Meeting Christ in the Liturgy Library
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THIRTEENTH Sunday in Ordinary Time
Wisdom 1, 13-15; 2, 23-24; Psalm 30; 2 Corinthians 8: 7. 9.
13-15; St. Mark 5: 21-43
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Jesus' raising the dead to life was remarkable, his healing of
the woman afflicted with a hemorrhage was remarkable, but
the prophets had also healed the sick, the blind and the lame
and the prophets had also raised the dead. These raisings and
healings were a return to or restoration of earthly existence
only. There is something more offered to us in Jesus that sets
him completely apart as the Christ. Just as it was so for the
prophets, so with Christ, these miraculous events are signs
only of something far more marvelous: eternal life. Our
resurrection will be possible only in and with the divine person:
Jesus Christ. We must be in bodily union with him if we wish to
be raised from the dead to the glorified state of resurrection as
he was.
Jesus links faith in the resurrection to his own
person: 'I am the Resurrection and the life."
(John 11:25) It is Jesus himself who on the last
day will raise up those who have believed in him,
who have eaten his body and drunk his blood. (Cf.
John 5: 24-25; 6:40, 54.) Already now in this
present life he gives a sign and pledge of this by
restoring some of the dead to life, (Cf. Mark
5:21-42; Luke 7: 11-17; John 11) announcing
thereby his own Resurrection, though it was to be
of another order. He speaks of this unique as the
'sign of Jonah,' (Matthew 12:39) the sign of the
temple: he announces that he will be put to death
but rise thereafter on the third day. (Cf. Mark
10:34; John 2: 19-22) (CCC 994)
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I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.)
(Publish with permission.)
http://www.christusrex.org/www1/mcitl/
FOURTEENTH Sunday of the Year
Ezekiel 2, 2-5; Psalm 123; 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10; St. Mark 6,
1-6
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"And on the sabbath [Jesus] began to teach in the synagogue;
and many who heard him were astonished, saying, "Where did
this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him? What
mighty works are wrought by his hands! And they took offence
at him. And he could do no mighty work there... And he
marvelled because of their unbelief." (Mark 6: 2.3.5)
Jesus is saddened by the "lack of faith" of his
own neighbors and the little faith of his own
disciples (Cf. Mark 6:6; Matthew 8:26) (CCC
2610)
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The miracles and signs withheld from the people because of
their lack of faith are a sign only of the more dire effect of the
impossibility of salvation without the virtue of faith.
Believing in Jesus Christ and in the One who sent
him for our salvation is necessary for obtaining
that salvation. (Cf. Mark 16:16; John 3:36; 6:40
et al.) "Since 'without faith it is impossible to
please [God]' and to attain to the fellowship of his
sons, therefore without faith no one has ever
attained justification, nor will anyone obtain
eternal life 'but he who endures to the end.' "
(Dei Filius 3:DS 3012; cf. Matthew 10:22; 24:13
and Hebrews 11:6; Council of Trent: DS 1532.)
(CCC 161) Faith is necessary for salvation. The
Lord himself affirms: "He who believes and is
baptized will be saved; but he who does not
believe will be condemned" (Mark 16:16) (CCC
183)
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Just as all faith comes through the graces of the Church, so
also the Church, through which comes the faith by which we are
saved, is necessary for salvation. The Catechism discusses the
oft-quoted and much-misunderstood teaching: "outside the
Church there is no salvation."
How are we to understand this affirmation, often
repeated by the Church Fathers? (Cf. Cyprian,
Ep. 73.21: PL 3, 1169; De unit.: PL 4, 509-536.)
Re-formulated positively, it means that all
salvation comes from Christ the Head through
the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the
Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on
earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ
is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is
present to us in his body which is the Church. He
himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith
and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same
time the necessity of the Church which men enter
through Baptism as through a door. Hence they
could not be saved who, knowing that the
Catholic Church was founded as necessary by
God through Christ, would refuse either to enter
it or to remain in it. (LG 14; cf. Mark 16:16; John
3:5) (CCC 846)
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Some mistakenly take this for a blanket condemnation of
anyone who is not a "card-carrying" Catholic. Nothing could
be further from the truth. No one is condemned for sincerely
following his conscience, for this itself is a grace from God.
