Sunday Reflection –9 August – Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“The Joy of the Eucharist, all through Life!”
St John Vianney (1786-1859)
“When Jesus entered the house of St Elizabeth, although He was imprisoned in Mary’s womb, He sanctified both mother and child and Elizabeth exclaimed, “Whence comes so great a happiness to me, that the Mother of my God deigns to come to me?”
I leave you to consider how much greater is the happiness of him who receives Jesus Christ in Holy Communion, not like Elizabeth, into his house but into the depths of his heart, to be its protecting Master, not six months, as in Elizabeth’s case but all through life!”
Sunday Reflection – 12 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – The Fifteenth Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, Year A, Readings: Isaiah 55:10-11, Psalm 65:10-14, Romans 8:18-23, Matthew 13:1-23
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people, longed to see what you see and did not see and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.”
Matthew 13:16-17
The Sacrament that You Receive is Effected by the Words of Christ
Saint Ambrose (340-397) Bishop and Great Latin Father and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from his work, On the Mysteries
We see that grace can accomplish more than nature, yet so far we have been considering instances of what grace can do through a prophet’s blessing. If the blessing of a human being had power even to change nature, what do we say of God’s action in the Consecration itself, in which the very words of the Lord and Saviour are effective? If the words of Elijah had power even to bring down fire from heaven, will not the words of Christ have power to change the natures of the elements? You have read that in the creation of the whole world He spoke and they came to be; He commanded and they were created. If Christ could by speaking create out of nothing what did not yet exist, can we say that His words are unable to change existing things into something they previously were not? It is no lesser feat to create new natures for things than to change their existing natures.
What need is there for argumentation? Let us take what happened in the case of Christ Himself and construct the truth of this mystery from the mystery of the incarnation. Did the birth of the Lord Jesus from Mary come about in the course of nature? If we look at nature we regularly find that conception results from the union of man and women. It is clear then, that the conception by the Virgin was above and beyond the course of nature. And this Body, which we make present, is the Body born of the Virgin. Why do you expect to find in this case, that nature takes its ordinary course in regard to the Body of Christ, when the Lord Himself was born of the Virgin in a manner above and beyond the order of nature? This is indeed the true flesh of Christ, which was crucified and buried. This is then, in truth, the Sacrament of His Flesh.
The Lord Jesus Himself declares – This is my Body. Before the blessing contained in these words, a different thing is named; after the Consecration a Body is indicated. He Himself speaks of His Blood. Before the Consecration something else is spoken of; after the Consecration Blood is designated. And you say: “Amen,” that is: “It is true.” What the mouth utters, let the mind within, acknowledge, what the word says, let the heart ratify.
So the Church, in response to grace so great, exhorts her children, exhorts her neighbours, to hasten to these mysteries – Neighbours, she says, come and eat; brethren, drink and be filled. In another passage the Holy Spirit has made clear to you what you are to eat, what you are to drink. Taste, the prophet says and see, that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who puts his trust in Him. Christ is in that sacrament, for it is the Body of Christ. It is, therefore, not bodily food but spiritual. Thus the Apostle too says, speaking of its symbol – Our fathers ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink. For the body of God is spiritual; the body of Christ is that of a divine spirit, for Christ is a spirit. We read – The spirit before our face is Christ the Lord. And in the letter of Saint Peter we have this – Christ died for you. Finally, it is this food that gives strength to our hearts, this drink which gives joy to the heart of man, as the prophet has written.
Sunday Reflection – 14 June – “Month of the Sacred Heart” – Corpus Christi, The Solemnity of The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Readings: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16, Psalm 147:12-15, 19-20, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, John 6:51-58
Moments with St John XXIII (1881-1963)
Sacrament of Love
When the Christians of the first centuries met around the Table of the Eucharist, they prayed with hearts full of love and longing:
“To You, O Lord, be glory forever! As this Bread we have broken together, was once scattered in ears of corn on the hills and became one, when it was harvested, so let Your Church be gathered from the ends of the earth into Your Kingdom. For Yours is the glory and the power, through Jesus Christ, forever.”
The doctrine of the Mystical Body, has cast gleams of shining light on this question of the union of Christians with Christ and, for their union with each other.
It has resulted in an amazing understanding of the union of the masses of the faithful, through the power of the Body and Blood of Christ, drawn together to scale the heights of Christian perfection.
In the light of this teaching, we find the truest conception of human, and Catholic brotherhood, inspired and renewed by the Holy Eucharist.
O Sacrament of love, may You always remain inviolate at the summit of Catholic doctrine and devotion!
Open our minds to soaring flights of thought and our hearts to the impulses of charity.
Lead us onto the fulfilment of the supreme ideals of justice and social peace.
