Tag: eucharist

Memorial of the Passion of Saint John the Baptist

From the responsorial psalm: “Every day will I bless you, and I will praise your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable. I will praise your name for ever, Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 6:17-29)

Herod was the one who had John the Baptist arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had married. John had said to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Herodias harbored a grudge against him and wanted to kill him but was unable to do so. Herod feared John, knowing him to be a righteous and holy man, and kept him in custody. When he heard him speak he was very much perplexed, yet he liked to listen to him.

Reluctant to execute John, Herodias looked for an opportunity to have him killed. During a banquet celebrating Herod’s birthday, Herodias’s daughter, also known as Salome, danced for Herod and the guests. At this, Herod promised to grant her any wish, even up to half of his kingdom, and she got what Herodias prompted her to ask for—the head of John the Baptist on a platter. John spoke out boldly against King Herod’s immorality and was brutally executed, also foreshadowing Jesus’ rejection, passion, and death for the sake of bearing witness to the truth. For the sake of proclaiming truth through the Gospel, how far does the Lord call us to go?

God, help me be recognize the true cost of discipleship in picking up my cross and confronting the Evil One as I face the spiritual battles the world presents. Guide me in my choices, not to serve immoral ends but to remain in your grace and to trust the judgment of others to your justice and mercy. Although he knew John was a holy and righteous man, Herod chose to please his wife and guests and have him killed. Help me see, Lord, your gifts of truth and goodness shining through the darkness and penetrating the gray areas where human judgment is prone to fail. “God is faithful,” Saint Paul says, “and by him you were called to fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Saint John the Baptist, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Memorial of Saint Augustine, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

From the responsorial psalm: “Blessed are you who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways! For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 23:27-32)

Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth. Even so, on the outside you appear righteous, but inside you are filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.”

Jesus continues to denounce the scribes and the Pharisees with a series of woes, expressing grief over self-obsessed religious leaders who are guilty of hypocrisy and murderous intentions. Like the scribes and Pharisees, God made all of us in his image, pure and beautiful. Yet, sin corrupts and death destroys that image, producing “dead men’s bones and every kind of filth.” Jesus calls the scribes and Pharisees—and all who hear him—away from false displays of virtue and toward conversion, back to the beauty and goodness by which God first formed us in the image of love. As Saint Augustine said, “Inasmuch as love grows in you, so in you beauty grows. For love is the beauty of the soul.”

God, the harsh words that Jesus directed to the scribes and Pharisees are not isolated in time and space but are for all people across the ages. Guide me away from false piety and show me Jesus your Son, present in the scriptures, in the real presence of the sacraments, and in the Body of Christ, the Church. That is where genuine relationship is, in the truth of the person of Christ. For the sake of your glory, Lord, open my eyes to my own shortcomings and make clear to me today how to turn to you more and more. Saint Augustine, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Memorial of Saint Monica

From the responsorial psalm: “Before the Lord, for he comes; for he comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy. The Lord comes to judge the earth.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 23:23-26)

Jesus said: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and fidelity. But these you should have done, without neglecting the others. Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish, but inside they are full of plunder and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean.”

Jesus criticizes the Pharisees for their handling of Mosaic law, the way they overemphasize unimportant aspects of it while neglecting more important matters. Judgment, mercy, and fidelity have greater weight than tithing. Inner purity and repentance matter; external appearances do not. And out of love, Jesus rebukes them for their misguided words and actions. Turning to God and living in his truth allows us to let go of the blindness of seeking external validation before others. Christ then has room to fill that space in a way that Paul describes in the first reading: “May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deed and word.”

God, help strengthen in me the desire for the greater things that Christ calls me to: right judgment, mercy, fidelity, repentance, hope, goodness, and purity. Show me through the opportunities you place before me how to put aside self-regard and instead put to use love and mercy in what I say and do. You loved me first, Lord, and heaven and earth are yours. “The Lord comes,” the psalmist says, “to judge the earth.” Let me leave judgment to you, Lord, so I am free to love you and do as you will. Saint Monica, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men.” | Monday of the Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all you lands. Sing to the LORD; bless his name. Proclaim God’s marvelous deeds to all the nations.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 23:13-22)

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You traverse sea and land to make one convert, and when that happens you make him a child of Gehenna twice as much as yourselves.”

What Jesus says to the crowds and to his disciples, he says to everybody. Through their authority, the scribes and Pharisees have prevented people from entering the kingdom of heaven. In putting up obstacles, they open up paths to other spiritual realities and fail to find God’s presence. Where God is present, that is the path to follow, the way to the kingdom, whether here or in heaven. “You blind ones,” Jesus says to the scribes and Pharisees, “which is greater, the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred?” Paul’s letter describes an attitude of love and thanksgiving, which opens the doors to the kingdom of heaven. What opportunities does God present to us today to open the doors to his kingdom?

