Beloved: May grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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When do you sing out loud?
Perhaps at a concert, or on a hot summer day, driving in the car alone – windows down, hair blowing in the wind, not a care in the world.
To me, singing’s a bit like whistling – it’s hard to do when your sad, but easy when you’re happy.
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Today we celebrate the feast of Charles Lwanga and his companions, who sang to God during the darkest and final hour of their lives.
By the end of the 19th century, Catholicism was spreading like wildfire throughout Africa. But whenever the Church begins to flourish, it often meets resistance.
Such was the case in in Uganda.
The king didn’t pay any attention this new religious movement budding beneath his throne, until he was confronted directly by Christ’s teachings.
One day, Charles Lawanga told the king that he was living a life of immorality and debauchery – that his actions offended the Lord and that he should repent.
But the king became so enraged that he decided to kill Charles and his companions, forcing them to march into the woods for two long days, before burning them on wooden stakes.
As they were being led to their death, Charles and his companions sang songs to God – a sign of how deeply rooted their faith in Christ had become.
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As the old Swedish proverb reminds us, “Those who wish to sing always find a song.”
It’s not only true on good days, while jamming out a concert or cruising down the highway, but even in the darkest hour of our lives.
We can always sing of glory because of Him, who first loved us and gave himself for us.
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Image credits: (1) eBay (2) National Catholic Register (3) Dreamstime.com
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”‘ Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.
While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Many of you know, I’m a convert to the Catholic faith. I wasn’t raised with any deep religious foundation; I was only baptized in a Protestant church as a child.
But as I entered my teenage years, I started questioning, searching for God.
So, when I went off to college, I started going to Mass; it was a Catholic university. After 100 Sundays of watching others sit, stand, kneel, then proceed forth for Communion, I came to the simple conclusion: “That’s either Jesus, or it’s not.”
“And if it is, then I must have him.”
So, I became a Catholic … and, years later, a priest.
Often, we get caught up in the question of, “How can that be Jesus?” The Eucharist looks like just a piece of bread. Perhaps it’s better to focus not on how, but, “Why would that be him?”
It seems the stage was set from the very first pages of the Bible.
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In the Book of Genesis, how do Adam and Eve break their communion with God?
Through an act of eating.
As Satan the serpent slithers in the Garden of Eden, he convinces Eve to eat from the tree of knowledge. She then shares that fruit with Adam.
This breaks the command given by God to Adam: “You are free to eat from any of the trees in the garden, except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it, you shall die.”
Christians understand this to be the origin of sin – and by extension the evil that is still present in our world. Once humanity’s relationship with God was severed through a disobedient act of eating, “all hell broke loose,” as it were.
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In today’s Gospel, Jesus reverses that ancient curse of Eden by establishing a new, final covenant, also through an act of eating.
“Take this, all of you, and eat of it,” he says. “This is my body, given up for you… This is my blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant. Do this in memory of me.”
Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge.
In the Eucharist, we eat from the tree of life.
As the Lord promises elsewhere, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.”
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Pondering this truth that we receive Christ in the Eucharist is enough “food for thought.”
But receiving our Lord also comes with great responsibility. As Saint Augustine once taught, “Become what you consume.” Become like Christ in the Eucharist – bread broken and shared, offering nourishment for others.
So, each morning as I hold that sacred Host in my hand, I pray in union with the Lord, saying silently in my heart, “This is also my body, my heart given up for you – this community of faith.”
Every encounter, every homily written, every Mass, baptism, wedding, anointing, or funeral celebrated is my way of offering myself with Jesus … for you.
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Don’t we all attempt to satisfy that command in some way?
“Do this – be this – in memory of me?”
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I think of parents who sacrifice sleep and sanity to raise a family; those who care for an elderly parent or an aging spouse; those involved in parish ministry, and so on. We give ourselves freely for this community of faith, each in our own way.
As Saint Teresa of Avila once wrote:
“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes with which He looks. Yours are the feet with which He walks. Yours are the hands with which He blesses. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.”
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His body becomes our body every time we receive him in the Eucharist.
So, “Do this – bethis – bread broken, life for others, in memory of me.”
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Image credits: (1) Do This In Memory of Me, Andy Schmalen, Fine Art America (2) Aleteia (3) Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington
Mary set out in those days and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.”
Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Our parish vision statement begins with the words, “All generations journeying together.”
So much of that inspiration comes from today’s Gospel, when Mary and Elizabeth embrace. Together, these expectant mothers represent “all generations.”
Elizabeth, a barren, elderly woman married for many years. Mary, an unwed teenager. And their unborn children, John and Jesus, representing their hope for the future.
Though Mary and Elizabeth’s age and life experiences are different, they find in each other things they couldn’t have on their own: Community. Affirmation. Friendship. Belonging. Understanding.
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That’s what we seek to offer here, as well.
At St. Pius X, we journey with the elderly; with married couples; with expectant mothers; with teenagers; with children; with the unborn; with those joining online; with anyone seeking the love and support of a community.
Though we are of different ages and life experiences, we can find in one another what Mary found with Elizabeth.
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Our challenge is to constantly expand our embrace, to set out in haste, inviting new members into the fold.
Everyone needs the support of a community.
So, why not journey with us, either here or even from afar?
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Image credits: (1) The Visitation, National Catholic Register (2) Creator Spiritus, James Janknegt (3) GROW Devotional Series, Amazon