Amen
ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF THE “PANGE LINGUA” but still using the tune in the Gregorian Chant, Mode III
Hail Our Saviour’s Glorious Body By St Thomas Aquinas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Doctor angelicus/Doctor communis Translated by Fr James Quinn SJ (1919-2010)
Hail our Saviour’s glorious Body,
which His Virgin Mother bore.
Hail the blood which bled for sinners,
did a broken world restore.
Hail the sacrament most holy,
flesh and blood of Christ adore!
To the Virgin, for our healing,
His own Son, the Father sends.
From the Father’s love proceeding
sower, seed and word descends;
wondrous life of Word Incarnate
with His greatest wonder ends.
On that paschal evening see Him
with the chosen twelve recline,
to the old law still obedient
in its feast of love divine,
love divine, the new law giving,
gives Himself as bread and wine.
By His word the Word Almighty
makes of bread His flesh indeed,
wine becomes His very lifeblood,
faith God’s living Word must heed!
Faith alone might simply guide us
where the senses cannot lead.
When the Procession reaches the place of Benediction, the priest sets the Monstrance down. Then he puts incense in the thurible and, kneeling, incenses the Blessed Sacrament, while Tantum ergo Sacramentum is sung.
Come, adore this wondrous presence,
bow to Christ, the source of grace!
Here is kept the ancient promise
of God’s earthly dwelling place!
Sight is blind before God’s glory,
faith alone may see His face!
Glory be to God the Father,
praise to His co-equal Son,
Adoration to the Spirit,
bond of love, in God-head one!
Blest be God by all creation
joyously while ages run!
(Fr James Quinn SJ (21 April 1919 – 8 April 2010) was a Scottish Jesuit Priest, Theologian and Hymnist.
Sunday Reflection – 7 June – “Month of the Sacred Heart” – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
The Sacred Heart is the Holy Eucharist
By Ven Servant of God John A Hardon SJ (1914-2000)
It is impossible to identify the Holy Eucharist too closely with Jesus Christ. We should remember He is in the Holy Eucharist not merely with His substance.
I have corrected many of my students over the years who tell me “Transubstantiation means that the substance of bread and wine become the substance of Jesus Christ.”
I reply, “No, transubstantiation means the substance of bread and wine are no longer there. The substance of bread and wine is replaced, not only by the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood. What replaces the substance of bread and wine is Jesus Christ!”
Everything that makes Christ, Christ replaces what had been the substance of bread and wine.
The substance of bread and wine become the whole Christ.
Therefore, Christ in the Holy Eucharist is there with His human heart.
Is it a living heart? Yes! That is why the revelations our Lord made to St Margaret Mary about promoting devotion to the Sacred Heart were all made from the Holy Eucharist.
Why do we equate the Sacred Heart with the Holy Eucharist?
Because the Holy Eucharist is the whole Christ with His human heart. According to St Margaret Mary, the Sacred Heart is the Holy Eucharist.
So it follows, that devotion to the Sacred Heart is devotion to the Holy Eucharist.
It is infinite Love Incarnate living in our midst in the Blessed Sacrament.
Sunday Reflection – 10 May – The Fifth Sunday of Easter
”Lord, I am not worthy”
St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
When I say, Domine, non sum dignus—”Lord, I am not worthy”—You whom I am addressing, alone understands in their fullness the words which I use. You see how unworthy so great a sinner is to receive the One Holy God, whom the Seraphim adore with trembling. You see, not only the stains and scars of past sins but the mutilations, the deep cavities, the chronic disorders which they have left in my soul. You see the innumerable living sins, though they be not mortal, living in their power and presence, their guilt and their penalties, which clothe me. You see all my bad habits, all my mean principles, all wayward lawless thoughts, my multitude of infirmities and miseries, yet You come. You see most perfectly how little I really feel what I am now saying, yet You come.
O my God, left to myself should I not perish under the awful splendour and the consuming fire of Your Majesty. Enable me to bear You, lest I have to say with Peter, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
Act of Spiritual Communion By St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Most Zealous Doctor
I desire, good Jesus,
to receive Thee in Holy Communion
and since I cannot now receive Thee
in the Blessed Sacrament,
I beseech Thee to come to me spiritually
and to refresh my soul with Thy sweetness.
Come, my Lord, my God and my All!
Come to me
and never let me ever again be separated from Thee by sin.
Teach me Thy blessed ways,
help me with Thy grace to imitate Thy example,
to practise meekness, humility,
charity and all the virtues of Thy Sacred Heart.
My divine Master, my one desire is to do Thy will
and to love Thee more and more.
Help me that I may be faithful to the end in Thy service.