This affirmation is not aimed at those who,
through no fault of their own, do not know Christ
and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not
know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who
nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and,
moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will
as they know it through the dictates of their
conscience-those too may achieve eternal
salvation. (Lumen Gentium 16; cf. DS
3866-3872) (CCC 847)
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We would do well to remember the words of St. Thomas More
when, implored by his friend the Duke of Norfolk to consent
with him to the headship of the Church by, and the divorce and
remarriage of, King Henry VIII "for fellowship's sake" he
responded, "When you go to heaven for following your
conscience and I go to hell for not following mine, will you come
along with me for fellowship's sake?"
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
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FIFTEENTH Sunday of the Year
Amos 7, 12-15; Psalm 84; Ephesians 1, 3-14; St. Mark 6, 7-13
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"What you have received, give as a gift." The Church is the
body of Christ not just in receiving his divine life and love, but
in giving it as well. Christ sent the Twelve out "two by two"
and he also sends us forth. The Church is continually on the
mission to evangelize all nations.
The sacramental liturgy takes its name of the "Mass" from
this reality. The word comes from the Latin "missa", from the
conclusion of the liturgy, when the priest says "Ite, missa est",
meaning "Go, it is sent forth." The people have heard the
Word, prayed and received the Eucharist and are now
prepared to take these gifts out to the world. Our everyday
lives should include a continual reaching out, a going forth to
proclaim the truth to the world, to call all mankind to Christ.
The physical healings recorded in the Gospel are of God's
power made manifest through the Apostles sent out to teach
and baptize all nations.
Christ invites his disciples to follow him by taking
up their cross in their turn. (Cf. Matthew 10:38)
By following him they acquire a new outlook on
illness and the sick. Jesus associates them with
his own life of poverty and service. He makes
them share in his ministry of compassion and
healing: "So they went out and preached that
men should repent. And they cast out many
demons and anointed with oil many that were sick
and healed them." (CCC 1506)
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Healings of the body are signs only of the necessity of faith
and the healing of the ravages of sin through the mercy of God.
It is not physical blindness that shuts us out of heaven, but
spiritual blindness to the evil of sin. For a world that is
obsessed with physical appearances and habitually neglects the
matters of the spirit, it is hard to hear the truth that God is
concerned most with the appearance of the soul. The human
soul in a state of grace is the most beautiful of all creatures
and radiates with the beauty of divine love. Authentic
compassion always requires that we care for and tend the ill
and the disabled, but even more that we attend to their
salvation. Knowing of heaven and the way to get there is the
only sure source of comfort to those weighed down by the
sorrows and burdens of this world.
We meet Christ in the liturgy so that we may be sent out
healed of the effects of sin, strengthened and made new by
God's Word and the Body of Christ. In this way we are
equipped to preach and teach the truth by which Christ is made
known to the world. We love best when we speak and act with
the charity of Christ himself, desiring the salvation of the
world.
The initiative of lay Christians is necessary
especially when the matter involves discovering
or inventing the means for permeating social,
political, and economic realities with the demands
of Christian doctrine and life. This initiative is a
normal element of the life of the Church:
Lay believers are in the front line of Church life;
for them the Church is the animating principle of
human society. Therefore, they in particular
ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not
only of belonging to the Church, but of being the
Church, that is to say, the community of the
faithful on earth under the leadership of the Pope,
the common Head, and of the bishops in
communion with him. They are the Church. (Pius
XII, Discourse, February 20, 1946: AAS 38
(1946) 149; quoted by John Paul II, Christifideles
Laici 9.) (CCC 899)
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I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(For further reading on today's Gospel see also CCC 765, 1511
and 1673.)
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SIXTEENTH Sunday of the Year
Jeremiah 23, 1-6; Psalm 23; Ephesians 2, 13-18; St. Mark 6,
30-34
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Come away by yourselves to a lonely place, and rest a while."
(Mark 6, 31) Rest is part of the cycle of our existence: those
who work in the day rest at night, and vice versa; each week
we rest from unnecessary labor and shopping on the Lord's
Day and share in worship; each year we seek vacation time to
rest from work for a period and to spend time with family and
loved ones. Our lives show the pattern of seeking rest and
throughout it all we look to the eternal rest of heavenly joy.
God's action is the model for human action. If
God "rested and was refreshed" on the seventh
day, man too ought to "rest" and should let
others, especially the poor, "be refreshed."