God, help make me worthy of your calling to “bring to fulfillment every good purpose and every effort of faith.” There are times when it is hard to get past the barriers that present themselves during the day, whether self-imposed or beyond my control. I want to gain admittance to your kingdom, here on earth and in the life of the world to come. Help me desire this more and more, Lord, for the sake of your glory. I have nothing to give you that you haven’t given me first, the giver of all good gifts. With my effort of faith, take from me all I do have, and in your mercy break it and bless it as I seek to enter your kingdom.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“You are the Holy One of God.” | Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “When the just cry out, the LORD hears them, and from all their distress he rescues them. The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:60-69)

Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them, “Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,” Jesus has just finished saying, “and I will raise him on the last day.” After saying this to a skeptical crowd in the synagogue in Capernaum, many of the followers of Jesus left him. Finishing what is known as the Bread of Life Discourse, and knowing there are some who do not believe him, Jesus says, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.” He asks the Twelve if there are any among them who want to leave. And Simon Peter answers: “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” These are the words of one who would later deny Jesus but also the one to whom Jesus said: “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.” Peter exemplifies for us the journey from wavering, weakness, and division to faith, authority, and unity.

God, help me understand today’s Gospel. In it, Jesus says that no one can come to him unless it is granted by you, his Father. Strengthen my faith so that I come to the conviction, like Peter, that Jesus is the Holy One of God. “As for me and my household,” Joshua said, ” we will serve the LORD.” Just as Paul speaks of Christ and the Church through the example of man and wife becoming one flesh, help me participate fully in the life-giving mystery of union with you through the Bread of Life, through love made manifest in the Eucharist. In the truth of humility, help me see my dependence on you for everything. Guide me to your Son as I come to believe in him more fully. “Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.”

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Memorial of Saint Pius X, Pope

From the responsorial psalm: “He guides me in right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil; for you are at my side with your rod and your staff that give me courage. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 20:1-16)

“When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

To describe what the kingdom of heaven is like, Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who goes out at dawn to hire workers for his vineyard and agrees to pay them a for a full day’s work. Later, he returns to the marketplace and hires more workers, promising to pay them what is just. He pays all the workers at the end of the day, starting with those hired last. They are surprised to find—as if given a gift—that like the workers who started early, they receive a full day’s wage. The first ones hired complain, thinking naturally that they deserve more since they worked longer. Emphasizing that God’s ways are not man’s and that he responds to us personally, Jesus teaches that the last will be first, and the first will be last. Human ideas of fairness can prevent us from seeing and understanding that the gift of God’s generosity can never be outdone.

God, I have been the one who comes late to receive your grace, yet you pour out generously what you have given to those who came to you early. You know my heart, Lord, and the limited understanding I have of grace and mercy. In the first reading, you speak through Ezekiel, saying: “For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep.” In recalling today’s readings, let me see clearly that you shepherd me throughout the day and guide me in your ways—seeking me out, making me whole, giving me being—all freely given. As Jesus says, “What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?” By the love with which you loved me first, Lord, teach me gratitude and humility. Saint Pius X, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Memorial of Saint Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

From the responsorial psalm: “’Our own hand won the victory; the LORD had nothing to do with it.’ For they are a people devoid of reason, having no understanding. It is I who deal death and give life.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 19:16-22)

Jesus said to his disciples: “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God.” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For men this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”

Matthew describes the astonishment of the disciples as Jesus emphasizes the impossibility of entering the kingdom of God. Their question, “Who then can be saved?” encompasses people of their time but also all people since the time of Christ. In response to Jesus, Peter says, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” In giving up the wealth that the world offers and seeking it, the Twelve receive a particular reward—twelve thrones in heaven when Jesus is seated on his throne of glory. Jesus takes this further. Everyone who has given up the attachments of this world for the sake of his name will “receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.” To make explicit his teaching, Jesus says a final word: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

God, help me understand the Gospel as Jesus taught the apostles. “It will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. . . . For men this is impossible.” Attachment to money is not the only thing the apostles gave up; they also gave up their livelihood, time at home with family, their possessions, physical comfort, and more. These things not only occlude access to you but are building blocks of great delusions. As you say through the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading: “And yet you are a man, and not a god, however you may think yourself like a god.” For you, Lord, all things are possible. Give me the grace to see the actual value of the things of this world, and guide me today on the way to reach your kingdom. Saint Bernard, pray for us!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Then come, follow me.” | Monday of the Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you. You forgot the God who gave you birth. When the LORD saw this, he was filled with loathing and anger toward his sons and daughters. You have forgotten God who gave you birth.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 19:16-22)

Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

In today’s Gospel, a young man approaches Jesus, asking what good he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. The young man asks which commandments, and Jesus lists several, including the command to honor one’s parents and love one’s neighbor. He tells Jesus that he has kept all these commandments since his youth. Jesus then tells him that if he wants to be perfect, he should sell his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow him. And this hits hard. The young man is sad on hearing this because he has many possessions and is unwilling to part with them. Jesus asks if the young man wishes to be perfect. In the same way, Jesus calls each of us to be perfect. How is this even possible?

God, as David said in the Psalms, you have probed me, you know me. You know, then, that there is no way on my own that I can be perfect. Yet, that does not prevent Jesus to calling me always to a higher standard. What are the things that get between me and you? For the young man, it was his possessions. Help me, Lord, discern what my obstacles are and have the courage to put them aside. Even if I do all that Jesus commands the young man to do, I will still always fall short in being perfect just as you are perfect. Where that is lacking, supply the grace I need in order to let Christ live in me more and more to fill the gap. Show me the way to understanding and wisdom, and strengthen my love for your Son so that I am able to follow him with single-minded devotion.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” | Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “Look to him that you may be radiant with joy, and your faces may not blush with shame. When the poor one called out, the LORD heard, and from all his distress he saved him. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Mt 19:13-15)

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”

“Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding,” we hear in the reading from the Book of Proverbs. What is wisdom in relation to God? Jesus declares himself as the true bread from heaven sent by the Father. This bread, unlike the manna that the Israelites ate in the wilderness, gives eternal life. Eating this bread means believing in the one sent by the Father and in his life-giving flesh and blood. Saint Paul tells us, “Watch carefully how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise.” What Jesus says may sound foolish, but consider the wisdom of God spoken by Jesus to the Jews who question him. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they ask. And Jesus tells them: “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” And God’s wisdom is this: whoever eats this bread will remain in him and live forever. That same true food and true drink is ours to receive at every celebration of the Eucharist.

God, give me the wisdom of knowing your Son more and more fully in the Eucharist. The true food of the flesh and blood Jesus offers is wisdom taken in to become more like him—now in this life and to prepare me for eternal life with you in your glory. “Come, eat of my food,” I read in Proverbs, “and drink of the wine I have mixed!” The invitation of Jesus to “take this” and “eat of it” is participation in his passion, death, and resurrection but also an invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb, the eternal celebration of your triumphant love. Can I remember just one word from the Gospel today as I partake of the Eucharist even while looking to the hope of everlasting life? Let me come back to you continually in the Eucharist, Lord, where there is true food and true drink for this life and the life of the world to come.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph?” | Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Teach me, Lord, to have complete trust in Jesus Christ your Son whom you sent from heaven as true food and true drink so that we look to you radiant with joy—now and forever.

From the responsorial psalm: “I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall be ever in my mouth. Let my soul glory in the LORD; the lowly will hear me and be glad. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 6:41-51)

The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven, ” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me.”

Jesus goes on to reveal his relationship to the Father even further. He has seen the Father, he tells the Jews, because he is sent by him. As the bread of life sent down from heaven, Jesus gives eternal life to anyone who believes in him. Jesus recalls for the Jews how their ancestors ate manna in the desert but died. This is the bread that gives eternal life, Jesus says, “so that one may eat it and not die.” The Gospel passage closes with this teaching from the mouth of the one sent by the Father: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” The power of God the Father to speak reality into existence is also in the power of the Son sent by the Father. At every Mass, we hear the priest, in the person of Christ, say the very same thing: “Take this, all of you, and eat it; this is my body which will be given up for you.” Done out of love and in obedience to the Father, Jesus accomplishes perfectly what Saint Paul describes in the second reading. He “loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.”

God, I can’t imagine how Jesus could have been more explicit than this in identifying himself as present in the Eucharist—body and blood, soul and divinity. “I am the bread of life.” How clearly Jesus teaches all of us who he is and what he instituted through his life and during the Last Supper. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” Whoever believes has eternal life, Jesus says, and whoever eats this bread will live forever. Teach me, Lord, to have complete trust in Jesus Christ your Son whom you sent from heaven as true food and true drink so that we look to you radiant with joy—now and forever. Strengthen my faith in the Eucharist and with it; let my soul glory in you, Lord, in your goodness!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.