Bless me in life and in death,
that I may praise Thee forever in heaven, Amen.
Sunday Reflection – 3 May – The Fourth Sunday of Easter, Good Shepherd/Vocations Sunday
How long have we been without Sunday Mass? How much longer will this continue? How are we holding on? How are we surviving?
“Let us never forget that an age prospers or dwindles in proportion to it’s devotion to the Holy Eucharist. This is the measure of it’s spiritual life and it’s faith, of it’s charity and virtue”
St Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868)
Act of Spiritual Communion
As I cannot this day enjoy the happiness
of assisting at the holy Mysteries, O my God!
I transport myself in spirit at the foot of Thine altar,
I unite with the Church, which by the hands of the priest,
offers Thee, Thine adorable Son in the Holy Sacrifice.
I offer myself with Him, by Him and in His Name.
I adore, I praise and thank Thee,
imploring Thy mercy,
invoking Thine assistance
and presenting Thee the homage
I owe Thee as my Creator,
the love due to Thee as my Saviour.
Apply to my soul, I beseech Thee, O merciful Jesus,
Thine infinite merits,
apply them also to those for whom I particularly wish to pray.
I desire to communicate spiritually,
that Thy Blood may purify,
Thy Flesh strengthen
and Thy Spirit sanctify me.
May I never forget that Thou,
my divine Redeemer, have died for me,
may I die to all that is not Thee,
that hereafter, I may live eternally with Thee.
Amen
“[Our time] is a period in which the world is in crisis, as formerly and in which most values, even the most sacred ones, are rashly questioned in the name of freedom, so that many people have no longer any point of reference, in a period in which danger comes certainly not from an excess of dogmatism but rather from the dissolution of doctrine and the nebulousness of thought… It seems to Us that an additional effort should be courageously undertaken to give the Christian people, who are waiting for it more than is thought, a solid, exact catechetical base, easy to remember. We well understand that it is difficult today to adhere to the Faith, particularly for the young, a prey to so many uncertainties. They have the right at least to know precisely the message of Revelation, which is not the fruit of research and to be the witnesses of a Church that lives by it.”
Sunday Reflection – 23 February – Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
“Take and divide it among yourselves.”
St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
“Christ then took on our nature, when He would redeem it; He redeemed it by making it suffer in His own Person; He purified it, by making it pure in His own Person. He first sanctified it in Himself, made it righteous, made it acceptable to God, submitted it to an expiatory passion and then He imparted it to us. He took it, consecrated it, broke it and said, “Take and divide it among yourselves.”
Newman was convinced that no one “realises the mystery of the Incarnation but must feel disposed towards that of the Holy Communion.” Both are mysteries of the coming of Christ, longed for as the hope of mankind for salvation. If we accept that God unites Himself, His divinity and His spirit, to humanity, nature and matter in His birth as man, then we can also accept that He binds His presence to the species of bread and wine. When Jesus says, “This is my body, this is my blood,” this remains a mystery but our faith in it, is not against our reason.
Years later this Catholic priest wrote:
“O wisest love! That flesh and blood Which did in Adam fail, Should strive afresh against the foe, Should strive and should prevail.” “And that a higher gift than grace Should flesh and blood refine, God’s presence and His very Self, And Essence all-divine.”
Sunday Reflection – 16 February – The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
If we only knew the treasure we hold in our hands!
St Claude de la Colombiere SJ (1641-1682)
“God is more honoured by a single Mass
than He could be by all the actions of angels
and men together, however fervent and heroic they might be.
Yet, how FEW hear Mass with the intention of giving God
this sublime honour!
How FEW think with joy on the glory a Mass gives to God.
How FEW rejoice to possess the means of honouring Him
as He deserves! . . .
If we only knew the treasure we hold in our hands!”
Sunday Reflection – 9 February – Fifth Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, Year A
Prayer of St. John Damascene (675-749)
Father and Doctor of the Church
God, my God, inextinguishable and invisible fire, You make Your angels flaming fire.
Out of Your inexpressible love You have given me Your divine Flesh as food and through this communion of Your immaculate Body and precious Blood, You receive me as a partaker of Your divinity.
Permeate all my body and soul, all my bones and sinews.
Consume my sins in fire.
Enlighten my soul and illumine my mind.
Sanctify my body and make Your abode in me, together with Your blessed Father and all-holy Spirit, that I may always abide in You, through the intercession of Your immaculate Mother and all Your saints.
