Wednesday, May 29, 2013

6/2/2013 – El Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo – Lucas 9, 11b-17


     Un día, la Madre Teresa de Calcuta en India ayudó una mujer de las calles. El cuerpo de esta mujer tenia muchas úlceras infectadas con bichos.  Con mucha paciencia y mucha ternura, la Madre Teresa limpió su cuerpo. La mujer gritaba a la Madre Teresa todo el tiempo.   La Madre Teresa respondía con compasión y con una sonrisa. Explicó la Madre Teresa mas tarde – ella puede trabajar cada día sin frustración y sin impaciencia solo con la Eucaristía.  El Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo es la comida espiritual que la sostiene.  Sin la Eucaristía, ella no puede servir ni un día ni una hora.  
     Hoy, celebramos la Solemnidad del Cuerpo y Sangre de Cristo que recibimos en la Eucaristía.  Dice el Concilio Vaticano Segundo – la Eucaristía es la fuente y la cumbre de nuestra vida en la Iglesia y nuestra vida espiritual.  Nuestra vida como católicos debe tener su base en la Eucaristía.  Nuestro Evangelio de esta Solemnidad es muy interesante – no escuchamos sobre la fundación de la Eucaristía en la Ultima Cena, pero sobre el milagro de los panes y los peces para alimentar la muchedumbre. Solo este milagro están en todos los cuatro Evangelios – podemos decir que es un cuento muy importante en la vida de la Iglesia del Nuevo Testamento. 
     La muchedumbre tenía hambre para comer al fin de este día después de escuchar la enseñanzas de Cristo. Los discípulos querían enviar la muchedumbre a los pueblos y los caseríos para buscar alojamiento y comida, pero Cristo quería proporcionar esta comida. 
     El hambre es un problema grave – sin comida, no podemos vivir. Aquí, en Mississippi, hay pueblos donde 50% de la población recibe la ayuda del gobierno para conseguir su comida.  Si, el hambre es un problema muy grande en los Estados Unidos y en nuestro mundo moderno, pero hay tipos de hambre diferente en nuestra vida, y con el milagro de los panes y los peces y con la Eucaristía donde recibimos el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo, Jesús satisface muchos tipos de hambre que tenemos.
    Tenemos hambre de tener significado en nuestra vida – tenemos hambre para superar la superficie de nuestra vida aquí en la tierra.  Tenemos hambre para conectar con Dios en nuestra vida – para tener un vistazo del Reino de Dios en nuestro viaje. 
Tenemos hambre para tener la curación y la integridad en nuestra vida, para arreglar la desigualdad en nuestros corazones. En esta muchedumbre en el Evangelio, me imagino que había muchos tipos de hambre en sus vidas, y con sus enseñanzas y su proclamación del Reino de Dios, había una satisfacción con su hambre.
     Cuando venimos a la misa, debemos tener hambre en nuestro alma para tener la Eucaristía en nuestra vida, para comulgar en la mesa del Señor con el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo.  Y como el ejemplo de la Madre Teresa, con su fuerza de vivir y servir en la Eucaristía, así que el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo debe ser un presencia preciosa en nuestra vida también.  Recibir el Cuerpo y la Sangre de Cristo – solo es el inicio.  La vida y el alimento que recibimos de Cristo en esta manera muy especial deben informar nuestra consciencia y motivar nuestras acciones. Para mi, es la definición de esta solemnidad de hoy.  En las tradiciones de la Iglesia, hoy, en esta solemnidad, hay procesiones en las calles y en los barrios.  Necesitamos llevar el espíritu de la Eucaristía con nosotros – donde vamos en nuestro viaje.  

