Reflection on St Columba - Feast day - 9 June 2021 - (521-597)

 St Columba (521-597) was born into a royal Irish family in Donegal, Ireland.  He entered life at a monastery in Ireland as a boy.  He founded several important monasteries in Ireland.  Legend has it that he was sent away from Ireland due to a family feud.  Some even describe this feud as a war between the clans.  Forced to leave, Columba and twelve other monks were sent to sea in an open boat without a destination in mind.  They landed on the stark barren island of Iona, off the western coast of Scotland.    The monastery he found in Iona became very famous throughout all of Europe.  It still exists today as a site of pilgrimage.  Columba is considered one of the founders of Catholicism in Scotland.  Columba became a great religious leader in Ireland and Scotland.  Some of the poems and hymns that he wrote still exist today.  Columba is considered one of the Fathers of Catholicism in Scotland and northern England and is revered as such today.  Just as we have the Knights of Columbus here in the United States, Scotland has the Knights of St Columba, which were founded in Glasgow, Scotland in 1919.  

Below is a stanza of a poem extolling God’s creation.  Below is also a link to a video about the life of St Columba.  Have a blessed week everyone.  

Father Lincoln 

Formed he the stars, put in their place

as lamps to light the firmament;

the angels joined in eulogy,

for his wondrous creation of

that boundless mass, praising the Lord,

the craftsman of the heavens above,

in proclamation that wins praise,

with utterance meet that knows no change,

and sang in noble harmony,

discharging thanks unto the Lord,

doing this out of love and will,

not from the gift that nature prompts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sl8q8fHriMw

6 June 2021 - The solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ - Mark 14:12-16; 22-26

       Today, we celebrate the second great solemnity on the Sundays right after the end of the Easter season.   Last Sunday, we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity, an eternal mystery of our faith that is perhaps a bit difficult to explain in a homily. Today, even though the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is also a mystery at the heart of our faith, perhaps it is more accessible to preach about this solemnity.  

      In the Eucharist, we receive Jesus into our lives in a special way as we are spiritually nourished on our pilgrimage journey through life.  The Eucharist is called to be the source and summit of our Christian identity.   St Mother Teresa of Calcutta has some of the amazing quotes about the meaning that the Body and Blood of Christ had in her life and in the life of the sisters in the religious congregation that she founded, the Missionaries of Charity.  Mother Teresa saw their ability to serve the poorest of the poor in their ministry as being rooted in the Eucharist.  She writes: "These desires to satiate the longings of Our Lord for souls of the poor — for pure victims of his love — goes on increasing with every Mass and Holy Communion.”  She also saw the Eucharist as the way she and her sisters forged a mystical union with Christ, as she writes in the first constitution for her future congregation back in 1947: “The Sisters should use every means to learn and increase that tender love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”  Mother Teresa saw the Eucharist as the source of their strength and their missionary identity, as she writes: "If we have our Lord in the midst of us, with daily Mass and Holy Communion, I fear nothing for the Sisters nor myself; he will look after us. But without him I cannot be — I am helpless."  

      In my time as a missionary in places like Canada and Ecuador, I relied on the Eucharist for my spiritual nourishment and as the center of my identity as a missionary. I always looked forward to going to Mass each day and to receiving the Eucharist; I longed for it each day, especially when I was struggling.  It touches my heart just to think about it.  Last week marked not only the 13th anniversary of my priesthood, but it marked 25 years since I arrived in Ecuador as a missionary.  When I think back to all the Masses I attended there in midst of the challenges of serving in a remote jungle environment, without the Eucharist, without the Body and Blood of Christ in my life, I would not have made it.  And those are not idle words - that is the truth that I can see, looking back.  

       I can look at the bread that we have in the form of the hosts as we put them on the credence table before the beginning of Mass.  I can look at the cruet of wine.  And that is what they are before the Mass begins: just bread and wine.  But then they become for us in the Mass the Body and Blood of Christ.  Not just a symbol of Christ and not just a representation of him, but they really become his Body and Blood.  If we look at the writings of the Early Church Fathers and Mothers, this was the belief that they had in the Early Church.  Cyril of Jerusalem, the Bishop of Jerusalem in the 4th century, writes this:  "For as the bread and wine of the Eucharist before the invocation of the Holy and Adorable Trinity, were simple bread and wine, while after the invocation the bread becomes the Body of Christ and the wine becomes the Blood of Christ”. Notice the word “becomes” in his quote - he believes that it becomes the true Body and Blood of Christ.   Early Church Father Origen of Alexandria from the 3rd century had this to say:  “We give thanks to the Creator of all, and, along with thanksgiving and prayer for the blessings we have received, we also eat the bread presented to us; and this bread becomes by prayer a sacred body, which sanctifies those who sincerely partake of it." 