Sunday Reflection – 27 January – The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C – First Reading: Nehemiah 8:8–10
“Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine…” Nehemiah 8:10
“For it is a holy day of the Lord for us when we take pains to hear and carry out His words. On this day it is proper that, however much outwardly we have endured the obstacles of tribulations, we should be “rejoicing in hope,” in keeping with the apostle’s saying: “As if sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.” On this day we are also commanded to eat fat food and drink sweet drink, that is, to rejoice over the abundance of good action bestowed on us by God and over the very sweetness of hearing God’s Word” … St Bede the Venerable (673-735) Father & Doctor (On Ezra and Nehemiah, 3.)
By Blessed James Alberione (1884-1971)
(Founder of the Pauline Family)
Honour Jesus Truth, Way and Life at Mass
The Eucharistic Celebration is the centre and principal act of worship….
There are many methods for participating in the Mass. A suggestion:
a) From the beginning to the Gospel, honour Jesus Truth
by meditating and applying the sacred doctrine, especially the Epistle and the Gospel.
b) From the Gospel to the “Our Father,” honour Jesus, Way to the Father, especially in the Passion and prayer.
c) From the “Our Father” to the end, honour Jesus, Life of the soul,
by receiving Communion and its sanctifying and healing grace.
Then Live a Eucharistic Day
It is a good practice to make the Host the day’s foundation.
This means making the day Eucharistic.
Spend the morning [after Mass] in thanksgiving,
displaying the fruits of a holy joy,
working “through Him, with Him and in Him,”
to the glory of the most Blessed Trinity.
From midday to the following morning
start your preparation by offering, sanctifying and carrying out your various duties
with your heart in tune with the Dweller in the tabernacle.
Sunday Reflection – 26 January – Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A “Sunday of the Word of God”
“Be Living Lamps”
Blessed James Alberione (1884 to 1971)
Founder of the Society Of St Paul
and the Daughters Of St Paul
“Your role before the tabernacle [is to be] living lamps
before Jesus in the Eucharist,
handmaids of honour of the tabernacle
and of its Divine Dweller,
angels of the Eucharist who receive and who give,
souls who hunger and thirst for the bread of the Eucharist
and the water of His grace,
hearts that share with their Spouse in the Eucharist
His desires, His goals, His self-sacrifice for all,
the intimate confidantes of Jesus in the Host,
listening to His every word of life
and meditating on it in your heart, as Mary did.”
Sunday Reflection – 19 January – Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A and The Memorial of Blessed Marcelo Spínola y Maestre, Cardinal-Priest (1835-1906)
Blessed Marcelo was a pious man, of intense prayer and mortification, extremely sensitive to the needs and suffering of his faithful and an untiring apostle. Homes, workers’ societies, centres where food was given to those who needed it, orphanages, night schools, creation of the faculty of theology of Seville, etc., were all part of his mark. He toured all the dioceses in which he exercised his ministry, travelling on a mule, he fought against the attempt to displace the teaching of religion from public centres as a senator from Granada, consoled the afflicted and took the gospel to every corner, preaching and confessing.
And at the centre of the heart of Blessed Marcelo was the Holy Eucharist.
He wrote:
“The masterpiece of Jesus Christ’s love for humanity is the Eucharist. The Eucharist is within our reach. We can all get close to Christ the guest and talk with Him and perceive the warmth of His word. The word! How it inflames the spirits! How will the word of Christ inflame them! We can all get to the altar when He immolates Himself and shouts at us: Look how much I have loved and loved you! And we can all sit at His table and eat the bread and drink the intoxicating wine of charity. “
Sunday Reflection – 12 January – Feast of the Baptism of the Lord
“When you see (the Most Blessed Sacrament) exposed, say to yourself –
‘Thanks to this Body, I am no longer dust and ashes, I am no more a captive but a freeman, hence, I hope to obtain heaven and the good things that are there in store for me… eternal life, the heritage of the angels, companionship with Christ; death has not destroyed this Body which was pierced by nails and scourged . . . this is that Body which was once covered with blood, pierced by a lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the world, one of blood and the other of water. . . This Body He gave to us to keep and eat, as a mark of His intense love’.”
Sunday Reflection – 5 January – The Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord
“At Christmas He was born a man, today He is reborn sacramentally.
Then He was born from the Virgin, today He is born in mystery.
When He was born a man, His mother Mary held Him close to her heart, when He is born in mystery, God the Father embraces Him with His voice when He says: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased, listen to Him.
The mother caresses the tender baby on her lap, the Father serves His Son by His loving testimony.
The mother holds the child for the Magi to adore, the Father reveals that His Son is to be worshipped by all the nations.”
St Maximus Of Turin (380 to 465) Bishop of Turin, Theologian
Sunday Reflection – 29 December – Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the Fifth Day of the Christmas Octave (excerpts from various homilies of St John Chrysostom).
“What excuse shall we have, or how shall we obtain pardon, if we consider it too much to go to Jesus in the Eucharist, who descended from Heaven for our sake?
