Feast of Corpus Christi

"Lord Jesus Christ, you gave us the Eucharist as the memorial of your suffering and death. May our worship of this sacrament of your body and blood help us to experience the salvation you won for us and the peace of the kingdom where you live with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen." (Mass Prayer on the feast of Corpus Christi)

The Eucharist is the memorial of Christ's suffering and death. The Eucharist celebrates our redemption. The Eucharist celebrates Christ's real presence with us in His Body and Blood.

Jesus Christ is everyday inviting everyone to come to the Eucharist. "Come and eat bread without money." The more we respond to this invitation, the more we experience the salvation Jesus Christ won for us.

The Eucharist brings us immense peace. Do you lack peace of soul? Then go often to the Eucharist. The Prince of Peace is waiting to immerse you in peace.

The Eucharist and the Abundant Life

"The Lord fed his people with the finest wheat and honey; their hunger was satisfied." (Psalm 81: 17)

The Eucharist is "the finest wheat and honey."

The Eucharist completely satisfies our hunger for the abundant life. "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full."

Generosity

"In truth I tell you, this poor widow has put more in than all who have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they could spare, but she in her poverty has put in everything she possessed, all she had to live on."

This poor widow shows great faith. She understands that all things belong to God. She knew something else: No one can outdo God in generosity.

Constant Praise

"Then Raphael took them both aside and said, 'Bless God, utter his praise before all the living for all the favor he has shown you." (Tobit 12: 6)

God deserves constant praise and thanks. He renews His favors every day. Without faith, it is impossible to appropriate God's promises. Faith gives us access to God's promise of:

• Peace
  
• Pardon
  
• Power
  
• Protection
  
• Provision
  
• Purpose
  

Delighting in the Word of God

"And the large crowd was listening to him with delight." (Mark 12: 37)

Jesus Christ was not just a great teacher but He also had great communications skills. He must have been witty in the way He narrated the parables in particular and His teachings in general.

Do we listen to the Gospel with delight? The seed that fell on good and fertile soil produced much harvest.

Joys and Trials

"I can see you, my son, the light of my eyes." (Tobit 11: 14)

God afflicted Tobit with blindness for a short time to try his faith. Tobit like job was steadfast in faith during his period of trial. God healed him of his blindness.

"For, having afflicted me, he has had pity on me and now I see my son Tobias." (Tobit 11:15)

Lord, your providential designs for my life encompass joys and trials. Help me during the period of trials to call upon you and to trust you completely.

Eucharist and the Power to Endure

"Lord, at this celebration of the triumph of your martyrs, we have received the sacraments which helped them endure their sufferings. In the midst of our own hardships may this Eucharist keep us steadfast in faith and love…." (Prayer in Mass)

The Eucharist helps us to endure suffering. The Eucharist helps to keep us steadfast in faith and love.

 

Single-minded love of God and Neighbor

"Jesus replied, 'This is the first: Listen, Israel, the Lord our God is the One, only Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength ….. You must love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12: 29 – 30)

Single-minded love of God and neighbor is only possible with the help of the Holy Spirit. If our heart and mind urge us to love God and neighbor in this manner, we ask God to pour the Holy Spirit in our hearts to enable us to fulfill this command.

Imitation of Best Practice

"Tobias rose from the bed and said to Sarah, 'Get up, my sister, you and I must pray and petition our Lord to win his grace and his protection." (Tobit 8: 4)

Tobias shows here his faith in action. She got his bride to pray first for God's blessing before they consummate their marriage. God blessed them.

The Bible teaches us best practice. It shows us examples of good thought, good word and good deed. We are inspired to imitate these.

St. Charles Lwanga

"Father, you have made the blood of martyrs the seed of Christians. May the witness of St. Charles Lwanga and his companions and their loyalty to Christ in the face of torture inspire countless men and women to live the Christian faith…." (Prayer on the feast of St. Charles Lwanga)

Blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians. We sow blood. We reap committed lives for Jesus. "It is necessary for the Christ to suffer." There is also a divine necessity for the seed to die in order to yield fruit.

The Resurrection and the Life

'I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will not die forever." (John 11: 25, 26)

Lord Jesus, grant us deep faith in you.

God of the living

"He is God, not of the dead, but of the living." (Mark 12: 27)

God created man for eternal life. He is God of the living and not God of the dead.

I will not be put to shame

"To you, O Lord I lift of my eyes. In you I trust, let me not be put to shame; let not my enemies exult over me. No one who waits for you shall be put to shame; ……" (Psalm 25: 2-3)

I read the above scripture and I identify completely with the sentiments of the Psalmist. No wonder the Psalter is the prayer book of Israel and the prayer of the Church. The Psalms provide us with ready words in which to express our prayer. We can identify with much of the feelings and aspirations of the Psalmist.

