Dear Friends,
Right at the outset, let me thank you all for your generosity and dedication to our parish. After presenting the State of the Parish last week, I am moved once again to offer praise and thanksgiving to God, and to you, for the blessings of love, warmth and ownership that you demonstrate.
Regarding the Catholic Appeal, however, I really feel that we can do better in terms of participation. How I would love to see a 100% participation by our families! Let us also show that we include our beloved bishop and the entire diocese in our outpouring of love.
This Sunday, September 24, the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates the vocation to the priesthood. It is a day to reflect upon the role of the priesthood in the life of the Church. In the Congregation of Holy Cross, priests not only make Christ present to the faithful through the sacraments, but also minister as pastors of parishes, as educators in the faith, as mentors and administrators, and as men bringing hope to the poor and the afflicted. On this special day, we ask that you pray for our priests and for the fruitfulness of our Holy Cross ministries around the world. May future generations of men hear and answer God's call to serve his Church as priests of Holy Cross!
Let us now move forward with the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI entitled: Sacramentum Caritatis.
Have a Blessed Week!
With love,
Fr. John
W e e k 13 — SA C R A M E N T U M C A R I T AT I S ( TH E SA C R A M E N T O F C H A R I T Y : T H E E U C H AR I ST )
CONTINUATION OF THE POST-SYNODAL APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION SACRAMENTUM CARITATIS OF THE HOLY FATHER BENEDICT XVI TO THE BISHOPS, CLERGY, CONSECRATED PERSONS AND THE LAY FAITHFUL ON THE EUCHARIST AS THE SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF THE CHURCH'S LIFE AND MISSION
P A R T O N E : T H E E U C H A R I ST — A M Y ST E R Y T O B E B E L I E V E D ( c on t i n u e d )
“This is the work of God: that you believe in whom he has sent.” (Jn 6:29)
THE EUCHARIST AND ESCHATOLOGY
THE EUCHARIST: A GIFT TO MEN AND WOMEN ON THEIR JOURNEY
- If it is true that the sacraments are part of the Church's pilgrimage through history (99) towards the full manifestation of the victory of the risen Christ, it is also true that, especially in the liturgy of the Eucharist, they give us a real foretaste of the eschatological fulfilment for which every human being and all creation are destined (cf. Rom 8:19ff.). Man is created for that true and eternal happiness which only God's love can give. But our wounded freedom would go astray were it not already able to experience something of that future fulfilment. Moreover, to move forward in the right direction, we all need to be guided towards our final goal. That goal is Christ himself, the Lord who conquered sin and death, and who makes himself present to us in a special way in the eucharistic celebration. Even though we remain "aliens and exiles" in this world (1 Pet 2:11), through faith we already share in the fullness of risen The eucharistic banquet, by disclosing its powerful eschatological dimension, comes to the aid of our freedom as we continue our journey.
THE ESCHATOLOGICAL BANQUET
- Reflecting on this mystery, we can say that Jesus' coming responded to an expectation present in the people of Israel, in the whole of humanity and ultimately in creation itself. By his self-gift, he objectively inaugurated the eschatological Christ came to gather together the scattered People of God (cf. Jn 11:52) and clearly manifested his intention to gather together the community of the covenant, in order to bring to fulfilment the promises made by God to the fathers of old (cf. Jer 23:3; Lk 1:55, 70). In the calling of the Twelve, which is to be understood in relation to the twelve tribes of Israel, and in the command he gave them at the Last Supper, before his redemptive passion, to celebrate his memorial, Jesus showed that he wished to transfer to the entire community which he had founded the task of being, within history, the sign and instrument of the eschatological gathering that had its origin in him. Consequently, every eucharistic celebration sacramentally accomplishes the eschatological gathering of the People of God. For us, the eucharistic banquet is a real foretaste of the final banquet foretold by the prophets (cf. Is 25:6-9) and described in the New Testament as "the marriage-feast of the Lamb" (Rev 19:7-9), to be celebrated in the joy of the communion of saints (100).
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD
- The eucharistic celebration, in which we proclaim that Christ has died and risen, and will come again, is a pledge of the future glory in which our bodies too will be glorified. Celebrating the memorial of our salvation strengthens our hope in the resurrection of the body and in the possibility of meeting once again, face to face, those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. In this context, I wish, together with the Synod Fathers, to remind all the faithful of the importance of prayers for the dead, specially the offering of Mass for them, so that, once purified, they can come to the beatific vision of God. (101) A rediscovery of the eschatological dimension inherent in the Eucharist, celebrated and adored, will help sustain us on our journey and comfort us in the hope of glory (cf. Rom 5:2; Tit 2:13).
(99) Cf. Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the ChurchLumen Gentium, 48.
(100) Propositio3.
(101) Here Iwould recall thewords filled with hope and consolation found in Eucharistic Prayer II:"Remember our brothers andsisters who have gone to their rest inthe hope of rising Bring them andall the departed into the light of your presence."