Tag: corpus christi

Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus

From the Gospel acclamation: “God indeed is my savior; I am confident and unafraid. My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior. With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation. You will draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (Jn 19:31-37)

But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. An eyewitness has testified, and his testimony is true; he knows that he is speaking the truth, so that you also may come to believe.

After Jesus was crucified, it was the day of Preparation for the Sabbath, and the Jewish leaders requested Pilate to have the legs of those crucified broken to ensure they would die quickly and not remain on the crosses during the Sabbath. The soldiers came and broke the legs of the two criminals crucified alongside Jesus. However, when they came to Jesus, they found that he had already died and did not break his legs. The flow of blood and water from Jesus’ side is substantiated by an eyewitness account so that those who read the testimony may believe. The piercing of Jesus’ side confirms his death and the fulfillment of prophecy.

God, help me understand the yoke that Jesus asks me to take upon me. It is impossible for me to comprehend what that means to take on his yoke when considering his horrible crucifixion and death. Yet, the sacred heart of Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is strength itself to endure suffering even more unimaginable than the cross. As Saint Paul says: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Teach me, Lord, to endure the inevitably of suffering for the sake of your glory.

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.

“The Lord our God is Lord alone!” | Thursday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

From the Gospel acclamation: “Our Savior Jesus Christ has destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 12:28-34)

One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

In response to Jesus’ words, the scribe recognizes the kind of love that is “worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices” and commends Jesus. “You are not far from the Kingdom of God,” Jesus says to the scribe. With the words that begin “Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone!” Jesus prays a daily prayer of the ancient Israelites, still recited today, the Shema . With God as Lord alone, it is possible to say what Jesus says next. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The right ordering of God first affirms the inseparability between sincere love for God and love for neighbor. As Sulpician theologian Adolphe Tanquerey said: “Fraternal charity is indeed a theological virtue . . . provided that we love God Himself in our neighbor . . . that we love the neighbor for God’s sake. Should we love the neighbor solely for his own sake, or because of the services he may render us, this would not be charity.” How is God calling us into a genuine, wholehearted love that transforms our relationship with him and our interactions with others?

Father in heaven, you are the source of all love, and you loved us first. For the sake of your glory, Lord, show me how to love you and to love my neighbor. Keep me in your care. The daily trial of loving one another puts into sharp relief the realization that you are God, the source of love, and I am not. In the prayer of the psalmist, I ask for your guidance: “Your ways, O LORD, make known to me; teach me your paths, Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. Teach me your ways, O Lord.” Saint Norbert, 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 Boniface, Bishop and Martyr

From the responsorial psalm: “To you I lift up my eyes who are enthroned in heaven. Behold, as the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters. To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 12:18-27)

Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and put this question to him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second brother married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection when they arise whose wife will she be?”

The Sadducees question Jesus about the marriage obligations brothers have to each other after death. Although they don’t believe in resurrection after death, they ask Jesus because they are trying to trick him. Although the scenario the Sadducees propose has almost no chance of ever happening, the real tragedy is the complete lack of trust the Sadducees have in God’s providence and love. Jesus simply confronts them with the Scriptures and the power of God. “When they rise from the dead,” he tells them, “they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. . . . He is not God of the dead but of the living.” In his response to the Sadducees, Jesus affirms the reality of the resurrection despite the limits of human understanding, and he stresses the need to have steadfast faith in God’s promises.

God, help me strive today to live a life that leads me to heaven. I can’t conceive what heaven is like and fail to comprehend eternal praise of your name through the redemptive gift of your Son. But let me trust in what Jesus says about the resurrection, that we will be like angels and that you are the God of the living. “You are greatly misled,” Jesus said to the Sadducees. Give me the grace not to be misled by the limits of human understanding but instead trust completely in your infinite goodness and mercy. Saint Boniface, 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.

Tuesday of the Ninth Week in Ordinary Time

From the responsorial psalm: “You turn man back to dust, saying, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years in your sight are as yesterday, now that it is past, or as a watch of the night. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 12:13-17)

Some Pharisees and Herodians were sent to Jesus to ensnare him in his speech. They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion. You do not regard a person’s status but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not pay?”