This Fountain [of the Holy Eucharist] is a fountain of light, shedding abundant rays of truth. And beside it, the angelic powers from on high have taken their stand, gazing on the beauty of its streams, since they perceive more clearly than we, the power of what lies before us and its unapproachable dazzling rays.
The wise men adored this body when it lay in the manger…they prostrated themselves before it in fear and trembling….Now you behold the same body that the wise men adored in the manger, lying upon the altar…you also know its power.
How many of you say – I should like to see His face, His garments, His shoes. You do see Him, you touch Him, you eat Him. He gives Himself to you, not only that you may see Him but also to be your food and nourishment. You can call happy those who saw Him. But, come to the altar and you will see Him, you will touch Him, you will give to Him holy kisses, you will wash Him with your tears, you will carry Him within you
like Mary Most Holy.
When you see (the Most Blessed Sacrament) exposed, say to yourself: ‘Thanks to this Body, I am no longer dust and ashes, I am no more a captive but a freeman, hence, I hope to obtain heaven and the good things that are there in store for me… eternal life, the heritage of the angels, companionship with Christ; death has not destroyed this Body which was pierced by nails and scourged, . . . this is that Body which was once covered with blood, pierced by a lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the world, one of blood and the other of water. . . This Body He gave to us to keep and eat, as a mark of His intense love’.”
Prayer Before Holy Communion By St John Chrysostom (347-407) Father & Doctor of the Church
O Lord, my God,
I am not worthy,
that You should come into my soul
but I am glad that You will come to me,
because in Your loving kindness,
You desire to dwell in me.
You ask me to open the door of my soul,
which You alone have created,
so that You may enter into it,
with Your loving kindness
and dispel the darkness of my mind.
I believe that You will do this
for You did not turn away Mary Magdalene
when she approached You in tears.
Neither did You withhold forgiveness
from the tax collector,
who repented of his sins,
or from the good thief,
who asked to be received into Your kingdom.
Indeed, You numbered as Your friends
all who came to You with repentant hearts.
O God, You alone are blessed always,
now and forever.
Amen
St John Chrysostom (347 to 407)
Father and Doctor of the Church
Bishop of Constantinople
Sunday Reflection – 22 December – The Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year A
“Go with Him”
St Ephrem of Syria (306-373)
Father and Doctor of the Church
“Go with Him, as His inseparable companion, to the wedding feast of Cana and drink of the wine of His blessing.
Let you have ever before you, the Face of the Lord and look upon His beauty and let your earnest gaze, turn nowhere away from His most sweet countenance.
Go before Him into a desert place and see the wonder of His works, where He multiplied in His own Holy Hands, the bread that sufficed the great multitude.
Go, my brother, go forward and with all the love of your soul, follow Christ wherever He may go… And lovingly behold Him as taking bread into His hands, He blesses it and breaks it, as the outward form of His own Immaculate Body and the chalice which He blessed, as the outward form of His Precious Blood and gave to His Disciples and be you also a partaker of His sacraments.”
Sunday Reflection – 8 December – The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A
Go With Him
St Ephrem of Syria (306-373)
Father & Doctor of the Church
“Go with Him, as His inseparable companion, to the wedding feast of Cana and drink of the wine of His blessing. Let you have ever before you, the Face of the Lord and look upon His beauty and let your earnest gaze turn nowhere away from His most sweet countenance.
Go before Him into a desert place and see the wonder of His works, where He multiplied in His own Holy Hands the bread that sufficed the great multitude.
Go, my brother, go forward and with all the love of your soul, follow Christ wherever He may go… And lovingly behold Him as taking bread into His hands, He blesses it and breaks it, as the outward form of His own Immaculate Body and the chalice which He blessed, as the outward form of His Precious Blood and gave to His Disciples and be you, also, a partaker of His sacraments.”
Sunday Reflection – 24 November – The Solemnity of Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Liturgical Year C
He is in the hands of sinners once more
St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
He took bread and blessed and made it His Body. He took wine and gave thanks and made it His Blood and He gave His priests the power to do what He had done. Henceforth, He is in the hands of sinners once more. Frail, ignorant, sinful man, by the sacerdotal power given to him, compels the presence of the Highest; he lays Him up in a small Tabernacle; he dispenses Him to a sinful people. Those who are only just now, cleansed from mortal sin, open their lips for Him; those who are soon to return to mortal sin, receive Him into their breasts; those who are polluted with vanity and selfishness and ambition and pride, presume to make Him their Guest; the frivolous, the tepid, the worldly-minded, fear not to welcome Him.
