For the Life of the World, Part 5 – Streams of Living Water

Fifth in a series of reflections on the Mass on the occasion of Boston’s Year of the Eucharist

Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
Communion Antiphon: “Thus says the Lord: Let whoever is thirsty come to Me and drink. Streams of living water will flow from within the one who believes in Me.”

Today is the feast of “the Heart that has so loved Man.” Devotion to Jesus with special focus on His Heart had spread through the Church long before there was a feastday to celebrate it. But modern devotion has taken its form through a 17th-century nun named Margaret Mary Alacoque. She wrote of a series of visions in which Jesus appeared to her displaying His Heart, a heart at once wounded and bleeding yet literally ablaze in love, illustrating that “It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to testify to Its love.” He also lamented to her that in return for this boundless love, His Heart has received from most of humanity “only ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrilege, and by the coldness and contempt they have for Me in this Sacrament of Love.” The Sacred Heart displays to us in a more graphic way the profound mystery of the Eucharist: the God Who needs nothing and to Whom we can add nothing is filled nevertheless with such zealous longing for all men and women that He would eternally empty Himself for their sake.

For the Life of the World, Part 4 – Whoever Remains in Me

Fourth in a series of reflections on the Mass on the occasion of Boston’s Year of the Eucharist

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Communion Antiphon: “Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My Blood remains in Me and I in him, says the Lord.”

At last, the Year of the Eucharist begins! If this period of reflection on and celebration of the Blessed Sacrament could not begin on Holy Thursday–the annual commemoration of the institution of the Eucharist itself–then today’s feast is a more-than-worthy substitute. Originally referred to for 700 years as Corpus Christi–the Feast, literally, of the “Body of Christ”–it was merged 50 years ago with July’s Feast of the Most Precious Blood, so that both of the Eucharistic species would be celebrated on the same day in full solemnity.

Many today still refer to this merged feast as Corpus Christi, and Thomas Aquinas’ liturgical texts such as the great sequence “Lauda, Sion, Salvatorem” are still used, with the result that the Precious Blood seems to be unconsciously overlooked in favor of focus on “the bread that came down from heaven.” In objective reality, of course, neither the Body nor the Blood are greater or lesser than the other, for both species contain Christ entire. The bread and the wine, once consecrated, become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, of Jesus Christ; this is the faith of the Church. However, the species are distinct from each other in matter and in symbol even while united in substance, each highlighting a different aspect of the same Sacrifice. As one commentator I read recently put it, the bread that is Christ’s Body represents the reason for His death–to be broken and given for the world’s nourishment–and the wine that is His Blood represents the result of His death–to flow forth and be shared for a holy covenant.

For the Life of the World, Part 3 – Do Not Be Unbelieving

Third in a series of reflections on the Mass on the occasion of Boston’s Year of the Eucharist

Second Sunday of Easter – Divine Mercy Sunday
Communion Antiphon: “Bring your hand and feel the place of the nails, and do not be unbelieving but believing, alleluia.”

“My Lord and my God!” With these words the doubting Apostle Thomas acknowledges the risen Jesus, on the eighth day after the Resurrection–today, the Feast of Mercy. For Thomas, it took being physically present in the same room and the invitation to touch the still-present nail and spear wounds–and this is the same Apostle who, when Jesus was preparing to head back into dangerous territory in order to raise Lazarus, said to the others “Let us go too, to die with Him.” I dare say, many of us are having Thomas moments during this ongoing suspension of public activities; that feeling persists that unless we can be inside a church and have the Eucharist placed in our hands or on our tongues, we aren’t participating in the Mass.

Meditation on the Joyful Mysteries on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph

“Behold a faithful and prudent steward, whom the Lord set over His whole household.”

Behold Saint Joseph, patron of the universal Church, guardian of Your whole Body, prince of the priesthood of the faithful – not immaculate, not sinless, but righteous all the same. He was the first to bring You to Your Father’s house, ransoming You from the Father to humanity so that You could ransom humanity for the Father. Fulfilling the precepts of the Old Law sacrifices, he presaged those of the New. This is why he could only lose You here, in the presence of the Father where You desire all of us to lose ourselves. The singular lapse of his constant watch occurred in the one place You – and we – would always be safe.

Years later, You would give Your servant Peter “the keys to the kingdom of heaven,” setting him up as the steward of your royal house on earth, the one who could be trusted even in frailty to guide and guard the new and eternal Israel of the Church. And in doing so it was as if You were saying, “Be for my sheep what Joseph was for the Shepherd; be the protector, be the guardian, be the father that even I needed on earth. Be, son of Jonah, a faithful one whom the members of my Body can be obedient to, just as the Head of the Body was obedient to a faithful son of David.” May Saint Joseph, in his turn, protect and guide his successors and all the members of Your Body in integrity and righteousness, and may Your Church remain a royal priesthood entire.

“He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them.”

“Merciful Like the Father,” Part the Last – The Inheritance of the Holy Ones in Light

Sixty-fourth and last in a series of reflections on Mass readings during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy

Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King of the Universe
Readings: 2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43

Welcome to the last day of the Year of Mercy. The time for jubilee is ending; it’s time to go back to work.