(Exodus 31:17; cf. 23:12) The sabbath brings
everyday work to a halt and provides a respite. It
is a day of protest against the servitude of work
and the worship of money. (Cf. Nehemiah
13:15-22; 2 Chronicles 36:21) (CCC 2172)
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The great cultural phenomenon of dissatisfaction and
frustration because of life without God has erupted in physical
and sexual abuse to the highest degree within families, an
escalating dependence on drugs and alcohol to achieve an
illusory sense of peace and well-being, and an increasing
fixation on the acquisition of money and material goods even
through the most violent means, and the great attack on the
sacredness of human life in all its stages. All these trends
provide abundant evidence that something is missing in the
contemporary take on life and work.
Perhaps the greatest sign that human creatures have ruptured
their bond with the Creator of life is the increasing custom of
working seven days a week. Some people are forced to work
seven days a week, and these should seek to take the
necessary time on Sundays to worship at Mass. But it is the
great number who choose to work on Sunday with no thought of
the commandment to rest that undermine their spiritual and
physical well-being by disregarding the Creator's own
instructions for the care and feeding of his own creatures. Our
exhaustion and confusion, "like sheep without a shepherd" can
very often be traced to our own disregard for the law of rest, a
universal law grounded in our creatureliness which we
disregard to our own peril.
"...he saw a great throng, and he had compassion on them
because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he
began to teach them many things." (Mark 6, 34) "Come to me,
all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."
(Matthew 11, 28) In the liturgy our divine and merciful Lord
fulfills these and all his promises. Heaven alone is the place of
perfect rest and peace. The sacramental liturgy satisfies our
hunger for rest through the teaching and presence of Christ,
"seated at the right hand of the Father" in glory. Through the
proclamation of the Word and our sharing in the Body and
Blood of the Lord in the Eucharistic Sacrifice our Sunday rest
becomes a perfect anticipation of eternal rest and peace.
"In the earthly liturgy we share in a foretaste of
that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the
Holy City of Jerusalem toward which we journey
as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right
hand of God, Minister of the sanctuary and of the
true tabernacle. With all the warriors of the
heavenly army we sing a hymn of glory to the
Lord; venerating the memory of the saints, we
hope for some part and fellowship with them; we
eagerly await the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ,
until he, our life, shall appear and we too will
appear with him in glory." (SC 8; LG 50.) (CCC
1090)
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I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(Publish with permission.)
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SEVENTEENTH Sunday
2 Kings 4, 42-44; Psalm 145; Ephesians 4, 1-6; St. John 6, 1-15
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?"
(John 6, 5) Jesus speaks as he looks upon the hungry and
weary multitude who have followed him "because they saw the
signs which he did on those who were diseased." (John 6, 2).
He takes five barley loaves and two fish, gives thanks and
distributes such an abundance that, after over 5,000 people
have eaten, twelve full baskets of the bread remain. By the
same divine power with which he feeds the multitude, in this
miraculous multiplication of the loaves and the fishes, Christ
will provide a supernatural food to satisfy another kind of
hunger which nothing in this world can satiate. There is a
hunger, in the heart and mind of man, which he cannot deny
though he may try. This innate hunger cannot be satisfied by
earthly bread which is eaten only to leave one hungry again.
The bread with which Christ miraculously feeds the multitudes
is a sign only that he will fill an emptiness in man that it has
never before been possible to fill. He alone is capable of
satisfying the deep yearning in the multitude for a life that
cannot be attained by eating the loaves and the fishes. "I am
the Bread of Life." (John 6, 35) Christ himself is the food for
which man has always yearned. Christ is the Life for which the
man seeks who knows he must die. "The bread that I shall give
for the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6, 51)
From the beginning of time man has sought in vain, through
what he finds in himself or in other creatures, to satisfy his
yearning for life, an abundant life beyond death. Only in Christ
can man attain at last that perfect communion with his Creator
that bridges the chasm of death which has separated them
since the first sin of Adam and Eve. And yet, even after Christ
has taught that it is by forgiveness of sins that we are fed with
God's life and are saved from unhappiness, there yet remain
the multitudes who see in God only someone to relieve their
earthly longings, their temporary misfortunes in this life. They
fail to see beyond the signs,the healings and the multiplication
of loaves and fishes, to the reality of the living God by whose
power these things are done.
By freeing some individuals from the earthly
evils of hunger, injustice, illness, and death, (Cf.
John 6: 5-15; Luke 19:8; Matthew 11:5) Jesus
performed messianic signs. Nevertheless he did
not come to abolish all evils here below, (Cf.