Alas! Alas! even those who wish to be more in earnest, entertain Him with cold and wandering thoughts and quench that Love which would inflame them with It’s own fire, did they but open to It! Such are the best of us and then for the worst? What shall we of sacrilege? of His reception to hearts polluted with mortal, unforsaken sin? of those further nameless profanations, which from time to time occur, when unbelief dares to present itself at the holy Altar and blasphemously gains possession of Him? …. I place myself in the presence of Him, in whose Incarnate Presence I am, before I place myself there!
I adore Thee, O my Saviour, present here as God and man, in soul and body, in true flesh and blood.
I acknowledge and confess, that I kneel before that Sacred Humanity, which was conceived in Mary’s womb and lay in Mary’s bosom; which grew up to man’s estate and by the Sea of Galilee, called the Twelve, wrought miracles and spoke words of wisdom and peace; which in due season hung on the Cross, lay in the tomb, rose from the dead and now reigns in heaven.
I praise and bless and give myself wholly to Him, who is the true Bread of my soul and my everlasting joy. Amen.
Sunday Reflection – 17 November – The Third World Day of the Poor and the Thirty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
“Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed,,
and broke and gave the loaves” … Matthew 14:19
“Jesus loves us so much and wants to be close to us and looks after those who follow Him. The Lord meets the needs of mankind but wants to render each one of us, a concrete participant in His compassion.
Now let us pause on this, Jesus’ gesture of blessing: “taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and blessed and broke and gave the loaves” (v. 19).
As you see, they are the same signs that Jesus performed at the Last Supper and they are also the same gestures, that each priest performs when he celebrates the Holy Eucharist.
The Christian community is born and reborn continually from this Eucharistic communion.
Living communion with Christ is, therefore, anything but being passive and detached from daily life, on the contrary, it includes us more and more in the relationship with the men and women of our time, in order to offer them the concrete sign of mercy and of the attention of Christ. Jesus wants to reach everyone, in order to bring God’s love to all.”
Sunday Reflection – 27 October – Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 18:9–14
Mary Receives Him
St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
I see thee after the Ascension.
This is a time of bereavement but still of consolation.
It was still a twilight time but not a time of grief.
The Lord was absent but He was not on earth, He was not in suffering.
Death had no power over Him.
And He came to her, day-by-day in the Blessed Sacrifice.
I see the Blessed Mary at Mass and Saint John celebrating.
She is waiting for the moment of her Son’s Presence – now she converses with Him in the Sacred rite and what shall I say now? She receives Him, to whom once she gave birth …..
O Holy Mother, stand by me now at mass time, when Christ comes to me, as thou did minister to thy infant Lord – as thou did hang upon His words when He grew up, as thou was found under His Cross.
Stand by me, Holy Mother, that I may gain somewhat of thy purity, thy innocence, thy faith and He may be the one object of my love and my adoration, as He was of thine. Amen
Sunday Reflection – 20 October – Twenty Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and World Mission Sunday
One Name That Lives
By Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
“There is just one Name in the whole world that lives – it is the Name of One who passed His years in obscurity and who died a malefactor’s death. (Two thousand yeas) have gone by since that time but still It has It’s hold upon the human mind. It has possessed the world and It maintains possession. Amid the most various nations, under the most diversified circumstances, in the most cultivated, in the rudest races and intellects, in all classes of society, the Owner of that great Name reigns. High and low, rich and poor, acknowledge Him. Millions of souls are conversing with Him, are venturing at His word, are looking for His presence.
Palaces, sumptuous, innumerable, are raised to His honour. His image, in it’s deepest humiliations, is triumphantly displayed in the proud city, in the open country, at the corners of streets, on the tops of mountains. It sanctifies the ancestral hall, the closet and the bedchamber, it is the subject for the exercise of the highest genius in the imitative arts. It is worn next to the heart in life, it is held before the failing eyes in death.
Here, then, is One who is not mere name, He is no empty fiction, He is substance, He is dead and gone but still He lives – as the living, energetic, thought of successive generations and as the awful motive power of a thousand great events ….
O my own Saviour, now in the tomb but soon to arise, You have paid the price – it is done – consummatum est – it is secured.
O fulfil Your Resurrection in us and as You have purchased us, claim us, take possession of us, make us Thine.”
Sunday Reflection – 13 October – Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C and today, John Henry Newman will be Canonised
The Birth of Jesus
Saint John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
“Consider that the birth of Jesus Christ, caused universal joy in the whole world. Jesus was the Redeemer who had been desired and awaited for so many years. He was called ‘the desire of the nations’ and ‘the desire of the eternal hills.’ Today, we behold Him, born in a little cave! Let us consider, that this day, the angel also announces to us the same great joy announced to the shepherds. “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, for a saviour has been born.”
