Fr. Leo's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (8/16/2009)

Dear People of Holy Name,

“..the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.” (Jn 6:56)

We come together on Sundays to celebrate the presence of God in our lives, the God we have come to know through Jesus Christ and the gift of his Holy Spirit. Just as our bodies need food on a daily basis, so too our hearts and minds and souls need to be fed by the loving presence of God every day.

Our Sunday liturgy doesn’t make God present to us as much as it makes us present to the God who sustains our every moment. In the Lord we do live and move and have our being. Eucharist is about giving thanks for the life and being we have in God. In our thanks-giving we are nourished and strengthened to know God’s love for us and to go forth to live that love.

Love is more than a feeling; it is being in communion with. As a Eucharistic people we are called to be in communion with others, as all peoples are members of the Body of Christ. As he poured himself out for us, we pour ourselves out for others. Our communion with Jesus is what inspires us to live and love as he lived and loved.

To be in communion with the Lord we must come to know him. Our Liturgy of the Word is to do precisely that. As we listen to the scriptures and reflect on them we, by the grace of God, hear his voice in our minds and hearts. We come to know him in his word. The Liturgy of the Word is a time of personal encounter even as we are gathered as a family of faith.

Our personal prayer continues through the week as we live in a spirit of gratitude recognizing God in all things. Prayer in small groups and individually keeps our awareness of God alive and nourishes our spiritual hunger during the week. Through prayer we remain in communion with God and his people.

Our communion with God also increases our communion with God’s people. For me one of the most important effects of Eucharist is the authentic community that develops among those who share their journey of faith with one another. God reaches us and touches us through one another and without our truly loving one another as Christ loves, can we claim to know the Lord?

Coming to know the Lord draws us into community as we realize we are bread for one another, just as Jesus is bread for us. Being present to others and others to us, is how the presence of God is revealed. It is through building up the Body of Christ as a community of believers that God’s kingdom comes on earth as it is in heaven.

The most meaningful growth for me in our parish over the last five years is the sense of community that has grown among us. With our Evangelization small groups and our GIFT program being the vehicles for genuine faith sharing, I have found myself profoundly nourished by the presence of God and sustained in my living in God more through the week.

I long for the return of Lent and our opportunity to break open the world of life together, connecting the week with Sunday and my Sundays with the rest of my week. Without community and sharing faith in small groups, I feel more alone and an less inspired because I’m not sharing the journey with others who witness to me a profound love for and understanding of Christ in their lives.

What can help all of us is purposeful sharing around the scriptures we hear on Sundays. When you go home for breakfast or lunch ask round the table, what struck you about today’s mass? What helped, what didn’t? Such questions extend the liturgy and bring home the profound presence of Christ we have shared at mass. It also prepares us for the coming Sunday as we will listen more intently if we are going to share the Gospel at home.

We are blessed with a great sense of community here at Holy Name. Let us pray and ask the Lord to continue to draw us together to help us share more deeply in communion with him and one another.

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo