  You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand
            till I make your enemies your footstool."
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:
            "Rule in the midst of your enemies."
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
"Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;
            before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you."
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:
            "You are a priest forever, according to the order of  Melchizedek."
R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.
 

Reading II

1 Cor 11:23-26

Brothers and sisters:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me."
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,
you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Sequence

Lauda Sion

Laud, O Zion, your salvation,
Laud with hymns of exultation,
            Christ, your king and shepherd true:

Bring him all the praise you know,
He is more than you bestow.
            Never can you reach his due.

Special theme for glad thanksgiving
Is the quick’ning and the living
            Bread today before you set:

From his hands of old partaken,
As we know, by faith unshaken,
            Where the Twelve at supper met.

Full and clear ring out your chanting,
Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,
            From your heart let praises burst:

For today the feast is holden,
When the institution olden
            Of that supper was rehearsed.

Here the new law’s new oblation,
By the new king’s revelation,
            Ends the form of ancient rite:

Now the new the old effaces,
Truth away the shadow chases,
            Light dispels the gloom of night.

What he did at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
            His memorial ne’er to cease:

And his rule for guidance taking,
Bread and wine we hallow, making
            Thus our sacrifice of peace.

This the truth each Christian learns,
Bread into his flesh he turns,
            To his precious blood the wine:

Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,
But a dauntless faith believes,
            Resting on a pow’r divine.

Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things to sense forbidden;
            Signs, not things are all we see:

Blood is poured and flesh is broken,
Yet in either wondrous token
            Christ entire we know to be.

Whoso of this food partakes,
Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;
            Christ is whole to all that taste:

Thousands are, as one, receivers,
One, as thousands of believers,
            Eats of him who cannot waste.

Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers dooms preparing,
            Endless death, or endless life.

Life to these, to those damnation,
See how like participation
            Is with unlike issues rife.

When the sacrament is broken,
Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,
            That each sever’d outward token
            doth the very whole contain.

Nought the precious gift divides,
Breaking but the sign betides
            Jesus still the same abides,
            still unbroken does remain.

 

Alleluia

Jn 6:51

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;
whoever eats this bread will live forever.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 9:11b-17

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
"Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here."
He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."
They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Then he said to his disciples,
"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.

MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,

Today we celebrate Corpus Christi, The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Here we recognize the wonderful gift of The Eucharist that Jesus Christ gave us so that we could join with Him more completely (physically, mentally, and spiritually). It is that precious food that has the capability to heal us and join ourselves with our God. Through it, the entire Living Body of our Lord Jesus Christ are bonded together, and The Christ Experience becomes all the stronger as all its members participate in what Jesus instructed us to do.

When celebrating the mass, we are taken out of the moment and brought spiritually to that very time of The Mystical Supper and we are with Jesus as He offered the miracle of the Eucharist the first time:

“Take this, all of you, and eat of it,
for this is my Body,
which will be given up for you.

Take this, all of you, and drink from it,
for this is the chalice of my Blood,
the Blood of the new and eternal covenant,
which will be poured out for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in memory of me.”

What a beautiful moment and one that should not be taken lightly. This was one of the final instructions of Jesus Christ before he was crucified and is a central dogma of our faith. From the establishment of The Church, this celebration known early on as The Breaking of the Bread, was celebrated every Sunday without interruption. The Early Christians would gather, read scripture, sing Psalms, receive instruction, then break the bread. All in the community would receive that vital spiritual food which would invigorate them, while reminding them of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for them. The mass we have today is very much the same as it was celebrated back then.

The Fractio Panis fresco, early 100’s, is the clearest example we have in catacomb art of the ritual of the Eucharist in the first two hundred years of the Gentile Church in Rome. In the New Testament book of Acts (c. 63-70) there are references to Christians gathering to “break bread,” called an “Agape Love Feast.”

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42 “They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” Acts 2:46

The catacombs in Rome contain many frescos telling us what those Christians living between c.100–c.350 AD believed, how they lived out that faith and what things were most important to their faith. The Fractio Panis (Latin meaning “Breaking of Bread”) fresco in the Catacomb of Priscilla on the Via Salaria is liturgically and theologically one of the most famous of catacomb paintings because it gives an idea of how they took Communion, the Eucharist

Seven people, one of whom is a woman, are reclined/seated at a table where there is a cup of mingled red wine and two large plates. One plate contains five loaves of bread, the other two fish, replicating the numbers in the multiplication miracle from the Gospels. A man (presbyter/priest?) at the left end of the table has a small loaf in his hands. His arms are stretched out in front of him to show he is breaking the bread as Jesus broke the bread at the Last Supper and before He fed the five thousand and the four thousand. Near the man is a two-handled cup. On one side of the painting are four wicker baskets overflowing with bread. On the other side there are three baskets filled with bread representing the “seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over” (Mt. 15:37) after Jesus had fed the four thousand.

The connection between the Feeding of the 4000 and The Last Supper is emphasized through this early version of the mass. What an impact that event must have had and the presence of it in both worship and in early frescos should be encouragement enough for us to meditate on this miracle. Jesus Christ, through His words and His true presence in the Eucharist is enough to provide us with all the nourishment we need to lead a joyous life together with Him and all of His creation. We become bound to Him and are brought to a new level of consciousness. The spiritual aspect of our make-up can take command over that which is too often dominated by the desires of the flesh. The flesh of our savior is stronger and can conquer all things, for He has domination over all things. When we exercise our spirituality, it becomes stronger, thus we become better men and women as a result.

Walking with Jesus and living out our faith will bring us closer to Him and will transform us into a new creation. The Breaking of the Bread is what sets us apart from society and a world that continues to separate itself from God. We all have been witnesses to what happens when God is ignored, and human desires take precedent. There is chaos, pain, suffering, and sin. The human will disorder things that were once ordered. Jesus brings back into the place where God intended them to be. We are all God’s instruments. We are all disciples of Christ. Let us all act accordingly and come to the Table of Plenty. All are invited and all are welcome.

As Saint Thomas Aquinas said:

“O precious and wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual gift.”

Deacon Tom