Readings: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081124.cfm
The challenge we face is living our vocation be it: married, single, widow, widower, parent, teacher, doctor, lawyer, electrician, priest, deacon, religious sister/brother, etc., Living that vocation here BUT focused on the hereafter. We are here is to shine the eternal light of Christ in our family, in our parish and in our city. Is that your focus?
In our first reading God nourished Elijah for his journey and our Responsorial Psalm reminds us to Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord - we are blessed if we do that.
St. Paul reminded the Ephesians and us, that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, sealed to be Imitators of Christ. One of my grandchildren finished a popsicle and on the stick was this [terrible] Pun.
“Where do bad rainbows go?” “Prism, It’s a light sentence.”
In that awful Pun, but we find a beautiful analogy for the Light of Christ. We are the Prism for the Light of Christ – dispersing His Light by our actions. Jesus proclaimed, “I am the Bread of Life that came down from heaven.” The National Eucharistic Congress recently gathered in Indianapolis to celebrate the Beautiful Gift of the Eucharist, the Body, Blood, Soul & Divinity of Christ our Savior. The Eucharist – “Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given”. At once: Simple and Mundane [bread and wine], Esoteric and Divine [the body and blood of Jesus].
The Real Presence Offered to us in the Eucharist – Bread for the Journey, Eucharistic Bread the foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet. Pope Francis, “Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist helps the faithful be truly present for others.” St. John Paul II said, “The Eucharist … is the most precious possession which the Church can have in her journey through history.” [Ecclesia de Eucharistia]
Jesus call us, invites us, beckons us to experience Him, the Bread of Life, to be nourishment by Him - food for our journey. [Elaine Hagenberg] “All Things New” can help us appreciate the miraculous gift that of the Eucharist. Listen: “Light after darkness,
gain after loss,
Strength after weakness,
crown after cross;
Sweet after bitter, hope after fears,
Home after wandering, praise after tears.
Alpha and Omega,
beginning and the end,
He is making all things new.
Springs of living water shall wash away each tear,
He is making all things new.
Sight after mystery,
sun after rain,
Joy after sorrow,
peace after pain;
Near after distant,
gleam after gloom,
Love after loneliness,
life after tomb.
[Adopted from Frances Havergal’s “Light After Darkness” and Revelation 21: 5-6]
Our Greatest Challenge is to live in this world preparing for the next world, the Eternal Heavenly Banquet. Spend some time thanking Jesus for His Gift of Eucharist.
May God Be Praised.
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