        The Passover meal that Jesus celebrated with his disciples in the Last Supper as described in the Gospel of Mark is an important Jewish festival that Jesus transformed into the Eucharist that we celebrate around the Lord’s table each Sunday.   In today’s solemnity, not only do we celebrate and recognize the real presence of Christ that we receive in the Eucharist, but we also celebrate the way that we the community of Christ’s disciples in the Church form the Body of Christ as well.  So, when I was there in the jungles of Ecuador as a missionary for three years, not only did the Eucharist I receive at Mass bring me strength and nourishment, energizing me to continue my work as a missionary, being a part of the Body of Christ in the Church was also an essential part of my strength and identity.  Whenever I went to the surrounding villages the jungle to work, I was never Lincoln, just some person who came from the United States to do good works and to help.  I was Brother Lincoln, the missionary, who worked with the Church and with the religious congregation the Comboni Missionaries.  That identity meant everything to me - it defined everything I did.  And it was important to the people to see me having that bond and unity in the Church with them - I was indeed their brother in Christ.  I felt a part of the Body of Christ with not only the missionaries, the priests and the sisters, but with all the people I served in Ecuador too. 

      Hopefully, with all the challenges we have had during the pandemic, we are more appreciative of the Body of Christ that is the Church.  Last week, on the national public radio station, I heard them announce that in a recent Gallop survey, only 47% of respondents stated that they belonged to a religion, the first time this has gone below 50% in the 80 years that this question has been asked.  As recent as 1999, 70% of the respondents answered affirmatively.  It is a challenge all religions are facing.  If we as disciples of Christ are the Body of Christ here on earth, how to respond to the reality of the modern world?  How do we proclaim Christ’s Good News to the world? The answer is that we are going to have to persevere as the Body of Christ in the challenges that face us, to find innovative and creative ways to grow in our faith and to evangelize the world. 

      To be the Body of Christ, our parish needs your help.  We are blessed with a really wonderful staff here at St Jude and with a lot of very wonderful volunteers who work very hard here at our parish.  However, we now have more Masses here at St Jude to meet the needs of our parishioners and we have a return to Mass in the church building after having had Masses outside for so long, so we are in great need for more volunteers to help at our liturgies in different ways.  Great, great need.  Also, with summer starting and with our religious education programs starting back up at the end of the summer, we have need for volunteers in our religious education program as well.  

     All this shows that there are great needs and challenges all around right now: in our parish, in our Church, in our world.  But, as the Body of Christ, Christ and the Holy Spirit will be there to guide us and help us.  

4 June 2021 - Friday of the 9th week in Ordinary Time - Tobit 14:1-10

      We have been hearing readings from the book of Tobit all week; these readings end today with a reading from the final Chapter of Tobit. Some of these readings have been quite long, but the book of Tobit is certainly very interesting and fanciful.  It is one of those books that is included in the Catholic Bible but is not found in the Protestant Bible.  Above all, the story of Tobit is a story of trust, faith, and mercy.  The return of Tobiah today to his sick father and grief-stricken mother tugs at our heartstrings.  Tobiah’s total devotion to his family is noteworthy in this book.  He was laser focused in returning home to calm his parent’s fears and concerns and to bring a cure his father’s blindness. Tobiah's strong commitment to family and belief that God will be able to make anything happen is a center-piece of this biblical story.    

       So, today, one lesson for us from Tobit is the need for trust and faith.  With what we all have gone through this past year shows us how important it is to have trust and to have faith in the midst of our struggles and in the midst of an uncertain and sometimes hostile world. 

       In the Old Testament story of Tobit, the prayers for both Tobit and Sarah result in the arrival of the angel Raphael.  Think of the times our own prayers are answered.  Think of the people who come into our lives to help answer our prayers.  God sometimes sends angels on special missions here on earth.  But there are humans who come to us in our time of need as well, just like Raphael did for Tobit and his family.   As today’s first reading focuses on Tobit and his family, our mass special Mass intentions focus on our Carmelite family.  Today, the Bishop and I are here at the Carmelite monastery to celebrate Mass with all of you and to pray for sister Marie’s mom who recently passed away, to lift up our prayers for the repose of her soul.  And to lift up prayers for Sister Marie and her sister and her entire family.  And we pray in special for Dorothy’s prayer intention today, for her daughter Kirkland’s birthday.  There are secular Carmelites who are attending the Mass today in person in a special way and a lot of the secular Carmelites who could not be here in person said they were lifting up there prayers today in a special way.  We are together today as the Carmelite family.  

Opening prayer for meeting of Catholic Foundation - 3 June 2021

Lord God, we come to you today in the midst of our journey, in the hope we have in coming out of challenging days of the pandemic. 

