St. Michael & St. Peter's Youth Ministry

Funny Friday

Have a wonderful holiday!!

Sunday Scripture 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8; Psalm 15:2-5; James 1:17-18, 21b22, 27; Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

We have different ways of learning things. Some of us, for example, like to learn all the rules. That’s how they approach learning a language or a new computer program. Teach me the grammar; tell me code. Others learn more intuitively. They prefer to listen and speak and pick up a language that way. Or they use their intuition to find out what computer-program can do.

One of our temptations as believers is to think that we have to learn and keep the rules, that this is the core of our responsibility. Let’s put the 10 Commandments up in our classrooms; that will change our children's lives. Or tell me what God wants me to do and I’ll just do it.

In terms of our readings today, we can easily miss the point. Often when we hear the word “law” in the Hebrew Scriptures we imagine it’s referring to the 10 Commandments. God is the lawgiver; we are the people who have to obey the law or else we will get in trouble. But “law” meant much more to the Jewish People. “Law” is a way of life lived in relationship with God.

Most of us will remember the scripture that many Jews have outside their doors; it’s from the book of Deuteronomy. There’s no “10 Commandments” with a list of requirements. Rather, the verse says: “You will love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. You will love your neighbor as yourself.” Because we can obey all the commandments we want but not have our hearts turned to God. We can argue about what this or that law means but never experience love.

Many of us were raised on the 10 Commandments. When review our sins, we go down the list of requirements that the commandments give us. But not many of us learned about the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Risen Jesus that he gives to his followers. The Spirit cannot be understood through law. The Spirit can only be understood through relationship: As God’s heart is opened to us, so our hearts, in the Spirit, open up to God.

This is the point Jesus wanted to make to religious leaders of his day. For all they were into following laws, for the ways they found to regulate virtually all of life, Jesus says that their faith is all about words. It needs to be about hearts. For we can keep every commandment perfectly and still never understand the infinite love of God. We can spend our lives obsessing over our own perfection and never give ourselves in service.

Think about our families; sure we have rules in the house. If we didn’t, our milk would spoil every day. But beyond those rules, we have love that basically motivates our family life. Jesus does not want to be our lawgiver. He wants to be our brother, bringing us to the Father, in the love of the Spirit.

Paulist Evangelization Ministries Sunday Homily
Fr. Frank DeSiano
Image credit: "Ten Commandments" Jen Norton Art Studio

Funny Friday
Have a safe and happy holiday weekend!!

Wisdom Wednesday

Tuesday Tunes

A friend recently sent me this song. I get goosebumps every time I hear it. Cece sings it with such emotion...enjoy.

CeCe Winans - Goodness of God (Official Lyric Video) “Goodness Of God” by CeCe Winans. From Believe For It (Live) Deluxe Edition.Stream or download the song: https://fts.lnk.to/BFIDeluxeConnect With CeCe Winans...

Monday Meditation: The Desert is a Powerful Place
by Ruth Chou Simons

I’ve lived the majority of my life in the arid climate of the Southwest and have known both the beauty and severity of the desert. I love the desert! I gained a new perspective on the desert after traveling to Israel, though. Troy and I, along with our two oldest teen sons, joined a few of my author friends and others in the publishing world on an intimate trip led by Arie Bar-David, a messianic Jewish brother in Christ who was much more than a tour guide — he truly wanted the faithfulness of God to come alive for us. And it did. (It’s not every day you get to visit the ancient ruins of Masada and hear your tour guide say: “When I was a child, my class was part of excavating this site. I moved those rocks you see there.” Or when pointing out the cave in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered, says, “I was in the Israeli army, and one night during conflict, we hid in that cave right there.”) My dear friend Ann was writing a book about God as Waymaker, so we also spent intentional time in the desert — riding camels and sleeping in a tent. I experienced the Judean desert that hosted forty years of wandering for the nation of Israel and marveled.

David described the desert in Psalm 63:1:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

A dry and weary land, indeed.

And the hardest part?
-The desert is not a season; spring is not on its way. At least, it doesn’t appear to be.

Some of us are on a right-now journey that feels like continual longing, continual thirst, and endless need. It feels like wandering in the wilderness.

In the Old Testament, we read of the forty-year journey God’s people, the Israelites, took in the desert due to their disbelief and disobedience even after God led them out of slavery in Egypt. While some deserts are the result of waywardness (like Israel experienced), oftentimes we find ourselves in parched and weary places unexpectedly. For some, it’s the wilderness of a chronic illness, a lifelong battle, or a life circumstance that feels like an endless desert with no oasis. For some, the desert is a spiritually dry place you wish didn’t exist. A barren place that tempts you to doubt and fear. A place that reads only lack and loss instead of freedom and flourishing.