Luke 12:13-14; John 18:36) but to free men from
the gravest slavery, sin, which thwarts them in
their vocation as God's sons and causes all forms
of human bondage. (Cf. John 8:34-36) (CCC 549)
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All are called to no less than total and eternal communion with
God himself forever. This promise begins now in an
anticipation of glory by receiving the Eucharist, the Body and
Blood of Christ, the Living Bread. Our relationship with the
Lord will fall short, and our happiness will remain incomplete,
as long as we fail to go from the signs to the reality they
signify. The Eucharist is the only perfect "sign" on earth of
God for, not only is his passion and death re-presented, he is
really and truly present and we do indeed receive him whole
and entire in the sacred host.
To possess the life of God we must receive him as he is and not
as we would have him be. Communion is a perfect sign of this.
The living God always eludes those who grasp for him as an
earthly Messiah only. The Gospel relates that it was from
these mistaken ones that Jesus fled: "Perceiving then that
they were about to come and take him by force to make him
king, Jesus withdrew again to the hills by himself." (John 6,
15)
If God would dwell with us, we must dwell with him, truly
present in the Eucharist. In the Mass and in other moments of
adoration we learn to see Christ present here on earth,
enjoying a communion with him in order to go "beyond the
veil" of this world with its diseases, hunger and death; to dwell
with him eternally in a "communion" of perfect love and light
and life.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy" -Fr. Cusick
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(See also paragraphs 439, 549, 559 in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church.)
EIGHTEENTH Sunday
Exodus 16, 2-4. 12-15; Psalm 78; Ephesians 4, 17. 20-24; St.
John 6, 24-35
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Every day, the world over, the Holy Mass is offered countless
times and in varied places: from great cathedrals to humble
churches and in the wild under the dome of the sky. In many
places this awesome event is greeted with indifference. So
many empty pews bespeak a lack of faith that God is truly
present in the world in each Mass. How true it is that mankind
has changed so little; many people are indifferent to Christ
today just as they were when he walked the earth and shared
our lives almost two thousand years ago.
Change begins with each of us as we grow in our knowledge
and love of God's word among us in the proclamation of the
Word and of His real presence in the "true bread from
heaven" (John 6:32) as he describes the gift in today's Gospel.
At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the
bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and
the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ's
Body and Blood. Faithful to the Lord's command
the Church continues to do, in his memory and
until his glorious return, what he did on the eve of
his Passion: "He took bread..." "He took the cup
filled with wine..." The signs of bread and wine
become, in a way surpassing understanding, the
Body and Blood of Christ; they continue also to
signify the goodness of creation. Thus in the
Offertory we give thanks to the Creator for bread
and wine, (Cf. Psalm 104: 13-15) fruit of "the
work of human hands," but above all as "fruit of
the earth" and "of the vine"--gifts of the
Creator. The Church sees in the gesture of the
king-priest Melchizedek, who "brought out bread
and wine," a prefiguring of her own offering.
(Genesis 14:18; cf. Roman Missal, EP I (Roman
Canon) 95. (CCC 1333)
In the Old Covenant bread and wine were offered
in sacrifice among the first fruits of the earth as a
sign of grateful acknowledgment to the Creator.
But they also received a new significance in the
context of the Exodus: the unleavened bread that
Israel eats every year at Passover
commemorates the haste of the departure that
liberated them from Egypt; the remembrance of
the manna in the desert will always recall to
Israel that it lives by the bread of the Word of
God; their daily bread is the fruit of the promised
land, the pledge of God's faithfulness to his
promises. The "cup of blessing" (1 Corinthians
10:16) at the end of the Jewish Passover meal
adds to the festive joy of wine an eschatological
dimension: the messianic expectation of the
rebuilding of Jerusalem. When Jesus instituted
the Eucharist, he gave a new and definitive
meaning to the blessing of the bread and the cup.
(CCC 1334)
The miracles of the multiplication of the loaves,
when the Lord says the blessing, breaks and
distributes the loaves through his disciples to
feed the multitude, prefigure the superabundance
of this unique bread of his Eucharist. (CCC 1335)
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As we grow in our knowledge of the Holy Eucharist, we can
grow in our thankfulness each time we encounter this wonder in
the Liturgy. It is so easy to grow cold and indifferent toward
Christ so humbly and mysteriously present. When we
acknowledge the truth of Christ present we also affirm the
reality of grace, the gift of God's very own divine life, granted
undeniably to each of us "blessed to be called to the Supper of
the Lamb." We must continually fan the flame of our faith
through every means available so that, drawn to receive our
Eucharistic Lord humbly and reverently, we may behold the
miracle of our own lives transformed, made holy and happy, by
this greatest of gifts.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy" -Fr. Cusick
(See also paragraphs 423, 698, 1094, 2835 in the Catechism of
the Catholic Church.)