“Merciful Like the Father,” Part 61 – We Were Indeed Buried

Sixty-first in a series of reflections on Mass readings during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy

Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day)
Readings: Wisdom 3:1-9; Romans 6:3-9; John 6:37-40

So how do we do it? How do we become a Saint? Well, being “merciful like the Father” is the best start, and the best finish. This impartial ministry of ours that unites the Body and the Head in love is our “on the job” training, if you will, for sainthood! But what when the members of the Church Militant reach the end of their march not quite ready to see God as He is? And old hang-up, perhaps, or a strong attachment to this world, or a past wrong never quite made right. What then? Do we eternally languish in hell, deprived of God’s presence for ever? Only those who want to will do that, my friends. But those who still desire to perfect their relationship with God, to achieve that happy destiny He has in store for us, continue that journey in the spirit world, purifying themselves of all that gets in the way of the goal so close yet so far. Now that we have celebrated that common destiny on the Solemn Feast of All Saints, let’s talk about what it means to achieve it on this solemn commemoration of the faithful departed that is All Souls’ Day, the feastday of the Church Penitent.

“Merciful Like the Father,” Part 60 – What We Shall Be

Sixtieth in a series of reflections on Mass readings during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy

Solemnity of All Saints
Readings: Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” Most kids seem to tire of that question fairly quickly – and adults don’t have any easier relationship with it, since most of us are still trying to grow up. What we want conflicts with what we need on a regular basis, there are voices everywhere around shouting at us to try this, that and the other thing, the spectral hallucination of “me time” nags at us like a mental illness, and the thing we look forward to the most is retirement so that we can go back to being the kid we had to stop being in ours 20s (or earlier). Well, I don’t know about you, but I did finally figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I actually figured it out a while ago, and I’ve been eagerly waiting through most of this Jubilee Year to get to this post, so I can share my discovery with you.

Meditation on the Glorious Mysteries after the Death of a Dear Friend, on the Feastday of the Guardian Angels

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, Whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a Price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

It is an amazing things to watch someone transform into a Saint before your very eyes. It is an amazing and glorious thing to witness a weak and dying body alive and alight with God and in God. It is a thing full of wonder and awe that the house of a sick woman be a place of peace and joy, a locus of mercy and compassion. The miracle of Resurrection, the mystery of the Ascension, and the sure hope of the Assumption were on full display as she worked to save soul after soul, including her own, during her own painful transition. In all things, she was a true dwelling of Christ and a temple of the Holy Spirit, as radiant and splendid as the Blessed Mother on Pentecost – truly, an earthly creature who did not know how not to be beautiful.

Now her Guardian Angel has led her from death to life, where she sees the Angels of her family and friends hover around them; where she sees the Queen of the Angels command them as her own heavenly host, the Queen of the May awaiting prayers to bring to her Son to aid them in their timely help; where she sees the Holy Spirit move where He will, dancing among souls, wafting around Angels, and bringing life to all things that have being. And she laughs a song.

Most holy Mother, Queen of the Angels, never let us tire of seeing the Holy Spirit at work in ourselves and each other. Remind us that we too are destined for assumption into royal glory, and resurrection into fullness of life. And guide us, along with our Angels, through the trials of this life that our faith gives us the grace to endure for the greater glory of God.

“I have reached the point of not being able to suffer any more, because all suffering is sweet to me.” – Saint Therese of Lisieux, Sept. 30, 1897

“Merciful Like the Father,” Part 52 – God Greatly Exalted Him

Fifty-second in a series of reflections on Mass readings during the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy

Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross
Readings: Numbers 21:4b-9; Philippians 2:6-11; John 3:13-17

There’s a sort of visceral feeling to today’s feast. Other celebrations of the Passion can leave us feeling like we just came from history class or from a seminar in unquestioned faith. Today’s isn’t like that. Today’s feast revolves around not just a historical reality, but an actual physical object. Today’s feast commemorates the day that the True Cross itself was lifted up (Latin, exaltatus) for veneration by the faithful for the first time in the newly dedicated Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Discovered in the ground 300 years after that supreme sacrifice, at the very site of that supreme sacrifice, the True Cross gave a confirmation, as it were, of the already ancient faith of the Church. If the Divine Mercy is indeed cross-shaped, then today the assembled faithful saw the shape of Mercy.

A Meditation on the Joyful Mysteries on the Memorial of the Most Holy Name of Mary

“In all my temptations, in all my needs, I shall never cease to call on thee, ever repeating thy sacred name: Mary, Mary.”

Hail, favored one! So spoke the angel to you, almost fearing to greet the Mother of his Lord by her name. Only once did he speak your most holy name, to bring you the same reassurance that your name now gives to all men. Simeon saw the sword pierce your heart, but did not know your name. Anna the prophetess told all the city of its coming redemption, but would not utter your name. Not even your divine Son would speak that sweet and wondrous name; obedient to you even in His Father’s house, He calls you Woman and Mother as long as He lives. Now, as His Father’s house, we are privileged to keep within our hearts the sweet name that showers awe upon the angels and solace upon men.

Help me, O Blessed Mary, never to lose the grace of the gift that is your most holy name, even as I ask, with your cousin Elizabeth, “How does this happen to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?”