 We give thanks for the men and women who serve on the Board of the Catholic Foundation, for all their hard work to help guide our Foundation and to strengthen our Diocese, our parishes, our schools, and our ministry programs.  

In a that we do, give us the hope and desire to fulfill our mission here to serve the people of God in the Diocese of Jackson. 

As we meet together today both in-person and virtually,  we ask for the presence of the Holy Spirit for wisdom in the decisions we make. In the name, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, AMEN. 

prayers of the faithful - 3 June 2021 - 9th week in Ordinary Time

Lord Jesus - you call us to justice. 

Christ Jesus - you bring us the Father's love. 

Lord Jesus - you make us whole. 

We present our prayers to our loving and merciful God. 

1. For the Church, that all who lead us and guide us in our faith will help us to live as the one Body of Christ, growing ever closer to Jesus.

2. For world leaders, that they will always strive to satisfy the human hunger for peace and justice.

3. For all children and youth, as they start their summer vacation time, may they see the Lord in all of their summer activities.  

4.  For the Jewish people, the first to hear the promises of God, that they may be faithful to the covenant they received and obedient to the commands of God.

5. For the Christian faithful of our Diocese and for all who hunger for meaning and purpose in their lives, that our needs will be satisfied by turning to Jesus, the living bread.

6. For all who are sick, or suffering in any way, that they will be comforted by the ever-present love of our Lord.

God our Father,  hear our prayers and grant us a love for our faith.  We make our prayer through Christ our Lord forever and ever.  AMEN.

St Jude Catholic Church - reflection on the solemnity of the body and blood of Christ - 7 June 2021

     The Solemnity of the Most Body and Blood of Christ commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist. This liturgical celebration calls the faithful to focus on the manifestations of the Body of Christ in the Holy Eucharist and in the Church.

     This feast day introduced in the 13th century to encourage the Catholic faithful to give special honor to the institution of the Holy Eucharist and to the Blessed Sacrament. Pope Urban IV asked great theologian St Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) to compose the Mass and the Office of this feast day in the year 1264.  Our worship of Jesus in his Body and Blood calls us to offer God the Father our undivided love and an offering of ourselves in service to others.

      The great theologian St Augustine of Hippo (354-430) said the following to recent coverts about the Eucharist: "Until now, as you see, it is bread and wine, but once the consecration is added, this bread will be the body of Christ and this wine will be the Blood of Christ.”  Like other Early Church Fathers, St Augustine notes the importance of distinguishing between what is seen from what is believed. In the days of the Early Church, people would often bring ordinary bread and wine from their homes to celebrate the Eucharist.  The true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is one of the defining beliefs of the Catholic faith, a belief that distinguishes us from most other Protestant denominations.  

       As the reception of the Eucharist calls us to live out the true presence of Christ in our lives in our humble service to God, to the Church, and to our neighbor, I want to direct your attention to our need for volunteers here at St Jude, especially as catechists and helpers in the religious education program, as well as in different liturgical ministries.  With the opening up of the parishes in our Diocese after the protocols that have been in place this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the start our new year of religious education around the corner, the need for volunteers here at St Jude is more critical than ever.  Please prayerfully reflect upon the ways God is calling you to help our parish meet our needs.  Next week, we will be having a ministry fair concentrating on these areas of greatest need for volunteers.  

        Blessings to all of you as we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ in a special way this weekend.  Father Lincoln. 

Celebration the 13th anniversary of my ordination on the feast of the visitation - 31 May 2021

 

The feast of the Visitation is an important feast to me since it is the date of my ordination to the priesthood. Here is a famous painting of the Visitation drawn by the famous Italian painter Raphael in the early 16th century and painted by one of his assistants. I saw the original of this painting at the Prado art museum in Madrid.

It is hard to believe that 13 years have passed since I was ordained to the priesthood. I give thanks to the Diocese of Jackson for the opportunity to serve the people of God here as a priest. I give thanks to Bishop Latino for ordaining me - I continue to pray for the repose of his soul. And I give thanks to Bishop Kopacz for the opportunities I have had to serve in the Diocese. I thought I was spend my priesthood as a pastor in parishes in our Diocese - never did I think I would be serving the Diocese in the chancery office. Every day, I say of thanksgiving, thanking the Lord for calling me to the priesthood ad for the opportunity to serve the Church. I am so thankful for the years I have been able to serve in different parishes in our Diocese, including my current assignment at St Jude in Pearl and in parishes in Paulding and Newton where I help out. Thank you to the many people of the Diocese who have sent me best wishes today on my anniversary. I celebrated Mass at the Carmelite monastery with the sisters this morning - it was a blessing for me to begin the day in that way.