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NINETEENTH Sunday
1 Kings 19, 4-8; Psalm 34; Ephesians 4, 30-5, 2; St. John 6,
41-51
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"How could I bring a child into a world like this?" How many
times have you heard such murmuring in hostility toward new
life?
"What if I bring my child into the world only to see him
rejected by his own people, spat upon, mocked, beaten,
scourged, crowned with thorns, stripped of his garments and
then crucified like a common criminal?" Mary could very well
have responded to Gabriel's announcement of the Incarnation
in just this way. But, as our Lady knows, every child is a sign of
God's will that life should go on.
The evil of the culture of death persists in the anti-life
mentality which questions the right to life of every child and the
duty of husband and wife to generously accept the gift of
"children lovingly from God." (The Marriage Rite) This
condition is pervasive because it is often insidiously disguised
as good. The culture of death thrives upon the widely held
error that the evil in the world and the suffering it brings make
life itself intolerable. But life is created by God and therefore
always good, no matter how bruised by suffering or eclipsed by
pain. Christ's Passion and death have given salvific meaning
and spiritual wealth to our suffering. Men and women who
forget they are created by the loving God of Eternal Life lose
sight of the eternal human vocation to holiness and happiness
with God himself. In an environment which does not lovingly
and generously accept every human life as sacred the disease
and sickness of the culture of death thrives and grows.
The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of our Lord and God, Jesus
Christ, stands as the greatest sign of contradiction against the
lies peddled today which spread the culture of death. The
"Bread of Life", multiplied abundantly on the altars of the
world to feed all mankind, calls all men to recognize their own
dignity. All are are called to receive the flesh of Christ given
for the life of the world and so reach beyond this world with its
broken promises, sins and suffering, to the eternal joy of the
wedding banquet of the Lamb.
"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food
which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to
you." (John 6, 27) If we are in intimate communion with our
Lord present in the Eucharist, then we are inoculated against
the peddlers of death with their abortion, abortifacient
contraception, infanticide, unchaste sex education and
euthanasia, the arsenal of the culture of death which has
declared outright war upon God and human life. The members
of our society who tolerate the abomination of anti-life policies
and practices are in love with their own shadow in monstrous
self-absorption and condemn themselves to eternal death.
Christians are called to turn away from selfishness in order to
focus upon the image of Christ in the Eucharist; to be led not
into the temptation of false hopes and empty promises, but to
eternal life itself.
We labor "for the food which endures to eternal life" when we
reverently and frequently receive the Bread of Life, and then
go forth bravely and calmly into the world with its
murder-sprees, rampant infanticide and glorification of
perversion with hope, confident that, as Christ promised, "I
have overcome the world." And we overcome the world with
him, we share in his victory, as we adore and receive him in the
Eucharist with a clear conscience. We look forward to the life
of heaven to come in and through the Eucharist. By this divine
gift we are in communion with the Paschal Lamb whom we
receive and who continually unites us to himself and the Father
in heaven.
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In an ancient prayer the Church acclaims the
mystery of the Eucharist: "O sacred banquet in
which Christ is received as food, the memory of
his Passion is renewed, the soul is filled with
grace and a pledge of the life to come is given to
us." If the Eucharist is the memorial of the
Passover of the Lord Jesus, if by our communion
at the altar we are filled "with every heavenly
blessing and grace," (Roman Missal, Roman
Canon 96: Supplices te rogamus) then the
Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly
glory. (CCC1402)
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Children are brought into the world according to God's plan
and design in order to share the life of grace forever with him
in glory. This is true despite all the evils which may threaten
our lives but which can never harm our souls. "I am the living
bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this
bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for
the life of the world is my flesh." (John 6, 51) The gift of God's
flesh and blood is a living and divine sign that life should go on
forever and ever and ever. Begin eternity today by kneeling in
worship of our Incarnate God present in all the tabernacles of
the world.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(See also number 1001 in the CCC.)
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TWENTIETH Sunday
Proverbs 9, 1-6; Psalm 34; Ephesians 5, 15-20; St. John 6,
51-58
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Who does this man think he is? He's just a Polish priest! He
has nothing to say to me." "Who do those Catholics think they
are, trying to tell me how to live my life? It's my body, it's my
decision!" "I don't care what the priest says, it's just a piece of
bread!"
The Gospel of John, chapter 6, verse 52, relates that when
Jesus taught the crowd that his very flesh is the true bread that
has come down from heaven, the "Jews then disputed among
themselves, saying, 'how can this man give us his flesh to eat?'
" There are many who murmur today in protest, who quarrel
amongst themselves and who dispute against Christ and the
truth which he teaches for our salvation. Today Christ present
in his Church is attacked by the murmuring of those who have
declared themselves their own magisterium, reserving to
themselves the authority to decide what is true and false.
Today many murmur in protest against the Holy Father,
chosen by Christ and given the particular assistance of the
Holy Spirit to lead us "into all the truth." And today, just as we
read in the account of almost 2,000 years ago, people murmur
all the same in rebellion against Christ's teaching, "the bread
that I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." Many live
in ignorance of this greatest gift of God to mankind, the fruit of
the sacrifice of Calvary. But many reject Christ, saying, "How
can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus' words are unmistakable. The people who heard his
preaching at the beginning could not mistake his meaning. He
meant in no uncertain terms, that if they were to receive his life
eternally in the kingdom, then they must begin now to receive
the Body and Blood which he poured out unto death at Calvary
in the Eucharist, first instituted upon the Apostles on Holy
Thursday and faithfully handed down in the Church. And when
some of his own beloved people rejected him, Christ did not
change is teaching or water it down, he watched them leave
with sadness. He made them free out of love, and out of love
he preserved their freedom to reject him and lose their
salvation.
The Church teaches the same today as Christ did, without
change or dilution. "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man
and drink his blood you have no life in you." Some walk away.
But the Church must remain faithful to her Lord. She cannot
change the truth, and in the power of the Holy Spirit remains
firm in this truth. St. Justin, of the second century, testifies to
the ancient faith of the Church:
"Because this bread and wine have been made
Eucharist" ('eucharisted' according to an ancient
expression), "we call this food Eucharist, and no
one may take part in it unless he believes that
what we teach is true, has received baptism for
the forgiveness of sins and new birth, and lives in
keeping with what Christ taught." (CCC 1355)
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God is "with us", Emmanuel, in Christ Jesus our Lord who
promises, "I will be with you always, even until the end of the
world". He keeps this promise in the Eucharist. Let us praise,
worship, love and adore him in the sacred Host, now in our
Churches and in the sacred Liturgy, looking forward to our
eternal communion with Father, Son and Holy Spirit in glory.
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy" -Fr. Cusick
(See also paragraphs 787, 1001, 1384, 1391, 1406, 1524 in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church.)
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TWENTY-FIRST Sunday
Joshua 24, 1-2. 15-17. 18; Psalm 34; Ephesians 5, 21-32; St.
John 6, 60-69
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Hocus pocus" is a popular expression in our culture to
indicate magic powers and to enthrall an audience. We've all
said the words and laughed in fun as we watch magic "tricks"
and sleight of hand in entertainment. These words,
unbeknownst to many people, actually come from a mocking
phrase used in sacrilegious attack upon the holiest gift: the
Mass. The saying originally went along these lines: "hocus
pocus dominocus." Ring any bells? This is a mocking spoof of
the Latin words for the consecration of the Mass: "Hoc est
enim corpus meum. (This is my body.)" This is one of the many
ways in which we can see that our culture is deeply imbued with
anti-Catholic and anti-sacred sentiment.
In today's Gospel we read that, when Christ taught that he
gave his flesh for the life of the world, "Many of his disciples,
when they heard it, said, 'This is a hard saying; who can endure
it?' " (John 6, 60) Our Lord, the Gospel relates, "knew from
the first who those were that did not believe, and who it was
that should betray him." (John 6, 64) And what does he do as a
result? Does he change his teaching in order to show his
compassion? Instead he demonstrates authentic love by
repeating the truth, realizing that doing so would shake the
faith of many who had followed him. And the scriptures testify
that "After this many of his disciples drew back and no longer
went about with him." (John 6, 66) Rather than changing his
teaching, which is the truth and therefore can never be
changed, Christ turns to those upon whom the fate of the infant
Church will rest and asks them, "Will you also go away?"
