While I don't know as of yet what the Lord will inspire in my homily for this weekend, the feast of "The Most Holy Body and Blood of the Lord," I know that today I want to reflect on the gift of Jesus who is present in the Tabernacle and in the Monstrance in Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration in many churches (including ours).
It is right for us to give thanks for the nourishment Jesus provides to us through the gift of Holy Communion, not only on this feast, but at each Mass that is celebrated here and throughout the world. In addition to doing as Jesus taught in coming into Communion with God, the Father, every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, Jesus, through the words he spoke at the Last Supper (and at every Mass), comes to us and seeks a union with us that can bring us inner joy, peace and renewed confidence in God's love for us.
Most, if not all of us, remember when this feast was called "Corpus Christi," and I hope more than a few of us have participated in a Corpus Christi procession in which Jesus leads the way in the Monstrance (through the instrument of a priest or deacon) which among other blessings, makes a public statement of our belief in the REAL PRESENCE of Jesus in the Eucharist and says, either implicitly or explicitly, that he is leading us to our heavenly home!
WHAT A BLESSING it is for us that Jesus is made available to us in the Monstrance 24/7 in our perpetual adoration chapel where we can come any hour of the day or night to be close to him in words of prayer, in listening to him, and/or in quiet meditation or contemplation. I want to thank all regular adorers and our "ready and willing" substitutes, as well as our leadership team headed now by Tom Donnelly. If you have not yet been drawn by the Lord (or others) to join us in this devotion, PLEASE pray that the Lord will draw you (and others in this parish) into a deeper union with him through more frequent reception of the Eucharist at Mass and by participation in Eucharistic Adoration. I, and many others, can attest to what giving this time to Jesus does for us and for those we lift up to the Lord in prayer. I hope all of us share the sentiment that is expressed in this popular refrain: "O Sacrament most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be very moment thine."
It is right for us to give thanks for the nourishment Jesus provides to us through the gift of Holy Communion, not only on this feast, but at each Mass that is celebrated here and throughout the world. In addition to doing as Jesus taught in coming into Communion with God, the Father, every time we pray the Lord's Prayer, Jesus, through the words he spoke at the Last Supper (and at every Mass), comes to us and seeks a union with us that can bring us inner joy, peace and renewed confidence in God's love for us.
Most, if not all of us, remember when this feast was called "Corpus Christi," and I hope more than a few of us have participated in a Corpus Christi procession in which Jesus leads the way in the Monstrance (through the instrument of a priest or deacon) which among other blessings, makes a public statement of our belief in the REAL PRESENCE of Jesus in the Eucharist and says, either implicitly or explicitly, that he is leading us to our heavenly home!
WHAT A BLESSING it is for us that Jesus is made available to us in the Monstrance 24/7 in our perpetual adoration chapel where we can come any hour of the day or night to be close to him in words of prayer, in listening to him, and/or in quiet meditation or contemplation. I want to thank all regular adorers and our "ready and willing" substitutes, as well as our leadership team headed now by Tom Donnelly. If you have not yet been drawn by the Lord (or others) to join us in this devotion, PLEASE pray that the Lord will draw you (and others in this parish) into a deeper union with him through more frequent reception of the Eucharist at Mass and by participation in Eucharistic Adoration. I, and many others, can attest to what giving this time to Jesus does for us and for those we lift up to the Lord in prayer. I hope all of us share the sentiment that is expressed in this popular refrain: "O Sacrament most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be very moment thine."