Sunday, May 29, 2016

Good Memories.(2016-05-29, Corpus Christi, Memorial Day)

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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