The Israelites knew this place of wandering well. The account of their time in the desert isn’t a story about us, but it is a picture of the heart of God for those who wander in the wilderness of waiting, wanting, and feeling restless for more. The desert was supposed to be a short piece of the journey on their way to the promised land, but forty years later, it became a picture of God’s absolute provision and deliverance. His character on display in the desert was a constant reminder to a doubting and self-reliant people:
-since God was faithful in the past, He will do what he says He will in the future.

Have you ever wondered about what God was really after in the desert? Let’s not forget, forty years of wandering in the desert happened after God’s miraculous parting of the Red Sea. The Israelites had already faced the impossible and had seen God make a way right through walls of water to their left and right, taking them safely to the other side and out of reach of the pursuing Egyptians. The Israelites had witnessed miracle after miracle and were promised a land filled with milk and honey, and they were ready for it. But when it finally seemed to be their time, they found a not yet. They would not yet receive the blessing of the promised land. Not yet flourishing, not yet settled, not yet fully satisfied.

Why the desert? Why not straightaway to the promised land?

Because God was after their hearts. Their trust. Their belief. Their faith. And their obedience as a result.

The desert proved to be a powerful place of purpose for God’s people.

Do you remember how He provided for them in the desert, even when they grumbled and complained? God provided for them daily, with manna and quail to eat, clean water, and His protection and guidance. But notice that His provision was meant to lead them to dependence and awareness of His presence. It was meant to bring them to greater trust in God instead of their own resources.

The Israelites wanted to get where they were meant to go, but God wanted their hearts to be where they were meant to be: with Him alone. In Exodus 6:7, God told them,
I will take you to be My people, and I will be your
God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your
God, who has brought you out from under the
burdens of the Egyptians.

Each and every way God met the Israelites in the desert was for the purpose of showing them that they were secure in His care. That they need only to surrender their self-sufficiency and believe God to be who He claimed to be. To trust that He would do what He said He would do and, in response, obey Him because they trusted Him more than they believed in their own ways.

It’s easy for me to question the Israelites’ ability to trust God, to follow His commands, and to stop complaining in light of all He’d already done. And then I look at my own life and how I respond to my desert wanderings. Oof.

Forgetful of God’s faithfulness and quick to assess my situation and to believe unequivocally that I will not survive. That’s often the way I roll.

Tell me I’m not alone.

In my defense (and in solidarity with the Israelites), it’s hard to stop measuring outcomes by the resources you possess when you’ve spent much of your life believing your striving will get you where you want to go. It doesn’t.

So the desert teaches you what you might not quickly learn otherwise.

God allows us to feel barren desperation in the desert so that we might run to the oasis of His provision. We want His provision and the relief His blessings will bring, but we don’t want the wilderness that teaches us about our great need for Him.

We want to trust, but we don’t want the doubts that lead us there.

We want to see God provide, but we don’t want the insufficiencies that reveal His faithfulness.

We want greater faith, but we don’t want the unknowns that pave the way.

We want deliverance without the desert.

But God deliberately designs deserts to draw us to Himself. It’s only natural that we’d want out of the desert as quickly as possible. That job that isn’t life-giving, the dearth of meaningful friendships, the spiritually dry season, the wasteland of shattered dreams and unmet expectations. Get me out of here!

It can feel like the desert itself is the source of the pain, but, in reality, the desert often serves to reveal a heart issue: what we think we can’t be happy without. In other words, sometimes the desert reveals the comforts, idols, and treasures we lean on for sustenance.

I’m writing this book a few years after the global COVID- 19 pandemic, and I think it’s safe to say that, at its height, the pandemic felt like a wilderness full of loss, chaos, confusion, and isolation. For many, it was a wilderness that revealed what we live for, depend on, and can’t be happy without.

If you found happiness in friendships and staying busy with social engagements, this unexpected desert threatened that happiness.

If you looked to your achievements and work for fulfillment, this harsh desert ushered in feelings of purposelessness. If you needed approval from others to feel worthy, this was a desert that left you unsure and exposed.

Anxiety, fear, and hopelessness were natural responses, but the global pandemic also revealed the smaller idols we often look to in our comfort but can’t find in the desert.

