Dear Friends,
What is the likelihood that an entire parish would read and reflect on an encyclical by a pope, let alone form several small groups for more in-depth study? Well, congratulations are in order!
What we have accomplished as a parish is groundbreaking in terms of our communal reflection on this gift to the Church by Pope St. John Paul II on the Eucharist, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.). Throughout this journey, which began the weekend of June 28, 2020, we have learned the crucial and indispensable nature of the Eucharist for Catholics. I sincerely hope that you have come to a newfound appreciation for the priceless treasure we have in the Eucharist and encourage you to participate in Eucharistic celebrations without fear or hesitation. This weekend, 23-24 January, we have presented the final two paragraphs of the encyclical. Soon, we will post all of the questions and answers listed in the bulletin for you to review online before taking the “final exam.” There will be prizes!
This week, we celebrate the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the Scriptures continue to invite us to reflect on our call to discipleship. We hear from Mark’s account how Andrew, Peter, James and John respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow him, but of utmost importance for us to recognize is the immediacy with which they leave everything behind. In so doing, they commit to a life of learning the Father’s way and join Jesus on his missionary call for repentance and conversion and, thereafter, belief in the Gospels. What is our recollection of our call to discipleship? What measures do we take toward remaining faithful to that call? What weapons do we have in our spiritual arsenals to fight the enemy that assails our attempt to follow Jesus?
This weekend, we commemorate the third anniversary of the dedication of our beautiful sanctuary on January 20, 2018. This “hour of prayer,” testimony to your undying love of our God, your faith, and of your generosity, continues to resonate as an offering to our heavenly Father, reliving the sacrifice of his only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our Eternal High Priest.
Once again, I invite you to recall the elation we felt when our beloved Bishop John Noonan consecrated and anointed the Altar; with humility, let us resolve to always cherish this gift. “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord,” and may our prayers rise unceasingly before the merciful throne of God, interceding for one another and the whole world.
On this occasion, we thank our loving shepherd, Bishop John Noonan, for his presence here with us today, along with his kind and generous support.
Thank you, Bishop Noonan, for continuing to shepherd us through these turbulent times.
Be Blessed!
With love, Fr. John
Ecclesia de Eucharistia
Paragraphs 61 & 62
For this week, we shall reflect on paragraphs 61 & 62 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. With these paragraphs, we conclude the encyclical. Here, Pope St. John Paul II sums up his emphasis on the nature of the Eucharist as an indispensable gift, which needs to be lived in integrity without reduction or exploitation. He also prays that it will lead us to a renewed ecumenical commitment when we can worship together at the table of the Lord without division. The heightened sense of appreciation of the holy Eucharist is being lived in its purest form by the saints and, most meritoriously, by our Mother Mary.
- The mystery of the Eucharist – sacrifice, presence, banquet – does not allow for reduction or exploitation; it must be experienced and lived in its integrity, both in its celebration and in the intimate converse with Jesus which takes place after receiving communion or in a prayerful moment of Eucharistic adoration apart from Mass. These are times when the Church is firmly built up and it becomes clear what she truly is: one, holy, catholic and apostolic; the people, temple and family of God; the body and bride of Christ, enlivened by the Holy Spirit; the universal sacrament of salvation and a hierarchically structured communion.
The path taken by the Church in these first years of the third millennium is also a path of renewed ecumenical commitment. The final decades of the second millennium, culminating in the Great Jubilee, have spurred us along this path and called for all the baptized to respond to the prayer of Jesus “ut unum sint ” (Jn 17:11). The path itself is long and strewn with obstacles greater than our human resources alone can overcome, yet we have the Eucharist, and in its presence, we can hear in the depths of our hearts, as if they were addressed to us, the same words heard by the Prophet Elijah: “Arise and eat, else the journey will be too great for you” (1 Kg 19:7). The treasure of the Eucharist, which the Lord places before us, impels us towards the goal of full sharing with all our brothers and sisters to whom we are joined by our common Baptism. But if this treasure is not to be squandered, we need to respect the demands which derive from its being the sacrament of communion in faith and in apostolic succession.
By giving the Eucharist the prominence it deserves, and by being careful not to diminish any of its dimensions or demands, we show that we are truly conscious of the greatness of this gift. We are urged to do so by an uninterrupted tradition , which from the first centuries on has found the Christian community ever vigilant in guarding this “treasure”. Inspired by love, the Church is anxious to hand on to future generations of Christians, without loss, her faith and teaching with regard to the mystery of the Eucharist. There can be no danger of excess in our care for this mystery, for “in this sacrament is recapitulated the whole mystery of our salvation” (Saint Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III, q. 83, a. 4c).
- Let us take our place, dear brothers and sisters, at the school of the saints, who are the great interpreters of true Eucharistic In them the theology of the Eucharist takes on all the splendor of a lived reality; it becomes “contagious” and, in a manner of speaking, it “warms our hearts”. Above all, let us listen to Mary Most Holy, in whom the mystery of the Eucharist appears, more than in anyone else, as a mystery of light. Gazing upon Mary, we come to know the transforming power present in the Eucharist. In her we see the world renewed in love. Contemplating her, assumed body and soul into heaven, we see opening up before us those “new heavens” and that “new earth” which will appear at the second coming of Christ. Here below, the Eucharist represents their pledge, and in a certain way, their anticipation: “Veni, Domine Iesu!” (Rev 22:20).
In the humble signs of bread and wine, changed into his body and blood, Christ walks beside us as our strength and our food for the journey, and he enables us to become, for everyone, witnesses of hope. If, in the presence of this mystery, reason experiences its limits, the heart, enlightened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, clearly sees the response that is demanded, and bows low in adoration and nbounded love.
Let us make our own the words of Saint Thomas Aquinas, an eminent theologian and an impassioned poet of Christ in the Eucharist, and turn in hope to the contemplation of that goal to which our hearts aspire in their thirst for joy and peace:
Bone pastor, panis vere, Iesu, nostri miserere...
Come then, good Shepherd, bread divine, Still show to us thy mercy sign; Oh, feed us, still keep us thine; So we may see thy glories shine in fields of immortality.
O thou, the wisest, mightiest, best, Our present food, our future rest, Come, make us each thy chosen guest, Co-heirs of thine, and comrades blest With saints whose dwelling is with thee.
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, on 17 April, Holy Thursday, in the year 2003, the Twenty- fifth of my Pontificate, the Year of the Rosary.
IOANNES PAULUS II