(John 6, 67)
The first announcement of the Eucharist divided
the disciples, just as the announcement of the
Passion scandalized them: "This is a hard saying;
who can listen to it?" (John 6:60) The Eucharist
and the Cross are stumbling blocks. It is the
same mystery and it never ceases to be an
occasion of division. "Will you also go away?" :
(John 6: 67) the Lord's question echoes through
the ages, as a loving invitation to discover that
only he has "the words of eternal life" (John
6:68) and that to receive in faith the gift of his
Eucharist is to receive the Lord himself. (CCC
1336)
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The Eucharist is indeed the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity
of Jesus Christ and this truth can never change. Today many
find this stupendous reality a "stumbling block" and so reject
Christ's teaching. The Lord is fully aware that many "murmur
in protest" against his teaching and he leaves them free to do
so. Let us pray that all mankind will receive the grace to
become aware of the Lord's presence and to fall down in
worship and awe in his presence. Just as Peter let the whole
world echo: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words
of eternal life; and we have believed, and have come to know,
that you are the holy one of God." (John 6, 68-69)
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy", Father Cusick
(See also paragraphs 438, 1336, 2766 in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church.)
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TWENTY-SECOND Sunday
Deuteronomy 4, 1-2; 6-8; Psalm 15; James 1, 17-18. 21-22. 27;
St. Mark 7, 1-8. 14-15. 21-23
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
"Empty is the reverence they do me because they teach as
dogmas mere human precepts." (Mk 7: 7)
Outrage over animal experimentation and silence in the face of
the human holocaust of abortion. Proliferation of the sexist and
abortifacient Depo Provera, Norplant and pill as millions
languish in ignorance of the methods of natural birth
regulation, the most effective and healthiest means of spacing
or delaying births. Though more Americans go to church
services each week than go to sports events in an entire year
such reverence is empty while mere human precepts are taught
as dogmas and the eternal laws of God are spurned and
ignored.
The false gospel of "niceness" condemns those who speak out
against the glorification of fornication, whether homosexual or
heterosexual. A human precept, that of never offending anyone
under any circumstances to seek human respect, has been
transformed into a commandment, while God's law of chastity
is ignored. The false gospel of the culture of death enshrines
the evil "choice" of one human being to murder another in the
womb, while God's eternal commandment "thou shalt not kill"
is forgotten.
There will be no forgetting on the day of judgment, for then the
secrets of all hearts will be revealed. On that day there will be
no concealing the "wicked designs that come from the deep
recesses of the heart: acts of fornication, theft, murder,
adulterous conduct, greed, maliciousness, deceit, sensuality,
envy, blasphemy, arrogance, an obtuse spirit." (Mk 7: 21-22) It
is such actions as these of which Christ says: "This people
pays me lip service but their heart is far from me." (Mk 7:6)
Their cry of rebellion is like that of the devil: "I will not
serve."
The Jewish people and their spiritual leaders
viewed Jesus as a rabbi. (Cf. Jn 11:28; 3:2; Mt
22:23-24, 34-36) He often argued within the
framework of rabbinical interpretation of the law.
(Cf. Mt 12:5; 9:12; Mk 2: 23-27; Lk 6: 6-9; Jn 7:
22-23) Yet Jesus could not help but offend the
teachers of the Law, for he was not content to
propose his interpretation alongside theirs but
taught the people "as one who had authority, and
not as their scribes." (Mt. 7:28-29) In Jesus, the
same Word of God, that had resounded on Mount
Sinai to give the written law to Moses, made
itself heard anew on the Mount of the Beatitudes.
(Cf. Mt 5:1) Jesus did not abolish the Law but
fulfilled it by giving its ultimate interpretation in a
divine way: "You have heard it was said to the
men of old...But I say to you..."(Mt 5: 33-34)
With this same divine authority, he disavowed
certain human traditions of the Pharisees that
were "making void the word of God." (Mk 7:13;
cf. 3:8) (CCC 581)
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Christ commanded the Apostles "go teach all nations". (Mt
28:19-20) They do so today in the Church and in her teaching
authority, the Magisterium. To turn a deaf ear to the teaching
Church is to turn a deaf ear to Jesus Christ the Lord for he
said to the Apostles and to their successors, the pope and his
brother bishops in union with him, "He who hears you, hears
me."
I look forward to meeting you here again next week as,
together, we "meet Christ in the liturgy" -Fr. Cusick
(See also paragraphs 582, 2196 in the Catechism of the
Catholic Church.)
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