I trust God for everything and I know that I will not be put to shame. He has been faithful every one of the almost 4700 days of the Enterprise. Surely my enemies cannot exult over me or ask: "where is your God?"

Caleb’s encouragement

Reading 1
Nm 13:1-2, 25–14:1, 26a-29a, 34-35

The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,]
"Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the children of Israel.
You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe,
all of them princes."

After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned,
met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israel
in the desert of Paran at Kadesh,
made a report to them all,
and showed the fruit of the country
to the whole congregation.
They told Moses:  "We went into the land to which you sent us.
It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.
However, the people who are living in the land are fierce,
and the towns are fortified and very strong.
Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there.
Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb;
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highlands,
and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan."

Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said,
"We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so."
But the men who had gone up with him said,
"We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us."
So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel
about the land they had scouted, saying,
"The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants.
And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants
(the Anakim were a race of giants);
we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them."

At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries,
and even in the night the people wailed.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:
"How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?
I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD,
I will do to you just what I have heard you say.
Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall.
Forty days you spent in scouting the land;
forty years shall you suffer for your crimes:
one year for each day.
Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.
I, the LORD, have sworn to do this
to all this wicked assembly that conspired against me:
here in the desert they shall die to the last man."

The above scripture was the first reading in today's Mass all over the world. I was fascinated by the lessons. For me the greatest lesson is that every challenge and every trial is a test of faith. Whom do you trust? It is clear that the Israelite scouts who gave the negative and discouraging report on the expedition never put God into the equation. They demoralized the people by their human-based wisdom. On the other hand, Caleb gave a report full of faith and hope because he knew that one with God is always a majority. As I reflected on this, I thought of the Enterprise and all my impediments. I took encouragement from the lesson that one with God is always a majority.

Food for the journey

3

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life, going to Beer-sheba of Judah. He left his servant there

4

and went a day's journey into the desert, until he came to a broom tree and sat beneath it. He prayed for death: "This is enough, O LORD! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."

5

He lay down and fell asleep under the broom tree, but then an angel touched him and ordered him to get up and eat.

6

He looked and there at his head was a hearth cake and a jug of water. After he ate and drank, he lay down again,

7

but the angel of the LORD came back a second time, touched him, and ordered, "Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!"

8

He got up, ate and drank; then strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights to the mountain of God, Horeb. (1 Kings 19: 3 – 8)

 

"There is no surer pledge or dearer sign of this great hope in the new heavens and new earth "in which righteousness dwells,' than he Eucharist. Every time the mystery is celebrated, 'the work of our redemption is carried on' and 'we break the one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live forever in Jesus Christ." (Catechism of the Catholic Church #1405)

 

I came today to the unshakeable conviction that frequent Eucharist is a major reason for maintaining me on course in this Journey. Thank you Jesus.

Prayer is the key

"This time the prayer of each of them (Tobit and Sarah) found favor before the glory of God, and Raphael was sent to bring remedy to them both." (Tobit 3: 16)

Prayer is the key to God's heart. Do not hang up on God. Hang in there. Persevere in prayer. Be assured that the time of answer will come.

To pray is to work

"Pay Caesar what belongs to Caesar and God what belongs to God." (Mark 12: 7)

To Caesar belongs taxes and civil obedience. To God belongs adoration, worship, love and service.

Through my taxes and work, I help to build up the city of man. When I build up the city of man in the spirit of Jesus Christ, I build up at the same time the city of God. Orare est laborare and laborare est orare.

The just man fears no bad news

"The heart of the just man is secure trusting in the Lord…… An evil report he shall not fear; his heart is firm trusting in the Lord." (Psalm 112:7)

Who is the just man? The man whose righteousness comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit. Christ in us is our hope of glory.

About ten years, I confided the reflection below on Psalm 112: 7 to my diary:

The just man fears no bad news. When RD told me six weeks ago that he had bad news for me about casa, my heart did not fear. I trusted in the Lord to deliver me. And He did.

Our faith is supported by reason which in this case is evidence of experience. I have reason or experience to believe that God will deliver me from any crisis if I trust Him.

The Cross

"The message of the cross is folly for those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1: 18)

God's folly is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians 1: 25)

The message of the cross comes to us through God's providential designs for our lives every day. The cross and all it represents is God's wisdom. Trust in it completely.

St. Justin Martyr

"Father, through the folly of the cross you taught St. Justin the sublime wisdom of Jesus Christ. May we too reject falsehood and remain loyal to the faith…" (Mass Prayer on the feast of St. Justin Martyr)

St. Paul writing to the Corinthians on the paradox of the cross says: "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:17-18)

The cause of Christ is served more through faith and prayer than any other means. "I promise to be your strength in proportion to the trust you place on me."