The SOLEMNITY of the BODY and BLOOD of JESUS

Posted on by Cassie

Just as our body needs food to live, so to do Christians need another kind of food for our spirits to live. The food par excellence for our spirits is the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Without food we cannot live a full human life and enjoy health, work, learning and freedom.

It is no different in our life of the Spirit. Without the food of the Eucharist we become weak and incapable of reaching out to help others; we become easy victims to temptation and depression. Without the bread of life we quickly lose interest in reading Scripture and in praying; we lose our freedom in the Spirit and become enslaved by the materialism of the world. In other words, we need the Eucharist to become fully alive in our spiritual life.

As a Church, we are the Spirit-filled people of God who feed the Eucharist in faith as a sign of our total dependence on the Lord as the ultimate source of our life. We the Church—you and me—are the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. We are a people who share our bread with others— bread for the hungry by helping the poor; bread for the oppressed by fighting for justice; bread for the lonely by offering friendship; bread for the despairing by giving encouragement.

There is no need for physical or spiritual hunger. We need to work together to become a Spirit— filled people who feed on the Eucharist and share it with others. Pray that we may truly become a people of Faith who through the Bread of Life can fulfill all our needs.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

SOLEMNITY of the HOLY TRINITY

Posted on by Cassie

God’s fundamental attitude toward the world is love, because God is love(1 John 4:8).  God would have been justified in condemning the world for its sins.  But instead He sent His Son so that we might have eternal life rather than perish.  All who accept Jesus receive eternal life.  Those who reject Jesus are rejecting their only escape from eternal death.

God “gave” His only Son  in two senses: gave Him as a gift to us through the Word becoming flesh, and gave Him up to death for us on the cross.  That is the measure of God’s love for us.  God does not seek to condemn us, but to give us eternal life through His Son. Those who accept Jesus as God’s revelation receive eternal life; those who reject Jesus reject the eternal life He brings, and thereby condemn themselves to the death which is the fate of all those born of flesh alone.

Deciding for or against Jesus therefore has eternal consequences, but it also has consequences here and now.  Rejecting Jesus and His message is the way to eternal damnation.

God wants us to have eternal life with Him.  If we ask His help to accept Jesus and not reject His message, God will give us the grace we need to accomplish His holy will.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell

 

Pentecost Sunday

Posted on by Patrick Leyden

The apostles were frightened in the upper room.  They heard from Peter and John about the empty tomb, but they were afraid.  We are a bit like them as we believe in the resurrection but still often feel intimidated by difficulties and opposition.  Now Jesus reveals Himself to His disciples and their fear melts away in joy.  Jesus’ gift of peace to them was not for themselves only.  Peace is the effect of Jesus’ presence in the Church, His lasting peace to us.

In the beginning of human existence, God breathed into Adam.  By blowing on His followers, the risen Jesus now signals the beginning of a new human existence.  A new way of being human has come into existence in Him, for He is the  Word of God become human; in Him, human nature has  been renewed by being united to God.  Jesus Himself is human life made new.  Through His death, resurrection and ascension, He now draws us into His divinely renewed human existence.  He breathes on His disciples: He gives them the Spirit of God.

The disciples expected resurrection and a new creation at the end of time.  Now they see Jesus already risen, and they themselves begin to experience  a new creation.  The wind that will blow in the new heavens and new earth already begins to gust in their minds and hearts.  Through them Jesus will now continue His mission of bringing reconciliation with God to people everywhere.

We are called to be disciples of Jesus.  We have received the Holy Spirit at Baptism, Confirmation, and every time  we receive Holy Eucharist.  May Jesus breath the Spirit of God once again on Pentecost Sunday.  May the breath of God help us to bring the fire of God’s love to all we meet this day and everyday.

God Bless

Msgr. Powell