On the cusp of entering the promised land, Moses impressed this very lesson on the hearts of God’s people:
And He humbled you and let you hunger and
fed you with manna, which you did not know,
nor did your fathers know, that He might make
you know that man does not live by bread alone,
but man lives by every word that comes from the
mouth of the Lord. — Deuteronomy 8:3

And Moses’ warning to the people for when the “terrifying wilderness” (Deuteronomy 8:15) was no longer their reality should be ours as well:
Take care lest you forget the Lord your God...
Beware lest you say in your heart, “My power
and the might of my hand have gotten me
this wealth.” — vv. 11, 17

The lesson we learn from the deserts of our lives is that we truly don’t live by bread alone. Or any other comfort, satisfaction, or earthly good. Our sustenance comes only from the Lord.

The desert may be unwanted, but it is purposeful.

Hunger that leads to true satisfaction. Desperation that leads to dependence. Desert that leads to the promised land of God’s deliverance. God meets us in the desert.

Devotionals Daily from Faithgateway


God isn’t waiting to meet up with you in the not yet of the promised land; He wants you to find Him faithful today.



That’s because God’s desire for His people — for us who are His children now on account of faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus — is to be our God. And for us to be His people. This is at the heart of God’s redemption story.



But what if He seems silent right now? What if the desert isn’t temporary?



I hear you, friend. While so many of our not yets will be revealed in time, many of life’s right nows will continue on for a lifetime. I won’t pretend to know all that you might be going through and what unwanted right nows you are facing. And I can’t promise any of us, including myself, that the best is yet to come, but perhaps this is the very heart of what I long to share with you on this journey:

We can press into all that is not yet or may never be in our circumstances when we meet the God who is transforming us right now. Because He has promised to one day change everything that is unsettled.

The hope we have in the desert is the assurance that God will never leave us, never forsake us, and never send us to a place He isn’t going with us.

Devotionals Daily from Faithgateway

Sunday Scripture: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b; Psalm 34:2-3, 16-21; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69

Good confrontation is hard to find these days. There is definitely confrontation out there, but it's mostly forms so vile that the people in its path flee or become so enraged themselves that they become entrapped in it.

What happened to good confrontation?
----
I remember being a kid at summer camp, whirring down a zipline from high up on the shoreline down toward the lake, and suddenly finding myself flying unattached through the air. The counselor who had pulled up the line had done it incorrectly and the loop of rope I was hanging on to became caught: there was no way for me to hold on as my body continued propelling me forward. It happened so fast, and suddenly I hit the water just a few feet from the shoreline. My life jacket brought me back to the surface. I was shaking and afraid, but okay. My counselor calmed me down and then suggested that I go down the zipline again. She told me that if I didn't do it now, I would probably be scared of it for the rest of my life. I knew she was right, and somehow she convinced me to confront my legitimate fears and give it another go.

Get back on the horse, you know?

My camp counselor knew what I needed when she had me face my fear. It was hard and terrifying, but it rewrote the ending of that ziplining experience from one of fear to one of bravery. While that one additional zipline wasn't exactly fun, it created a framework for growth. The next year, I ziplined again (the first miracle) and enjoyed the thrill of it (the second miracle).

How many times in life are we pushed or nudged into growth?

All those times when we aren't sure we can give the presentation, run the 5k, read scripture in front of everyone at church, deliver the baby, pass the exam, rappel down the wall, swim the whole length of the pool, or speak up for ourselves; and someone pushes us to gather up our strength and we give it a go. When we wouldn't have on our own. We just needed a little confrontation, some direct pressure to move forward.

In John 6:60-69, that's what Jesus was doing. After the disciples complained that following Jesus was so hard that they didn't understand why anyone would do it, Jesus said, "Does this shock you?" Jesus laid it out for them and says that he's got "Spirit and life," which is the most important thing of all. Many of his followers left and gave it all up. Because it was hard and they were being confronted with that inevitability. But for those who stayed, it solidified their dedication to Jesus who has "the words of eternal life." It made them come to terms with the fear of the difficulty: that it was worth it. That life following Jesus provided meaning and growth, even when it was hard.

Notice that Jesus doesn't chase after the people who left. He lets them go on their own accord. But he doesn't pretend that following him will be easy for the sake of boosting his numbers either. He knows that what he is offering will both inspire and require growth in the most important ways, and he's willing to be honest about that.

When have you been faced with a good confrontation of your faith?

When have you provided a good confrontation to support the growth of someone else’s faith? How has that brought you into the “Spirit and life” that Jesus invites us into?

