Corpus
Christi/ 7 June 2015
Exodus 24:3-8
Psalm 116
Hebrews 9:11-15
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
[__01___] Where should we celebrate the Passover?
Where
should we celebrate the Passover?
The
disciples asked our Savior this question in the Gospel, today, this Sunday of
Corpus Christi.
They
were asking for direction and directions.
“Do you
want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” (Mark
14:12)
And we
read very specific instructions about the –
·
CITY
·
ENTERING
THE CITY
·
ON
THE STREET …MAN WITH A WATER JAR
·
MASTER
OF THE HOUSE @ THE DESTINATION
Jesus
had a place prepared. And, by the miraculous divine power of his insight, he
did not need to call ahead for reservations but rather he knew the place before
they would arrive.
“Where
should we celebrate the Passover?”
[__02___] This would be a question that a Jewish family
would ask today, carefully considering the location for their sacred and Seder
meal.
“Where
should we celebrate the Passover?”
Where
should we celebrate? Where should we go?
[__03___] Don’t
we need assistance/guidance/reflection to find the right place [OR, DESTINATION] to celebrate, to sacrifice with our loved
ones?
At any
major holiday/observance, this is also the question in our families, between
married couples.
Sometimes,
it is a series of exchanges and trades, free agents, draft picks, and players
to be named later.
“Where
should we celebrate the Passover?”
We will
go to your family for Thanksgiving and mine for Christmas.
Where
should we celebrate? Where should we go?
In
these discussions, also we are called to be guided by prayer, by the Holy
Spirit, in the decisions we make for our FAMILIES and the time we spend
together.
These
decisions enable us not only be fed, to be fed physically but also to be
nourished and united spiritually.
[__04__] I
also meditate on this question because this is Corpus Christi Sunday, and we
recall our tradition and teaching of not only RECEIVING the Body of Christ but
also FORMING and BECOMING the Body of Christ.
[__05__] Where should we celebrate our Holy Communion
with our Savior?
We
celebrate here at Our Lady of Lourdes.
*** If
this were a recorded messages about SUNDAY MASS, we would now press [9] for the
Mass Schedule.
One
might object or question. Why here?
Why in
church? Why not
at home … at my address?
Why not
on a mountain or in the forest … away from all material distractions … and
where everything is truly wireless?
Is not
God present everywhere? That is, he is present whether we are home alone or going out into
the wild.
Yes, we
believe God is present everywhere. He is maker of all things, visible and
invisible, as we profess in the Creed.
Then
again, might we also not say that our family and our unity in marriage is
present EVERYWHERE?
That
is, you and I remain children to our parents, parents to our children, brother
or sister to another, husband and wife, even outside of the physical presence
of the other person.
At the
same time, do we not consider physical presence, HOME to be SACRED, SPECIAL?
We
consider the family table to be sacred, special.
For
this reason, at home also, we are also called to pray before MEALS, to
acknowledge we are in God’s presence, to speak in certain tones and display
manfiest certain attitudes of listening and compassion – at the table …and, so,
whether we are in church or in the dining room … we live the Good News of the
Gospel:
“where two
or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them”
(reference). This is a message of God’s
presence for the FAMILY and the CHURCH.
[__06__] The
Lord invites us every Sunday to come home, to come home to him in prayer.
Yes, it
is true that God is present everywhere, but we discover God because of the
arrangement here, just as we have arranged our homes in a certain way.
We
arrange the church with…
è
Cross
and Crucifix to remind us that this meal of the Holy Eucharist – Holy Communion
– was made possible by his death and resurrection.
è
The
Tabernacle reminds us that his presence – of his Body and Blood – is abundant
and enduring.
[__07__] We come to church to experience God’s love.
We read
in the Gospel of Matthew:
“For everyone who asks
receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be
opened.” (Matthew 7:8)
This
verse teaches not that our each one of our DESIRES may be granted, but it does
teach us that each one of our QUESTIONS – everything we ask – is really heard
by God.
We come
to church so that we may focus our meditation and contemplation.
We are
called also to listen, to experience God’s love and also identify his love and
truth everywhere.
[__08___] This
gathering in church at MASS also reminds us that just as the body needs
nourishment to hold together, to bond together, so also the community, the Body
of Christ, needs the nourishment of communal prayer and penance and sacrifice
to unite, to stay together.
Just as
husband and wife, family and children, gather not only to be nourished
physically at the table, but also to be loving, charitably, spiritually
nourished.
Husbands
and wives, family and children gather at their own altar, in their own homes,
to sacrifice and share with each other.
[_09_] And,
where should we celebrate, the disciples ask.
We
celebrate and pray here as one family as one body to know also that the Lord
has given us not only DAILY BREAD so that we may have grace and strength.
He also
given us his grace and strength and word as our DAILY BREAD. [_10_] [_fin_]
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