What great rejoicing there is in a country when the firstborn son of a king is born. But surely, there should be even greater rejoicing when we see the Son of God born! We were lost and He came to save us. He is the shepherd who has come to save His sheep from death. He is the lamb of God, who has come to sacrifice Himself, to become our deliverer, our life, or light and even our food in the Most Holy Sacrament.
Saint Maximus says that for this reason, among many others, Jesus chose to be laid in the manger, where the animals are fed, to make us understand that He has become human and also our food. “In the manger, where the food of animals is placed, He allowed Himself to be laid, demonstrating that His own body would be the eternal food of humankind.”
Besides this, He is born every day in the Sacrament of the Altar, the Altar is the crib and we go to the Altar to be fed and nourished. Some might desire to hold the Infant Jesus in their arms as the prophet Simeon did but faith teaches us, that when we receive Holy Communion, we too, hold the same Jesus, who was in the manger in Bethlehem, not in our arms alone but in our hearts.
My beloved Jesus, if I do not love You, who are my Lord and God, whom shall I love?”
Sunday Reflection – 1 September – Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
“When you see (the Most Blessed Sacrament) exposed, say to yourself –
‘Thanks to this Body, I am no longer dust and ashes, I am no more a captive but a freeman, hence, I hope to obtain heaven and the good things that are there in store for me… eternal life, the heritage of the angels, companionship with Christ; death has not destroyed this Body which was pierced by nails and scourged . . . this is that Body which was once covered with blood, pierced by a lance, from which issued saving fountains upon the world, one of blood and the other of water. . . This Body He gave to us to keep and eat, as a mark of His intense love’.”
Sunday Reflection – 25 August – 21st Sunday of the Year in Ordinary Time, Year C
Sunday
Pope Benedict XVI
And let us also keep present that the Eucharist, joined to the Cross and Resurrection of the Lord, has dictated a new structure to our time.
The Risen One was manifested the day after Saturday, the first day of the week, day of the sun and of creation. From the beginning, Christians have celebrated their encounter with the Risen One, the Eucharist, on this first day, on this new day of the true sun of history, the Risen Christ.
And thus time always begins again with the encounter with the Risen One and this encounter gives content and strength to everyday life. Because of this, it is very important for us Christians, to follow this new rhythm of time, to meet with the Risen One on Sunday and thus “to take” with us His presence, which transforms us and transforms our time. … 17 June 2010
Sunday Reflection – 11 August – The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me shall never thirst.”…John 6:34-35
“The soul’s bread is Christ, “the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51) who gives food to His own, by faith here and by vision in the world to come. For Christ dwells in you by faith and faith in Christ, is Christ in your heart (Eph 3:17). The measure of your faith in Christ is the measure of your possession of Him.
… In this gift I have received, I possess Christ wholly and Christ wholly possesses me, just as the member belonging to the whole body likewise possesses the body in its entirety. And so this portion of faith you have received as your share, is like the morsel of bread in your mouth. But unless you often devoutly meditate over what you believe, unless you chew over it, so to speak, moving it about and turning it over with your teeth, that is to say with your spiritual senses, it will never enter your throat, in other words it won’t get as far as your understanding.
For indeed, how could you understand anything that you reflect over only rarely and carelessly, especially when it concerns something subtle and unseen?… So, by means of meditation, let “the Law of the Lord be ever on your lips” (Ex 13:9) so that a sound understanding may be brought to birth within you. Through a good understanding, spiritual food passes into your heart, so that you will not neglect what you have understood but will lovingly reflect over it.”
Guigo II the Carthusian “the Angelic” (?-1188)
9th Prior of the Grande Chartreuse
(Meditation 10 (SC 163, p. 181 rev.)
Guigo II is considered the first writer in the western tradition to consider stages of prayer as a ladder which leads to a closer mystic communion with God. The work was among the most popular of medieval spiritual works (in part because it commonly circulated under the name of the renowned Bernard of Clairvaux or even Augustine), with over one hundred manuscripts surviving. It was also translated into some vernacular languages, including into Middle English.
It is still a basic guide for those who wish to practice lectio divina.
Guigo II also wrote twelve Meditations, which were clearly less widely known as they survive in only a few manuscripts. From internal evidence, it appears they may have been written before the Scala Claustralium.
Sunday Reflection – 4 August – Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
“And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognised him… but he vanished from their sight.”…Luke 24:30-31
“Before Communion you hear about Jesus Christ and you know Him – you are told of His Cross, of His suffering; doubtless you are affected, are even touched with compassion.
But let these same truths be presented to you after Communion. Oh, how much more deeply your soul is moved! It cannot hear enough, it understands much more perfectly. Before Communion, you contemplate Jesus outside you, now you contemplate Him within you, with His own eyes!