By: Rev. Martha Slocombe, Creighton University Daily Reflections

Tuesday Tunes

"Put down what's good and find what's best." If everything I'm doing is good, but there is too much on my plate, then I need to choose the few things that are best for me and my relationships. That best is to "rest at God's feet and breath, just be in his presence."

Jonny Diaz - "Breathe" (Official Lyric Video) The official audio video for Jonny Diaz's song "Broken People."If you like this song, check out Jonny's latest album below: https://JonnyDiaz.lnk.to/Sweetnes...

Monday Meditation

Time to Deal with the Beavers

It is very challenging to experience a steady stream of uninterrupted joy in our lives. There seems to be some beavers damming up the flow. These critters become first class joy robbers who have names – Circumstance, People, Past, and Worry.

I have a friend who shared the story of the first homeowner’s association meeting he attended. The first item on the agenda was replanting trees that the beavers had chewed down to build a dam. The conversation went on and on about what trees to plant, the cost of the trees, and who would plant them. My friend could take it no more, he raised his hand and when called on blurted out, “Don’t you think we should get rid of the beavers first?”

This is conventional wisdom, common sense. If you don’t get rid of the beavers, they are going to chew down your new trees just like they did with the old ones. This line of thinking not only works quite well when talking about trees and streams but it also works quite well when it comes to our experience with joy.

You must deal with the beavers who dam up your flow of joy.

Well, here is the good news. Paul writes the “treatise on joy” in a little letter containing just 1629 words to the believers in Philippi. In this letter he shows us how to do it. Here’s the kicker - he is writing it while being contained under house arrest in Rome chained to a smelly Roman guard 24/7. Let’s call the guard Mr. Beaver. Not exactly a Petry dish for inner peace.

He mentions the word “joy” sixteen times in these four short chapters making it the driving theme of his letter. He also mentions the word “mindset” sixteen times. If we are going to discover the ancient secret to experiencing worry-defeating, circumstance-defying happiness, we must have the right mindset. Paul is going to give us that mindset in the form of twenty principles that will help us deal with the beavers in our lives.

Let me just give you the first joy principle. He opens the letter with these words,
"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all
my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy
because of your partnership in the gospel from the
first day until now, being confident of this, that he
who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

It is right for me to feel this way about all of you,
since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in
chains or defending and confirming the gospel,
all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can
testify how I long for all of you with the affection
of Christ Jesus."

What is Paul doing? He is “praying with joy.” Several times a day he would set aside time for prayer. It wasn’t haphazard but intentional. Specifically, he is recalling happy memories he has of how the Philippians have believed in him and supported him in his work. The Philippians were the only group of people who backed him from the beginning even though Paul never asked for it.

Someone defined joy as “What I feel when I see the sparkle in someone’s eye that conveys ‘I’m happy to be with you.’” The Philippians put a sparkle in Paul’s eye, and it gave him a jolt of joy.

Current brain research tells us why what Paul is doing increases his joy despite his current circumstances. There is a small, seahorse shaped organ in our brain called the hippocampus. This is where our memories are stored. Scientist have recently discovered something quite spectacular. Whenever we recall a memory, that memory gets stronger.

What does this mean when it comes to joy. Whenever we call up a happy memory from the storage files of the hippocampus, it makes that memory stronger. When we do this in relationship with God through our prayers it raises the joy quota in our brain that permeates through our body. It literally helps us cope and even overcome the current circumstances (aka gnawing beavers) in our lives. It doesn’t necessarily make the beavers go away but keeps them from clogging the streams of joy in our lives. It is a fact of neurology that the brain cannot be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time.

-Choose appreciation over fear.

I keep pictures of the Philippians in my life in both my office at home and at work. During my daily times of prayer, I simply spin around in my chair and look at these pictures and I pray with joy recalling the happy memories I have stored in my hippocampus. For example, I have the picture of the couple who invited me to church at the age of fourteen. This changed the trajectory of my life in an eternal direction. Then there is the picture of the man who opened the door for me to publish my first book when I was just thirty-four years old. There is the picture of the man who was there for me big time when our son was born missing his left hand. I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

When I recall these happy memories in prayer, it helps me to rise above the challenges I am dealing with today resulting in an increase in joy.

And here is the amazing thing – this is just one of the twenty principles and practices that Paul recommends to us under the inspiration of God.

Joy is available in Christ despite our circumstances, people, our past and our propensity to worry.

Time to deal with the beavers.

Written for Devotionals Daily by Randy Frazee, author of The Joy Challenge.