Monday, May 27, 2013

6/2/2013 – Body and Blood of Christ – Luke 9:11B-17



One day, someone observed Mother Teresa as she took a woman off the streets of Calcutta.  This poor woman’s body was covered with open sores infested with bugs.  Mother Teresa very patiently and lovingly bathed this lady.  She cleaned her wounds and dressed them.  The woman was screaming at Mother Teresa the entire time, hurling threats and insults at her.  Mother Teresa only lovingly and compassionately smiled.  Later, Mother Teresa was asked how she can do this work day in and day out without getting frustrated or impatient.  Mother Teresa responded: The Mass – the Eucharist - is the spiritual food that sustains me - without this I could not get through one single day or one single hour in my life.
         Today we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ that we receive in the Eucharist.  The Second Vatican Council called the Eucharist the source and summit of our lives as Catholics – all that we are as Catholics should flow out of the Eucharist.  It is interesting that we don’t hear the Gospel reading today about Jesus instituting the Eucharist at the Last Supper, but rather how Jesus fed the hungry crowds in the miracle of the loaves and the fish.  This is the only miracle story that is recorded in all four Gospels – it shows how important this story was to Christ’s followers in the Early Church.
         The crowds were physically hungry at the end of the day as they were gathered to hear Jesus teach them about the Kingdom of God.  While the disciples wanted the crowd to go out to the surrounding countryside in order to find provisions for themselves, Jesus wanted them to feed the crowd.  Physical hunger is an important longing we have in our lives – without food to sustain, we are not able to live.  In fact, it is hard to believe how many people in our state of Mississippi, here in modern America, need food assistance in order to survive.  Here in Lee County where our parish of St James in Tupelo is located, 19% of the population receives food stamp assistance to help them get food.  In Humphreys County, where my former parish of All Saints in Belzoni is located, 48% of the population receives such assistance, a statistic that I have a hard time comprehending.  While physical hunger remains a problem today, we have hunger on other levels as well, and the feeding of the crowd and the Body and Blood of Christ we receive in the Eucharist satisfy those different levels of hunger that we have in life.
         We hunger for meaning in life – we hunger to transcend the day-to-day existence we have here on earth – to raise it to a meaning beyond which we have on the surface of our earthly existence.  We hunger to connect with God in our life – we hunger to have a glimpse of the Kingdom of God as we journey in faith here on earth.  We hunger for healing and wholeness in our lives, to mend the brokenness that we feel in our hearts.  I can imagine that the members of that crowd were feeling those different types of hunger in their lives as they came to Jesus that day, to hear his teachings and his proclamations of God’s kingdom.  Jesus satisfied their hunger in so many ways.
         As a missionary in Ecuador in the province of Esmeraldas in the middle of a vast rainforest jungle, I traveled by canoe about 4 hours every Friday afternoon from our mission site to one of the villages located deep in the jungle.  After traveling in that small canoe in the hot sun right on the Equator, I was exhausted and very hungry.  Right after my arrival, one of the ladies from our church in that village would send over a plate of food for me, usually some rice, some boiled plantains, and a bit of meat.  Not only did that food satisfy my physical hunger, but it touches my heart just being able to share this story with you today.  Many of the people in the jungle had little to eat themselves, and they would go out of their way to send me that food out of their hospitality and love for me as their missionary.  Sometimes I would arrive in that village on a Friday afternoon sick with a tropical fever or a little bit lonesome or homesick – the way they reached out to me always seemed to help.
         We should feel that about the Eucharist – and even more. It should touch our hearts and feed our souls on so many different levels.  Like the strength and sustenance Mother Teresa of Calcutta found in the Eucharist, so the Body and Blood of Christ should be a very cherished presence in our own lives.
         We must remember that receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist is only the beginning.  The life and nourishment that we receive from Christ in this special way is meant to inform our conscience and motivate our actions.  To me, that is what this solemnity is all about.  Traditionally, on this day, there are often processions in the neighborhoods and in the streets.  That is where we are to take the Eucharist – wherever we go on our journey. 

5/30/2013 – Thursday of 8th week in ordinary time – St Joan of Arc – Mark 10:46-52



        A blind man named Bartimaeus cries out to Jesus from the side of the road: “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”  The blind man is rebuked for calling out to Jesus, but he does not refrain from his requests.  Jesus finally responds, telling the blind man that his faith has saved him.  Bartimaeus is able to see and to continue on his way.
         Faith can change our lives. In fact, through faith, the blind can see.  Today, we celebrate a saint who was burned at the stake at the age of 19 for being a heretic in the early 15th century.  Imagine that – burned to death after being condemned by a court of the Church on charges of witchcraft and heresy, and then many centuries later, being celebrated as a very popular saint in the same Church.  Joan of Arc died in 1431 and was canonized many centuries later in the year 1920.  The faith of the people who saw a witness of holiness in her kept her memory alive. 
         We recognize the faith of the saints and the way they lived out the Gospel in the reality of their lives.  Our imagination is captured by St Joan of Arc - a young French girl who leads the French troops to victory over their enemy the English as directed by the voices and instructions she hears from the voice of God.  We think of the many holy men and women who are condemned and vilified in their own day only to be recognized for their prophetic voices later long after they’ve died. 
         May we listen to the voice of faith calling out to us in our own lives, no matter how challenging and radical that message may be.