Daily Thoughts: There are many
ways to look at the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ which we celebrate
today. The most obvious is the gift of the Eucharist, the institution of which
we encounter in the account we hear in today Gospel. We encounter that special
moment just before Jesus Passion and Death when he gather his disciples
together and gave them the central focus for the rest of their lives. The
Eucharist is our most cherished gift, it is the center of our lives as people
of faith, as Church. The Eucharist offers us, like it offered the first
disciples, the physical and spiritual nourishment needed to live this life of
faith. The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist that we receive demands our
lives, it demands that we bring Christ’s real presence to the world.
Another way of looking at this feast
comes from another Gospel story. Fr. James Martin, S.J. writes, “God can do a
lot with what we think is a little.” Just think of what Jesus did along the Sea
of Galilee when he multiplied the loaves and fishes. His disciples wanted to
give up. They said all they had were five loaves and a few fish. As we have
learned God makes possible the impossible while doing a lot with little; or as
Teresa Whalen Lux put it, “God often takes something small and insignificant
and turns it into the extraordinary.”
When you think about the Last Supper and
the story of the Multiplication of the Loaves you think of Jesus taking simple
ordinary things and doing extraordinary things with them. Along the Sea of
Galilee he fed many and at the table of the Eucharist each Sunday, each day,
Jesus feds many. Day in and day out
Jesus takes something small, insignificant and ordinary, bread and wine, and
does the extraordinary.
I have often in my preaching reflected
on receiving the Eucharist as a moment when God, when Jesus says to us, I
demand your life! I have given you mine so now go and give it to the
world. Our celebration of the Feast of
the Body and Blood of Christ today reminds us of just how blessed we are, of just
what God can do and of our challenge each day to live, to trust in God and
bring the real presence of God to the world!
Have a great Corpus Christi Sunday
everyone!
Daily Prayer:
Christ has no body but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks
to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he
blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks compassion
on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but
yours.
(Prayer
by St. Teresa of Avila)
A Runner’s Thoughts: As you run
today remember with each plant of your foot you feel firmness under you. Feel
that firmness as the presence of God.
Trust in that firmness. Know that God is running with you!
Daily Blessing: Sunday
greetings and blessings to all! I hope your Sunday has started off well or is
starting off well. It is a beautiful sunny day here in Pelham and the word is
it will be a beautiful day throughout. It is the Feast of Corpus Christi and so
we focus on the spiritual food which nourishes us and sustains us on our
journey of faith through life. It is a time to remember how blessed and how
loved we are by God. It is a day to give a little time to God so I hope you remember
to give God a little time today!
I pray for God’s blessing s upon all of
you today and always. I hope you will be blessed especially today with the
richness of family, friends, warmth, peace and rest. May God truly be with you
and those you love, keeping you safe as you enjoy the gifts of God’s creation. May
you recognize the presence of God around you and within you today. May you
remember that Christ has no body now on earth but yours! Have a great day and
remember “Joy is the infallible sign of the presence of God.” (Fr. Pierre
Teilhard de Chardin, SJ) – Peace in Christ’s Passion…Fr. Paul
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