Dear friends,
This weekend, we celebrate the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
During this hurricane season, please make the necessary preparations to protect yourselves and continue to pray through the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor to avert the deadly storms and spare us from harm:
“Our Father in Heaven, through the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, spare us and our homes from all disasters of nature. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Also, I recommend that we pray Psalm 91 in appeal for God’s protection, verses 11 and 12: “For God commands the angels to guard you in all your ways. With their hands they shall support you, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”
As we enter the summer months of leisure and relaxation, I ask that you read a few paragraphs each weekend from Section Two, Article 3 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, The Sacrament of the Eucharist, as we reflect together and begin to more fully appreciate this precious and invaluable gift.
ARTICLE 3: THE SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST
- WHAT IS THIS SACRAMENT CALLED?
1328 The inexhaustible richness of this sacrament is expressed in the different names we give it. Each name evokes certain aspects of it. It is called:
Eucharist, because it is an action of thanksgiving to God. The Greek words eucharistein (Cf. Lk 22:19; 1 Cor 11:24) and eulogein (Cf. Mt 26:26; Mk 14:22) recall the Jewish blessings that proclaim - especially during a meal - God's works: creation, redemption, and sanctification.
1329 The Lord's Supper, because of its connection with the supper which the Lord took with his disciples on the eve of his Passion and because it anticipates the wedding feast of the Lamb in the heavenly Jerusalem (Cf. 1 Cor 11:20; Rev 19:9).
The Breaking of Bread, because Jesus used this rite, part of a Jewish meal, when as master of the table he blessed and distributed the bread, (Cf. Mt 14:19; 15:36; Mk 8:6, 19) above all at the Last Supper (Cf. Mt 26:26; 1 Cor 11:24). It is by this action that his disciples will recognize him after his Resurrection, (Cf. Lk 24:13-35) and it is this expression that the first Christians will use to designate their Eucharistic assemblies (Cf. Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7,11); by doing so they signified that all who eat the one broken bread, Christ, enter into communion with him and form but one body in him (Cf. 1 Cor 10:16-17).
The Eucharistic assembly (synaxis), because the Eucharist is celebrated amid the assembly of the faithful, the visible expression of the Church (Cf. 1 Cor 11:17-34).
Be Blessed!
With love,
Fr. John