It is the mystery of Emmaus re-enacted. When Jesus taught the two disciples along the way, explaining the Scriptures to them, their faith still wavered, though they felt inwardly some mysterious emotion. But participating in the Fraction of the bread, immediately their eyes were opened and their hearts were like to burst with joy.
The voice of Jesus had not sufficed to reveal His presence to them, they had to feel His Heart, had to be fed with the Bread of understanding!”
St Peter Julian Eymard (1811-1868)
Apostle of the Eucharist
Sunday Reflection – 28 July – Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, Gospel: Luke 11:1–13
Become the bread of Christ
St Bernard (1090-1153) Doctor of the Church
Saint Bernard teaches that it is not enough for us to take and eat the Bread from Heaven. We must also offer ourselves to be eaten. Holy Communion is a wondrous exchange in which we become the bread of Christ. Listen to Saint Bernard:
“My penitence, my salvation are His food. I myself am His food. I am chewed. as I am reproved by Him; I am swallowed by Him. as I am taught; I am digested by Him. as I am changed; I am assimilated. as I am transformed; I am made one with Him, as I am conformed to Him. He feeds upon us and is fed by us, that we may be the more loosely bound to Him.”
Saint Bernard, ever the poet, uses images of eating and assimilation to describe how Christ unites us to Himself. Our Lord becomes our food that we might become His. We need the language of poets and preachers in our approach to the Eucharist.
Saint Bernard says, “Christ eats me that He may have me in Himself and Christ, in turn, is eaten by me, that He may be in me and the bond between us, will be strong and the union complete.”
What awaits you in Holy Communion exceeds all that you can desire. Eat, then and offer yourself to be eaten. Receive the Bread of God and become the bread of God.
Sunday Reflection – 7 July – Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
“I Will Give You Rest”
“I will give you rest.
This is what Jesus did during His mortal life and this is what He still does in His continuing life in His Church.
How strongly and gently He received, corrected and raised up Mary of Magdala, Matthew, Peter and Paul!
With what humility and love He continues to receive countless millions of souls in the Eucharistic Communion which marks the highest point of union between the human and the divine!”
Sunday Reflection – 23 June – The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
O precious and wonderful banquet!
Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Priest and Doctor of the Church
An excerpt from On the Feast of the Body of Christ
Since it was the will of God’s only-begotten Son that men should share in His divinity, He assumed our nature, in order that by becoming man He might make men gods. Moreover, when He took our flesh He dedicated the whole of its substance to our salvation. He offered His body to God the Father, on the altar of the cross, as a sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed His blood for our ransom and purification, so that we, might be redeemed, from our wretched state of bondage and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift would abide with us forever, He left His body as food and His blood as drink, for the faithful to consume, in the form of bread and wine.
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. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was instituted for the salvation of all, may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which spiritual delight is tasted at its very source and in which we renew the memory of that surpassing love for us, which Christ revealed in His passion.
It was to impress the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful, that our Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As He was on the point of leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with His disciples, He left it as a perpetual memorial of His passion. It was the fulfilment of ancient figures and the greatest of all His miracles, while for those who were to experience the sorrow of His departure, it was destined to be a unique and abiding consolation.
Sunday Reflection – 19 May – The Fifth Sunday of Easter, C
Holy Communion
Bl John Henry Newman (1801-1890)
O my God, holiness becomes Your House and yet You make Your abode in my breast. My Lord, my Saviour, to me You come, hidden under the semblance of earthly things, yet in that very flesh and blood which You took from Mary. You, who did first inhabit Mary’s breast, come to me.
My God, You see me; I cannot see myself. Were I ever so good a judge about myself, ever so unbiased and with ever so correct a rule of judging, still, from my very nature, I cannot look at myself and view myself truly and wholly. But You, as You come to me, contemplate me.
When I say, Domine, non sum dignus—”Lord, I am not worthy”—You whom I am addressing, alone understands in their fullness the words which I use. You see how unworthy so great a sinner is to receive the One Holy God, whom the Seraphim adore with trembling. You see, not only the stains and scars of past sins but the mutilations, the deep cavities, the chronic disorders which they have left in my soul. You see the innumerable living sins, though they be not mortal, living in their power and presence, their guilt and their penalties, which clothe me. You see all my bad habits, all my mean principles, all wayward lawless thoughts, my multitude of infirmities and miseries, yet You come. You see most perfectly how little I really feel what I am now saying, yet You come.
O my God, left to myself should I not perish under the awful splendour and the consuming fire of Your Majesty. Enable me to bear You, lest I have to say with Peter, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”
AnaStpaul 
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