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June 14, 2020 - Pastor Message

03/29/2024

“While they were eating, Jesus took  bread,  said  the  blessing, broke  it,  and  giving  it  to  his disciples said, ‘Take and eat, this is  my  body.’  Then  he  took  the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of  you,  for  this  is  my  blood  of the covenant, which will be shed on  behalf  of  many  for  the forgiveness  of  sins.  I  tell  you, from  now  on  I  shall  not  drink this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it with you new in the kingdom of my Father’” (Matthew 26:26-30).

This  weekend  we  celebrate  the  feast  of  Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. It seems  strange  to  have  a  feast  day  dedicated  to  the celebration  of  Christ’s  Body  and  Blood.    Don’t  we celebrate  Christ’s  Body  and  Blood  at  every  Mass? The  answer  of  course  is  yes.  But  the  real  question each  of  us  needs  to  ask  is,  do  I  celebrate  Christ’s Body  and  Blood  at  every  Mass?  Familiarity  breeds contempt, and, because we celebrate Mass each week, it can become easy to allow ourselves to be distracted and for our minds to wander instead of focusing on the  awesome  mystery  unfolding  before  us.  Like  all feasts,  we  celebrate  Corpus  Christi  to  remind ourselves of that mystery and to refocus ourselves on it.

That is perhaps truer this year than any other before as we return to public Mass to receive Christ’s Body and Blood after three months away. Many people watched Mass online or on TV during that time, and many still are, which is great and is a helpful way of keeping the Lord’s  Day  holy  when  we  cannot  come  to  Mass  in person for health reasons.  The ultimate goal for all of us, though, when our health and good judgment allow, is to be in the presence of Christ in the Eucharist and to  be  nourished  by  his  Body  and  Blood  in  Holy Communion, which is the mystery we remember in a special way in this weekend’s feast.

So whether we celebrate the Eucharist this weekend in person at church or by watching the Mass at home, may  our  celebration  help  us  to  refocus  on  this awesome  gift  and  renew  and  deepen  our  faith  in Christ’s saving Body and Blood. I ask you to keep in prayer in a special way the young people of our parish  who will receive Holy Communion for the first time, whether this weekend or at a future date. May their encounter with the Lord in the Eucharist transform their lives and make them more and more like his own each time they receive his precious Body and Blood.

Fr. Marc Stockton

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