A feast of Solidarity The Body and Blood of Christ 2021

                                                     A feast of Solidarity

The Body and Blood of Christ 2021

June 6, 2021

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Exodus 24:3-8; Psalm 116; Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

 

The Jewish Passover feast was a solemn, but joyful celebration of God’s steadfastness throughout human history culminating in the deliverance from slavery at the hands of the Egyptians. The Jewish people remembered God’s faithful actions that began at the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The meal consisted of unleavened bread, bitter herbs, and lamb eaten hastily as the people kept vigil as the Lord passed over the houses marked with blood. God’s people would always be attentive to the Lord’s present and would keep ready to move to wherever God chose them to go, for God led them to safety.

 

Jesus and his friends celebrated this same custom and after completing the ritual meal, he broke the bread as customary for cleaning the plates’ remnants, and he personalized the actions. For a Jew, deviation from prescribed rites raises alarms, so the disciples were on guard when he said, “This is my body.” He blessed, broke, and gave it to them with instructions to eat, another new wrinkle.

 

A Passover meal ritually calls for drinking three cups of wine, but Jesus brought a fourth one, a single cup, again a noticeably alteration of their prescribed custom, and says, “This is my blood of the covenant.” This moment would stand out as a curiosity, and Jesus personalizes it, again, another noteworthy departure from the rite. The blood calls to mind the sacrifices of Abraham, the Patriarchs, Moses, and all the priests, but this time Jesus claims it as his own. The moment of Jesus’ offering to God at the altar of the Jewish Temple is at hand, and our Eucharist is born, for every time we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the death of Jesus, who becomes our Lord. Through Jesus, we have communion with God. What a gift that we can have this communion daily, weekly, whenever we need it.

 

The faithfulness of Jesus brings us to universal communion in which we stand in solidarity with one another. Communion brings a personal conversion that leads to greater appreciation of God’s love and calls us to the service of the common good. Our consciousness increase and we adopt an attitude of benevolence that helps us do what is best for others. We see the fragility of human existence and we strive to build a common future that is better than the one handed to us. Service means to care for the vulnerable members of our family, tribe, and society. When we serve the needs of others, we set aside our own wishes and desires, our pursuits of power, and we look upon those in need. Service is tangible, never ideological, as we do not serve ideas, but we serve people who have real faces, genuine stories, complex relationships, and when we serve, we show mercy, a mercy that reaches into another person’s chaos, and we simply abide by them. We choose to be with those whose misfortune reminds us of our privilege and need for humble gratitude. We recognize our own fragility and need for God.

 

Every time we take the bread and drink the cup, we are reminded of the self-offering of Jesus that pulls us into closer connection with God and those around us. We depend upon it. We seek it out. We do not rest until we consume who and what God offers us. We petition Christ to lead us to where His Body and Blood waits to be blessed, broke, and shared, and like the first Passover vigil, we solemnly honor God’s steadfast solidarity to the human race. 

 

Scripture for Daily Mass

Monday: (2 Corinthians 1) For as Christ’s sufferings overflow to us, so through Christ does our encouragement also overflow. Our hope for you is firm, for we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the encouragement. 

 

Tuesday: (2 Corinthians 1) For however many are the promises of God, their Yes is in him; therefore, the Amen from us also goes through him to God for glory. But the one who gives us security with you in Christ and who anointed us is God.

 

Wednesday: (2 Corinthians 3) Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious that the children of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of its glory that was going to fade, how much more will the ministry of the Spirit be glorious?

 

Thursday: (2 Corinthians 3) To this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over the hearts of the children of Israel, but whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

 

Friday (Hosea 11) When Israel was a child I loved him, out of Egypt I called my son. Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, who took them in my arms; I drew them with human cords, with bands of love.

 

Saturday (2 Corinthians 5) The love of Christ impels us, once we have come to the conviction that one died for all; therefore, all have died. He indeed died for all,
so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

 

Gospel: 

Monday: (Matthew 5)  Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

 

 

Tuesday: (Matthew 5) You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. 

 

Wednesday (Matthew 5) Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.

 

Thursday (Matthew 5) You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

 

Friday (John 19) So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs, but one soldier thrust his lance into his side.

 

Saturday (Luke 2) the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.

 

Saints of the Week

 

June 9: Ephrem, deacon and doctor (306-373), was born in the area that is now Iraq. He was ordained a deacon and refused priestly ordination. After Persians conquered his home town, Ephrem lived in seclusion where he wrote scriptural commentaries and hymns. He was the first to introduce hymns into public worship.

 

June 9: Joseph de Anchieta, S.J., priest (1534-1597), was from the Canary Islands and became a leading missionary to Brazil. He was one of the founders of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janiero. He is considered the first Brazilian writer and is regarded as a considerate evangelizer of the native Brazilian population. Alongside the Jesuit Manuel de Nobrega, he created stable colonial establishments in the new country.

 

June 11: Barnabas, apostle (d. 61), was a Jew from Cyprus who joined the early Christians in Jerusalem to build up the church. His name means "son of encouragement." He accepted Paul into his community and worked alongside him for many years to convert the Gentiles. He was stoned to death in his native Cyprus. He was a towering  authority to the early church.

 

This Week in Jesuit History

 

• June 6, 1610. At the funeral of Henry IV in Paris, two priests preaching in the Churches of St Eustace and St Gervase denounced the Jesuits as accomplices in his death. This was due primarily to the book De Rege of Father Mariana. 
• June 7, 1556. Peter Canisius becomes the first provincial superior of the newly constituted Province of Upper Germany. 
• June 8, 1889. Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins died at the age of 44 in Dublin. His final words were "I am so happy, so happy." He wrote, "I wish that my pieces could at some time become known but in some spontaneous way ... and without my forcing." 
• June 9, 1597. The death of Blessed Jose de Ancieta, Brazil's most famous missionary and the founder of the cities of Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro. 
• June 10, 1537. Ignatius and his companions were given minor orders at the house of Bishop Vincenzo Negusanti in Venice, Italy. 
• June 11, 1742. The Chinese and Malabar Rites were forbidden by Pope Benedict XIV; persecution broke out at once in China. 
• June 12, 1928. Fr. General Ledochowski responded negatively to the idea of intercollegiate sports at Jesuit colleges because he feared the loss of study time and the amount of travel involved.