CORPUS
CHRISTI SUNDAY
SUNDAY
29 May 2016
• Genesis 14:18-20 •
Psalm 110 • 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 • +
LUKE 9:11b-17 •
[__01__] A good memory is a blessing. I speak about
this word “memory” because it is Memorial Day.
One
evening, on Memorial Day weekend – the Friday of a Memorial Day weekend –
Father/ Monsignor Joe Petrillo and I were at Seton Hall University in South
Orange. I had just met Father Joe / Monsignor for the second or third time.
We
were together because of a gathering on the evening before my classmates and I
would be ordained to the priesthood, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend.
A
good memory is a blessing.
And,
I remember this moment because he was talking so much. I was trying to keep up.
Someone came up to both of us and said, “I wish I had a picture, a photograph
of you two right now.”
A
good memory is a blessing. I have the photo, but it is not on a camera or a
hard drive.
A
good memory is a blessing. To Father Joe, I will always be grateful for his
friendship, his advice to me about our ministry together, his sense of humor.
Yes,
he could talk, better than I. He could remember many events, stories,
characters and heroes of his life. He
was very nostalgic. Regardless of the month of the year, any day – or
conversation – could be “memorial day” with Father Joe.
A
good memory is a blessing.
[__02__] In the United States this weekend, and in
all the places in which our military serves, we give thanks for the memory, the
beautiful memory of sacrifice.
Yes,
in wartime, both in our country and around the world, our brothers and sisters
in military service, our sons and daughters, our grandsons and granddaughters,
family and friends, have sacrificed for our freedom, security, peace.
A
good memory is a blessing for you, for me, for many of us.
[__03__] We pray also for those who suffer
physically, emotionally, the effects of war, the trauma of armed conflict. They
may enjoy only occasionally the comforts of peacetime.
A
good memory is a blessing this Memorial
Day.
I
invite you to pray for the living and the deceased of our military, to pray for
the names of our display here in church, the names of those inscribed on the
plaque at the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes, and to pray for and visit these
places or to visit the beautiful 9/11 Memorial at Eagle Rock reservation.
A
good memory is a blessing, and through our prayers, our celebrations this
Memorial Day, we can be grateful to many who laid down their lives for us.
[* * * P A U S E * * *]
[__04__] On this Corpus Christi Sunday, we read of
the multiplication of the loaves, a miracle remembered well by all those who
were fed.
They
were fed miraculously by the blessing of our Savior, our Savior who blessed and
multiplied the very few loaves of bread and fishes.
In
the Gospel, we read of the reluctance, the resistance this menu option.
Jesus
told the disciples encouraged the disciples:
“Give
them some food yourselves.”
In
other words, “you can do it. You may not think you are capable of. But I am
going to help you.”
The
disciples – you and I – are called to cooperate with God’s blessing.
At
times, I forget – we all forget – to cooperate, to surrender to pray, “THY WILL BE DONE.”
Have
we not surrendered ourselves to God’s will, to God’s ways before? Has he not
provided for us?
A
good memory is a blessing.
The
Holy Eucharist – Christ’s presence – is this memory, this blessing.
The
Son of God – human and divine – died for us and left us this memorial of his
suffering and death, so that our worship of this sacrifice of his body and
blood may help us to experience the salvation he won for us and the peace of
God’s kingdom.
Knowing
someone has sacrificed for us, we are at peace on Memorial Day. Knowing Jesus
has sacrificed for us, we are also at peace, resting in God’s presence and
mercy.
A
good memory is a blessing.
[__05__]
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