Sunday Scriptures: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Proverbs 9:1-6, Psalm 34:2-7, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58

Today’s scriptures have me thinking about food and drink, and with good reason. In Proverbs, we see Wisdom offering to everyone: Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed . . . [and] advance in the way of understanding. In the Gospel reading, Jesus proclaims: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. Paul warns the Ephesians: Do not get drunk on wine. Meanwhile, the psalmist invites us: Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

You can learn a great deal about a person or a culture by looking at food, specifically what is eaten, how it is prepared or preserved, and how people gather to consume it. Yet even if the cuisines differ, the role of food is similar in cultures all around the world. It is what we share with others in bad times and good times. We bring food to families struggling with the severe illness or loss of a loved one; and humanitarian organizations show up in devastated areas to serve meals to people hurting from man-made and natural disasters. Food is central when friends and family celebrate birthdays, weddings, and holidays. Sometimes we enjoy a good meal, or perhaps just a cup of coffee, in acts of fellowship with old friends or with people we are getting to know. Gathering around the table can foster reconciliation, if only because you are less likely to say something stupid or offensive if your mouth is full of good food.

The 19th-century food writer Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once stated, “Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.” As Christians, we have been given some amazing food and drink in the form of Wisdom, which comes from and brings us closer to God; and in the form of the Christ, God incarnate who brought (and still brings) love, mercy, forgiveness and healing. Our food culture, so to speak, should be to partake of and share this wisdom, love, mercy, forgiveness and healing. Like Jesus, who ate with the “wrong” people (i.e., sinners and tax collectors) as well as the “right” ones (e.g., the Pharisee in Luke 7), we should share what God has given us without discriminating. In some instances, it is through our loving, caring, Spirit-led actions that others can taste and see that the Lord is good.

David Crawford
Creighton University Online Ministries Daily Reflection

Doug's To Go today from 11-6pm or sell out.
Come by for lunch or dinner!

Calling all Bakers!!! Youth Ministry has a bake sale this Friday from 11-6 at the Doug's To Go truck. Items can be dropped off at in the Church kitchen Friday morning after 9. Thank you in advance, we greatly appreciate your support!!

Tuesday Tunes
Good Good Father has been out for a few years. I like it because it reminds me who I am and who I belong to. 😇

Chris Tomlin - Good Good Father ft. Pat Barrett Official Music Video for “Good Good Father” by Chris TomlinFeaturing Pat Barrett of HousefiresGet the song on iTunes here: http://smarturl.it/CTGoodGoodFathe...

Monday Meditation: You Can Have Peace Amid Suffering

Breathe Deep and Know: Suffering is part of life, but we can have courage and peace to walk through that suffering as we trust in the One who has already given us ultimate victory.

Sometimes we get this idea that if only we had more faith or if we just prayed enough or in the right way, all our suffering would go away, our sickness would be healed, and we wouldn’t struggle anymore. But God never promised this.

In fact, Jesus said that we will have suffering; we will have trouble. What He promises isn’t freedom from suffering but His presence and peace in the midst of it. We can have ultimate peace because He has already ultimately conquered the world.

The reality is that we may not experience full healing this side of eternity, but we can still have peace that comes only from putting our full trust in Him, knowing that He is writing a good story that is bigger than our current struggles, that He has woven His breath through every moment of our lives, that He is with us and loves us no matter what worries or anxieties may fill our minds.

He is a good, good Father.

He is with us in our ache, and He wraps our worries in His abiding love.

I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me.
Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But
take heart, because I have overcome the world. — John 16:33

Inhale: I have peace in You;
Exhale: You have conquered the world!

* * * * * * * * * * *

You Can Trust God In Suffering

Breathe Deep and Know: You can trust God, even in your suffering.

Are you suffering in some way today? Is there a pain, hurt, or illness you want God to heal? We pray for healing because God is the great Healer, and we pray for miracles because God is the God of miracles—and it is good to pray for these things.

But sometimes the hurt doesn’t heal on this side of eternity. Sometimes pain endures and the suffering is long and the struggle lingers. Those who live with chronic pain or mental health conditions know this well. But that doesn’t mean God didn’t hear our prayers or that we don’t have enough faith.

The truth is, God doesn’t always remove the cup of suffering. He didn’t take it away from even His own perfect and beloved Son.

And although we may not fully understand His ways or His will, we can always trust His heart and rest in His wisdom.

