Dear Friends,
Next Sunday, 20 September, we celebrate Catechetical Sunday. The 2020 theme is, “I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you.” Catechetical Sunday is a wonderful opportunity to reflect on the role that each person plays, by virtue of Baptism, in handing on the faith and being a witness to the Gospel. Catechetical Sunday is an opportunity for all to rededicate themselves to this mission as a community of faith. Are you called to be a catechist? We need you! Please contact Dawn Hurley at the office.
Parents with children in grades Kindergarten through 6, please register online or in the office for this year’s Religious Education Program and plan to attend the MANDATORY Parent Pick-Up Party in the Parish Hall on Sunday, 13 September, following the 11 am Mass, from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. We will be introducing our team of catechists, the new curriculum (Pflaum Gospel Weeklies), and our plan for the combined once-monthly, in-person sessions and at-home instruction which will begin on Sunday, 20 September. There will be games and prizes!
I am excited to announce the launch of a new ministry for women of our parish, headed by Anjanette Wicks and a team of committed ladies who are passionate about enhancing the faith experience and continued formation of women in the 40-plus age range. “Blessed is She” will be offered for women 18+, and we intend to launch both programs on 7 October to mark the Feast of our Lady of the Rosary. More details will follow.
On this 24th Sunday A, we are invited once again to reflect on our attitude of forgiveness – our willingness to forgive others as opposed to God’s willingness to forgive us our offenses. May we cultivate a heart willing to forgive!
Be Blessed!
With love, Fr. John
Ecclesia De Eucharistia
For this week, we shall reflect on paragraphs 21 and 22 of the encyclical, “Ecclesia De Eucharistia” (The Church draws her life from the Eucharist) by St. John Paul II on the vital role the Eucharist plays in the life of the Church. Today we begin chapter two of the encyclical in which Pope JP II explains how the Eucharist Builds the Church.
CHAPTER TWO: THE EUCHARIST BUILDS THE CHURCH
- The Second Vatican Council teaches that the celebration of the Eucharist is at the center of the process of the Church's After stating that “the Church, as the Kingdom of Christ already present in mystery, grows visibly in the world through the power of God”, (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 3) then, as if in answer to the question: “How does the Church grow?”, the Council adds: “as often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our pasch is sacrificed' (1 Cor 5:7) is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out. At the same time in the sacrament of the Eucharistic bread, the unity of the faithful, who form one body in Christ (cf. 1 Cor 10:17), is both expressed and brought about”(Lumen Gentium, 3).
A causal influence of the Eucharist is present at the Church's very origins. The Evangelists specify that it was the Twelve, the Apostles, who gathered with Jesus at the Last Supper (cf. Mt 26:20; Mk 14:17; Lk 22:14). This is a detail of notable importance, for the Apostles “were both the seeds of the new Israel and the beginning of the sacred hierarchy” (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church Ad Gentes, 5). By offering them his body and his blood as food, Christ mysteriously involved them in the sacrifice which would be completed later on Calvary. By analogy with the Covenant of Mount Sinai, sealed by sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood, (“Moses took the blood and threw it upon the people, and said: 'Behold the blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words'” (Ex 24:8)), the actions and words of Jesus at the Last Supper laid the foundations of the new messianic community, the People of the New Covenant.
The Apostles, by accepting in the Upper Room Jesus' invitation: “Take, eat”, “Drink of it, all of you” (Mt 26:26-27), entered for the first time into sacramental communion with him. From that time forward, until the end of the age, the Church is built up through sacramental communion with the Son of God who was sacrificed for our sake: “Do this is remembrance of me... Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:24-25; cf. Lk 22:19).
- Incorporation into Christ, which is brought about by Baptism, is constantly renewed and consolidated by sharing in the Eucharistic Sacrifice, especially by that full sharing which takes place in sacramental communion. We can say not only that each of us receives Christ, but also that Christ receives each of He enters into friendship with us: “You are my friends” (Jn 15:14). Indeed, it is because of him that we have life: “He who eats me will live because of me” (Jn 6:57). Eucharistic communion brings about in a sublime way the mutual “abiding” of Christ and each of his followers: “Abide in me, and I in you” (Jn 15:4).
By its union with Christ, the People of the New Covenant, far from closing in upon itself, becomes a “sacrament” for humanity, (Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 1), a sign and instrument of the salvation achieved by Christ, the light of the world and the salt of the earth (cf. Mt 5:13-16), for the redemption of all ( Cf. Lumen Gentium, 1). The Church's mission stands in continuity with the mission of Christ: “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you” (Jn 20:21). From the perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross and her communion with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, the Church draws the spiritual power needed to carry out her mission. The Eucharist thus appears as both the source and the summit of all evangelization, since its goal is the communion of mankind with Christ and in him with the Father and the Holy Spirit (Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Decree on the Life and Ministry of Priests Presbyterorum Ordinis, 5. The same Decree, in No. 6, says: “No Christian community can be built.