Corpus Christi Sunday

Today we commemorate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in honor of the Real Presence of the body (corpus) of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. During Lent our readings focused on the various covenants God made with the people of Israel and with us. Beginning with Noah, then with Abraham, Moses and the prophets God reminds us over and over again that He loves us and that we are to love and respect God and each other.

With Jesus, God enters into a different covenant with the world. St. Paul tells us in the second reading today from Hebrews 9:11-15, that Jesus “is mediator of a new covenant: since a death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.” Through His cross and resurrection Jesus frees us from sin and gives us the promise of eternal salvation.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (1331) teaches that every time we participate in mass and receive Holy Communion “we unite ourselves to Christ, who makes us sharers in his Body and Blood to form a single body.” When we participate in and receive Eucharist, we are united with Jesus and with the whole Church throughout the world. The Eucharist we receive is the same Eucharist received by the Holy Father, all the bishops, all the priests and the whole church. In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, St Paul teaches, “the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.”

The word Eucharist means giving thanks. As you receive Eucharist today remember to give thanks for the remarkable gift given to us by Jesus.

O Jesus, present in the sacrament of the altar,

teach all the nations to serve you with willing hearts,

knowing that to serve God is to reign.

May your sacrament O Jesus be light to the mind,

strength to the will, joy to the heart.

May it be support of the weak, the comfort of the suffering,

the wayfaring bread of salvation for the dying

and for all the pledge of future glory. 

Amen.

Pope John XXIII (1881-1963)

Black and White

To live in the "Black and White" areas of life - following all the rules - is often easier than living with tension. Some people hide within the rules and "shoulds" of life. But the essence of life cannot always be found by coloring within the lines. Life is not always so cut and dry, not always so easy as just following the rules. God is more often than not encountered in the gray areas of life, where things are not so clear or shiny or new or clean. Often God is in the margins and shadows and murky areas of life and relationships - right where we live.

Be a Good Listener

 

Write the Other Way

Henry L. Mencken said it first: "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." Several 7-Eleven stores learned the truth of that statement.

According to a New York Times article, a number of the convenience stores had a problem with teenagers hanging out in their parking lots at all hours of the day and night. Not that they didn't like kids. But the teens were noisy. Customers had to walk around them to get into the stores. And they left discarded wrappers, cigarette butts and paper cups on the grounds.

Managers tried various methods to solve the problem. They asked the young people to move elsewhere. They asked them to pick up their trash. They even spoke to the police, but nothing worked.

Each solution was simple, neat, and ineffective.

Finally, one manager came up with an unusual idea to dissuade the teenagers from loitering in front of the stores. He suggested that all the shops start piping easy-listening music into the parking lots. Immediately, the young people stopped hanging around. (Maybe his tactic was ruthless, but it worked!)

Sometimes we need a good answer. Again and again we butt up against the same old problem, whether it is relational, professional or personal. It seems that whatever we try is not working.

Perhaps you need to approach your persistent problem with a new way of thinking. The Spanish poet Juan Ramón Jiménez said, "If they give you ruled paper, write the other way." Is it time to exercise more creativity in your pursuit for the "right" answer?

I believe that humanity's best ideas have not yet been thought of. And the best solution for your problem may likewise be waiting to be conceived. It just might happen when you turn the paper sideways and write the other way!

Memorial Day - We Walked Among the Crosses

 

Memorial Day Poem - In Distant Field of Sunny France

In distant field of sunny France

Where strangers come and go,

Amid the farms of Flanders, where

The fragrant breezes blow,

Our solder-dead in quiet sleep,

'Neath crosses row on row.

Here shrapnel shells once shrieked and burst

And took their toll of death;

The very wind, itself a foe,

Bore poison on its breath.

Above their graves the birds now sing

As round that home of yore,

When, carefree boys, they romped and played;

Those childhood days soon o'er,

The boys to brave and strong men grown,

They romped and played no more.

They put aside their childish toys,

A man's work each must do,

And when their country called for them,

To her they answered true.

“We must protect our native land:

She shall not suffer wrong

For she has reared and nurtured us,

We're men and we are strong.

We'll bid good-bye to those we love;

It will not be for long.”

With aching hearts and tear-dimmed eyes

We watched them go away.

Some have returned but many sleep

In foreign lands today.

Where English roses bloom and fade,

In France where lilies grow,

Among the fields of Flanders, where

The scarlet poppies blow,

Our soldier-dead are not forgot

Though strangers come and go.

Indifference

Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel got it right when he said:

The opposite of love is not hate,
     it's indifference.

The opposite of art is not ugliness,
     it's indifference.

The opposite of faith is not heresy,
     it's indifference.

And the opposite of life is not death,
     it's indifference.

Nothing will kill a dream or douse the fire of a good idea more quickly than indifference. To whatever endeavor you commit yourself, be on guard primarily against that spirit-quenching attitude of apathy.

At what do you wish to succeed? A project? A job? A relationship? A personal mission? A financial goal? A life purpose? Each one of us has a fire in our heart for something. It's our goal in life to find it and keep it lit.

In order to succeed greatly, one must care greatly. For indifference is no match against a well-attended fire in the heart.