When we pray for God’s will to be done, as Tim Keller writes, “It is to say, ‘Here’s what I need — but You know best.’ It is to leave all our needs and desires in His hands in a way that is possible only through prayer. That transaction brings a comfort and rest that nothing else can bring.”1

Father, if You are willing, please take this cup of
suffering away from me. Yet I want Your will to
be done, not mine. — Luke 22:42

Inhale: Father, if You are willing
Exhale: Take this suffering from me.
Inhale: Yet not my will
Exhale: But Yours be done.

1. Timothy Keller, Prayer (New York: Penguin, 2016), 101.
Devotionals Daily from Faithgateway
Excerpted with permission from Breath as Prayer by Jennifer Tucker, copyright Jennifer Tucker.

Sunday Scriptures: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: 1 Kings 19:4-8, Psalm 34:2-9, Ephesians 4:30-5:2, John 6:41-51

The Power of the Eucharist
Sister Mary Grace was an Irish nun who ran an orphanage after the Second World War. Joe was a young nine year old boy who entered that orphanage after both of his parents were killed in the bombing of London. Joe was very small and thin. Despite the best attempts of Sister Mary Grace to fatten him, up nothing seemed to work. As much as he would eat, Joe simply did not put on much weight, and so he continued to look like he was close to starvation. One day the government sent a doctor to examine all the children in the hospital. Sister Mary Grace was coming down the hall as Joe left the examination room. In a casual way she asked him “Joe, what did the doctor have to say?” The boy answered, “Well, he told me to undress, and then he said, “My what a miserable little specimen you are!” The nun was shocked by the insensitivity of the doctor’s remarks. But before she could say anything, Joe continued, “But sister,” he said, “I don’t think that the doctor understood that I had made my first communion.”

This young boy for all of his trouble and all of his pain knew that he was not a miserable little specimen. He had received the bread of life. The very presence of Christ was within him. He was a person of dignity and value. He was a child of God. I think his example might be useful to us as we try to understand today’s readings. For in the Gospel Jesus says, “I am the living bread that has come down from heaven.” As Catholics we believe that in the bread of the Eucharist and in the cup which we drink, we receive the very presence of Christ. That the Eucharist provides for us an immediate and real contact with the Risen Lord. The question is how often we do allow the Eucharist to change us? How often do we open ourselves so that the Eucharist can shape our identity and give us power like it did to that young orphan? If we can understand how each time we receive the Eucharist the very power and presence of Christ is within us, then that presence and power can change us. In fact it can shape our past our present and our future.

The Eucharist can shape our past because the Christ that we receive in the Eucharist both forgives us and heals us. All of us have in our past mistakes that we have made, hurts that we still carry, regrets that we can’t erase. But if we can realize that the real presence of Christ which comes to us in the Eucharist is a healing presence, then we can find the power to put the past behind us, to move beyond the mistakes that we have made, to forgive our enemies, and to let anger go.

The Eucharist can shape our present because the Christ that we receive in the Eucharist is the Christ from whom all blessings flow. Having that presence of Christ helps us to recognize how we have been blessed. So often we absorb ourselves with fretting about the details of life and forgetting about the gifts that sustain us. So often we center on what is wrong with our lives and ignore what is right. If we can claim the presence of Christ within us in the Eucharist, Christ can allow is to see what we have been given, the people who love us, the talents we received, and the opportunities that have been given. Then we can live our life more deeply, because we can recognize how we have been blessed. Then we can be thankful.

The Eucharist can shape our future because the Christ that we receive in the Eucharist promises us eternal life. The bread of the Eucharist is our pledge that we will live with God forever. So each time we face evil in our lives that we cannot understand, when we have to deal with sickness or we fear the approach of death, we can receive this sacrament. Then we can realize that the Christ who is with us is one who has promised us that there is still more to come. Christ has promised us that we will have a life where tears will be wiped away, where pain will be relieved, where fears will be allayed. The Eucharist is our hope because the Christ we receive in the Eucharist is our promise of unending joy.

So in a few minutes we as a community will celebrate the Eucharist. We will have the opportunity to receive the Bread of Life and drink from the Cup of Salvation. How important it is that we do not take this gift for granted. How important it is that we open ourselves to the power of Christ that comes to us in this action. The Christ who we receive can heal our past, deepen our future and sustain our hope in everlasting life. Let us then celebrate the Eucharist with thanksgiving. Let us open ourselves to Christ’s power and claim our status as children of God.

Fr. George Smiga; Building on the Word
August 9, 2009 Homily
Image Credit: Eucharist by Anne Cameron Cutri
https://fineartamerica.com/featured/eucharist-anne-cameron-cutri.html