Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

      Jesus seems unreasonable in today’s Gospel.  Those things the men wanted to do weren’t bad.  However, the point is this:  our relationship with Jesus needs to be the most fundamental thing in our life.  To hear Jesus, say “Come, follow me” and to respond to that means that He will always be the core of our lives.  We cannot allow other things to replace that.  Yes, we have all the events of life to deal with: family, relationships, challenges, schedules, etc.  But, once we start following Jesus, we cannot allow all the things of life to distract us.  Focusing on him alone, there is nothing that will conquer us, not even death itself.

     This maybe the greatest challenge to our time.  Frankly, we have too many distractions and opportunities to not follow Jesus.  Look at your calendars:  is there any place for prayer?  Yes, I believe that we pray all day, but is there a dedicated time for Jesus?  Jesus asks that we focus on him so he can show us through the dark times of life and be the beacon of hope in our times of darkness.  He calls us to look to him always so that our decisions will be Christ centered and made with the Gospel values in mind.    To commit ourselves to Jesus is to see that practice of the faith is not about what I get from it and the Church, but what do I bring to Jesus and how can I serve the world around me in His name.

     As school ends and happen, I would encourage each of you to not take a vacation from God and the Church.  I believe the summer is a time to slow down and enjoy the beauty of this part of the country and to enjoy what God gives us.  If we are running around trying to get from place to place, then physically we can get sick and spiritually we will dry up like the earth when we don’t have enough rain.  If Sunday is the only day to shop, mow the lawn, etc., then I would encourage to look at your calendar and ask yourselves: what would Jesus say to me in light of today’s Gospel? 

    One way each of us can help people to know Jesus is to print out today’s Gospel and maybe include this homily and just pass it on  ,,,,, no discussion or yelling or guilt trips.  Give a quiet witness to who you are: someone totally committed to Jesus and walking with him to the Kingdom of God.

At my first mass almost thirty years ago, at the consecration when I genuflected, my first thought was “what I have just done?”    I still stand in awe of the power of God that changes ordinary bread and wine into the living presence of the Lord Jesus.

At every Eucharist, we are in the Upper Room to receive the greatest gift ever.  At every Mass, we are on Calvary as recipients of the grace of salvation that flowed from the side of Christ when the soldier pierced his side and blood and water flowed.   St John Chrysostom tells that this blood and water is the reality of Baptism and Eucharist and it is from there, the Church, you and I, were born.  It from the side of Christ crucified that we see the mission of the Church.

We are to go and bring Jesus to others. In the Gospel: Who feeds the crowd?  Jesus? No!  He says to the disciples “Give them some food yourselves.”  The Jesus we adore; the Jesus we receive in the Blessed Sacrament, cannot be left in this Church.  We are to be living tabernacles.  We are challenged to reverence Him in all people and to bring all people His Love and Grace to the hungry of the world.

Jesus says to each of us here today:  Give them, give the world, some food yourselves.  We cannot keep him locked away or see our reception of Holy Communion as a me and Jesus event.  We receive Him to grow in grace in order to accomplish the mission entrusted to us.  Spending time in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a wonderful way to grow in our love of Jesus, but it also needs to lead us to action.  I encourage you to come here on Monday at 7 or go to St John/St Joseph on Tuesday at 6:30 and be refreshed by our Eucharistic Lord.  Bring someone who doesn’t come to church a lot; invite them to just be with Jesus.

Another opportunity to bring Jesus to others is to serve as an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion here at Mass or by bringing Holy Communion to the homebound or both.  What a better way to do what Jesus asked the disciples to do.  Don’t worry about worthiness; who is?  Even I don’t feel worthy of the place I stand……remember the prayer before we receive: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” .

I have asked two Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to share with us what it means for them to be an Extraordinary Minister of Communion.  If you feel the Lord is calling you to this ministry there are a couple of Extraordinary Ministers in the back of the Church who will take your name or answer any questions.

Is the Lord telling you today:  Give them something to eat.?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     If I stood here and thought I could explain the mystery of the Holy Trinity, then I would be a fool. Theologians for centuries have tried, but, the bottom line is this: God is a mystery that is experienced and lived. In our rational and scientific world, the fact that God cannot be found under a microscope or detected by the most sensitive equipment, people walk away from the faith saying it is all false. For you and me here today, Jesus is all the proof we need. His life and mission reveal all we need to know about God: God is Love. Not a sappy, syrupy love, but a love that sacrifices, focuses on the other, gives life, endures, forgives and never ends. Reread First Corinthians 13 and all you need to know about who God is there. In our baptisms, we are immersed into that Love and rise a new person with a new mission of life. Our mission as the baptized people of God is to spread the Love that is God into our world. Again, Jesus showed us how: to live and love as he did. Our baptism mandates a way of life that is not always easy, but, true love never is. True love takes effort on our part, has responsibilities, and means we live in specific way. Remember the words of a church song that was popular in the 1960’s and 1970’s: they will know we are Christians by our love. This Love must be the core of how we are formed in the faith. We have focused too much on the head and learning the doctrine (which is important), and this has been at the expense of experiencing the God who is Love. We worship because of Love not because of duty. Two married people long to be in each presence; we should long to be in the presence of the ultimate Love. A marriage will not last if the two people are not in each other’s presence, neither can our faith. The same with being a person of faith. On the Altar, in the Word and in the community gathered, pure Love is present in our midst. True Love is not found anywhere else on a Sunday morning but at the altar of the Lord. A life of prayer, acts of charity, celebrating the sacraments are all about Love…..about God. In a day and age, when worship is becoming less and less important, our mission is to remind our brothers and sister about the power of God and what true Love can accomplish. Why? St Paul tells us in Second Corinthians: For we do not preach ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for the sake of Jesus. How? Slip a copy of this homily under their door; I usually post them on my blog on St Mary’s website.  Invite someone to come with you. We all need to live as Christians will the values and morals that Jesus taught us. Pray for one person who has fallen away. Remember though: you and I need to do it more than once! Feel free to add to this list and then share with others what you have done.

Our mission is to bring people to Jesus; let God, let True Love do the rest.