Jesus knows that he is being tested and makes clear that he is aware of that. He asks for a denarius to be brought to him and asks them, “Whose image and inscription is this?” They tell Jesus it is Caesar’s. In asking them this, Jesus reveals a truth about personhood and image. The image and inscription are Caesar’s, and though they belong to him, they are not Caesar himself. So it is that Jesus is able to say, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” In the first reading, Peter reminds us that this world and all of its apparent realities are passing: “But according to his promise we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” And Peter tells us to grow in grace and to give glory to God now and to the day of eternity.

Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you today for the grace to live as you would have us live, at peace and waiting for and hastening your coming. “Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,” the psalmist prays, “that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.” Give me the wisdom to recognize and act on your will, accomplishing with the sight you give me to care for your every good gift. What Peter prays for I also ask that you help me keep in my heart: “be on your guard not to be led into the error of the unprincipled and to fall from your own stability.” In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge. Jesus, I trust in you.

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 Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs

From the responsorial psalm: “Because he clings to me, I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he acknowledges my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in distress. In you, my God, I place my trust.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 12:1-12)

Jesus began to speak to the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders in parables. . . . “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and left on a journey. At the proper time he sent a servant to the tenants to obtain from them some of the produce of the vineyard. But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. He had one other to send, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ So they seized him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.”

Mark’s Gospel continues from last week’s, where the Jewish leaders questioned Jesus’ authority to preach the word of God, perform miracles, and cleanse the temple area. Jesus goes on to explain the kingdom of God to them in the parable of the vineyard. The parable speaks to various facets of God’s intervention in our lives, such as his covenant with Israel, the rejection of the prophets, the sending of his son, and of his rejection and crucifixion. All of this has consequences to those who encounter Jesus and hear his word. The parable tells about the landowner, who will come and destroy the corrupt tenants and give the vineyard to others. In this, Jesus speaks of the second coming and the final judgment and the fulfillment of God’s promises in bringing all into his kingdom. In the vineyard Jesus describes, what is the fruit of the vine that is meant to be shared with all?

God, I think at first that surely I am not one of the wicked tenant farmers caring for the vineyard. Yet, I daily take a role in that vineyard and choose freely whether to do your will. Jesus says at the end of the parable: “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, put the tenants to death, and give the vineyard to others.” With this in mind, how do I receive the gifts you give me in being one of your tenants? Do I take a selfish stance to the gifts you give me, or do I trust that in your boundless love, that in the new and everlasting covenant there is always plenty of the same love you entrust to me to receive and give away? In you, my God, I place my trust. Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions, 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.

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ | Corpus Christi

From the responsorial psalm: “How shall I make a return to the LORD for all the good he has done for me? The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the LORD. I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.”

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mk 14:12-16, 22-26)

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.”

Jesus instructs the disciples to go into the city to prepare a place for them to join during the Passover meal. He tells them in a specific way how to find a guest room, the upper room that had been furnished and made ready for them. Once gathered at the Passover table, Jesus breaks the bread, shares it with the disciples, and then takes a cup of wine and shares that with them. The words he speaks as he shares the bread and wine are spoken every day during the consecration of the Mass. Just as God spoke creation into existence—”Let there be light.”—Jesus, the Son of God, says, “This is my body” and “This is my blood of the covenant,” and the bread and wine became the body and blood of Christ.

God, help me dwell on what the Church celebrates today, Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Help me remember the meaning of the words of consecration: “This is my body, which will be given up for you.” The Gospel acclamation alludes to God’s unbroken covenant, as revealed to the Israelites and fulfilled in the body and blood of your Son. “This is my blood of the covenant,” Jesus says. And for what purpose did he institute the Eucharist? “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Body and blood of Christ, save me!

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.

Wednesday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus makes clear to the disciples what Saint Paul describes in the first reading; namely, the Old Covenant with Israel is fulfilled in God’s New Covenant for all who come to Christ in faith. God made the Old Covenant with his people so that the New Covenant could bring him greater glory. As Paul says, “For if what was going to fade was glorious, how much more will what endures be glorious.” The breadth and majesty of God’s kingdom incorporates the glory of the old with the glory of the new until heaven and earth pass away and all things have taken place.

God, help me understand the sweeping breadth of your being—manifest in the Old Covenant and fulfilled through your Son in the New. Jesus says, “I have not come to abolish but to fulfill.” Nothing is lost in these covenants, and whoever is obedient to them and teaches them, as Jesus says, “will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” Help me be obedient to the truth of your glory.

From the Gospel acclamation, “Teach me your paths, my God, and guide me in your truth.”

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.