As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him. – John 6:66 Notice one particular group of people in today’s Gospel: the ones who walked away. These were Jesus’s followers, but they abandoned their discipleship over Christ’s teaching on the Eucharist. It was just too difficult for them to believe that they were to eat something that looked like bread and wine, but…
In the desert, prepare the way of the Lord! – Isaiah 40:3 & Mark 1:3 Christmas is coming, and it’s time to prepare! It’s time for planning gifts, special food, decorations…the list goes on. It’s also time to prepare our hearts for Christ’s coming. Repentance, or turning away from old behaviors that do not glorify God or serve us, is a key way to focus on preparing our hearts during Advent. We can vow to…
“I myself will look after and tend my sheep. As a shepherd tends his flock…” -Ezekiel 34:11 This Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. King of the Universe! This brings up images of the grandest splendor: fine garments, a glorious throne, a magnificent array of pomp and circumstance. But listen closely to the scripture readings for this feast today. They’re focused on Christ the Good Shepherd. Shepherds…
The Eucharist is the source and summit of our Catholic faith. Our faith, hope, and love flow out of our prayerful reception of Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity that we receive each time we worthily receive Holy Communion. The union with Christ that we experience after receiving Holy Communion is a foretaste of the goal of our faith: being one with Christ in heaven. Receiving Holy Communion enables us to become one with Christ,…
God often feels hidden from us. We cannot see Him with our physical eyes, but only through the eyes of faith. Jesus will reveal Himself to us if we love Him and keep His commandments: “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him” (John 14:21). Jesus reveals Himself to us…
Just after His resurrection, Jesus met two disciples on the road to Emmaus. One of the disciples was Cleopas; the other is unnamed. We know that Mary, the wife of Clopas, was one of the women who was present at the crucifixion (John 19:25). Some Biblical scholars have postulated that this Mary could have been the second disciple. So we might imagine a married couple who had been disciples of Christ just days before—one of…
If you are like me, you may be missing receiving our Lord in the Eucharist during this Coronavirus pandemic. Psalm 42 nearly completely sums up my longing to receive Jesus in this moment of worldwide crisis. “As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When can I enter and see the face of God?” ~Psalm 42:2-3 I truly rely…
On this Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the Christmas season concludes. St. John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus in the Jordan, points us to Christ: “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). This is the same scripture that the priest says when he holds up Jesus in the newly consecrated Eucharist for us to adore before we receive Jesus in Holy Communion. Christmas is a…
If you had a tiny seed—say an apple seed—and you wanted it to grow into a strong tree, full of good apples, what would you do? First, you’d find a sunny spot with rich soil for planting. A place protected from harsh winds. You’d water and feed it. You’d cultivate the soil around it to keep the weeds from stealing its nourishment. You’d protect it from attacks of pests. After several years of this loving…
The Blessed Sacrament—Jesus Himself—is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324). This means that, as Christians, our day-to-day living is both nourished and sustained by (the source) and directed toward being united with Jesus Christ (the summit), the Holy Eucharist. “The Gospel of God’s love…finds its highest expression in the Eucharist. In the Mass and in Eucharistic Adoration we meet the merciful love of God that passes through the Heart of Jesus…