Pastor's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (06/10/2007)

Dear People of Holy Name,

Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi; the Body and Blood of Christ

As a uniquely Catholic celebration we celebrate the sacramental presence of Christ to us in the Eucharist. We believe Christ is really and truly present to us in the form of bread and wine when we celebrate the Eucharistic prayer and receive Christ himself in the Eucharist.

This is not to say that God is not with us at all times, because God is. We would not be, if God was not present. God is always with us. The Eucharist is our way to remember and be assured of entering into God’s presence, because Christ himself is the one who first broke the bread and passed the cup to those who were his own.

The Eucharist as bread, feeds the body of Christ, the church. As we receive the Eucharist we are opening ourselves up to the life of Christ, that his real presence may be in us. The Eucharist is meant to strengthen the body, to make us one though we are many. In the end, the manifestation of the Eucharist is found in the sense of community it builds among those who join around the table.

As we become Christ-like we become a people for others, even those who are not among our fold. The Spirit of God unites us with all peoples and calls us to live in God in all things. To do so I think we need to have the eye of the artist, the heart of a poet and the ear of the musician. We need to be able to be moved by the beauty of creation, awed by the gift of people, and hear the music in life, enjoying the moment, and know that just being together is worth more than anything and that the reason we work is to have that time.

As a kid I enjoyed playing cards with my family. Not because I enjoyed the cards so much because I didn’t care if I won or not. What felt good to me was that we were together, simply wasting time, our greatest treasure, together. For me it was the best spent time in my life.

Prayer is being with God. It is not productive as other activities are and by those standards would be judged a waste of time. Just being with God is good. Breathing deep and letting his peace, or inviting his peace to live in us is priceless. We don’t have to be afraid to go there, because we don’t need to fear God or ourselves. We are good and our deepest hearts know the way to happiness. Our faith in God is also a faith in ourselves and all we can be.

When we receive the Eucharist we have those moments just to be with God. We don’t need words. Just being in God’s presence and giving ourselves over to God will get the ball rolling in our lives if it has been sitting idle. To celebrate the Eucharist today, is to celebrate the presence of God who is with us at all times to share his life with us in greater and greater ways. To believe in the Eucharist we need to believe in God’s love for us, God desire to be with us, and the greatness of life that awaits us, who choose to join our will with his.

Today we reach out to the Lord to receive him in the Eucharist, and our Amen is an Amen to his presence and an affirmation of his love for us and all that our lives can yet become, united to him as his Spirit makes us one with him and with all peoples and all creation. To celebrate the Eucharist takes community. For the Eucharist to have effect it must build community and make us one. We are not alone! God is with us and so too, those who are willing to love as God loves in Jesus Christ, through the power of the Holy Spirit with us now.

Let us say Amen! Let us celebrate the life we share with God in community, and let us pray that he may bring us to the fullness of life that we seek, in God’s happiness and peace.

In Christ’s love, Fr. Leo