Dear Friends,
Today we celebrate the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time, and the Scripture reading emphasizes the centrality of Christ in our lives as quintessential to that of any particular person or thing. This conviction leads naturally to Christian hospitality toward neighbor and, consequently, merits a share in the prophet’s reward of eternal life.
I take this opportunity to congratulate our graduating students for their brilliant accomplishments. While traditional graduation celebrations were anything but traditional this year, we at St. John the Evangelist remain committed to giving thanks to God for the gift of your life, asking the Father to continue to guard and guide as you go out into the world as the light of Christ. We also want to thank the parents for their many, loving sacrifices and examples of faith that inspired and motivated them to achieve their goals. “Kudos” dear graduating class of 2020!
During the past three months, we have been unable to worship as we should, i.e., as a close-knit community of believers. So many have been deprived of the celebration of the Eucharist, the heart of the mystery of the Church and the fundamental nature of Catholic parish community. We continue to pray that all will soon be able to worship together without fear. Last Sunday, I referenced Scott Hahn, one of the great converts to Catholicism, and his affirmation that “every time we celebrate Mass, we experience Heaven.” CCC 1370 further states, “To the offering of Christ unites not only the members still here on earth, but also those already in the glory of heaven.” This is what makes the Eucharist so powerful.
St. Pope John Paul II wrote many encyclicals, and the most beautiful and notable of them was “Ecclesia De Eucharistia (The Church draws her life from the Eucharist.). The letter was delivered in Rome on 17 April 2003, Holy Thursday of the 25th year of his Papacy and the Year of the Rosary. I doubt that many of us will have the time or the inclination to read this masterpiece in one or two sittings; hence, I will be offering a few paragraphs each week during the summer months for our shared reading and meditation. May the Eucharist continue to enrich our souls.
INTRODUCTION
- The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope.
The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, 11). “For the most holy Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men” (Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Presbyterorum Ordinis, 5). Consequently, the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love.
Be Blessed! With love,
Fr. John