Sunday Inbox Inspiration: August 29, 2021: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 29, Cycle B

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Cycle B

August 29, 2021

 

Dog Food

 

Some years ago, I read a newspaper article about a particular kind of dog food. 

 

I was interested in it at that time because I had a dog. Well, the sales of this dog food were falling behind their competitors. 

 

And so, there was a meeting of the board of directors of the company that was producing the food. The chairman was frustrated: “I don’t understand this. 

 

“We’re working hard to produce this food. Our art department has designed award-winning labels for the cans and our advertisers have been putting on an aggressive media campaign.  

 

“So why are our sales down? Can anyone tell me?”

 

For a few moments, there was dead silence in the boardroom. Finally, a senior, wise old board member piped up with the answer: “The dogs don’t like it!”

 

Scripture

 

That story opens up for us Jesus’ main point in today’s gospel.

 

The senior board member was pointing out that it is what’s inside the can that counts. In a similar way, Jesus is saying that it is what’s inside us that counts.

 

The context is that some people are thinking they are living a good life simply by practicing certain rituals. Jesus chides them because they are paying no attention to what’s inside, to their motives or intentions.

 

Jesus’ point is that obeying the commandments of God and observing the traditions of religion are important, but what lies within our hearts is most important. I see Jesus here leading us to an insight into our moral development.  

 

My thought is this. If we look at our life experience, we can identify three levels of moral development.

 

They are: 1) the self-centered, 2) the authority-centered and 3) the inner-centered. Let’s take a look at these as a way to understand what’s inside of us and why we do what we do.

 

Self-Centered

 

First, there is the self-centered level.  

 

When we act on this level, we do something because of what we are going to get out of it as a result. For example, when I was a little boy, I would help to clean off the dinner table because I knew that my parents would give me a bowl of ice cream if I did that.  

 

This self-centered level is usually the beginning of our moral development,  and sometimes we all live on this level even as adults. We do something because of what we will get out of it as a result.

 

Authority-Centered

 

Then the second level of moral living is the authority-centered.  

 

Here we have risen a bit because we do things in response to some authority outside of ourselves. For example, the Church tells us priests to pray certain prayers every day – called the Liturgy of the Hours – and sometimes I might do that because the Church tells me to, even though I am just breezing through the prayers, and my heart isn’t really in it. 

 

Sometimes we all live on this authority-centered level, and the authority may be our Church, our boss at work or others. This is okay, but Jesus calls us to a higher level of moral development.

 

Inner-Centered

 

This third level is the inner-centered.  

 

Here we own within ourselves the values that are underneath the laws, commandments, or directives we are given, and then we live out of these values.  For example, we adults may volunteer in some organization or program because we genuinely want to do something for the overall good of everyone.  

 

Here we are living on an inner-centered level, and here the basis of our behavior is the values that we have come to own within ourselves. This level of moral living transforms us as persons and brings out the best in us.  

 

In fact, even though we call it inner-centered, this way of living is really other-centered because it involves a giving of ourselves to something or someone beyond ourselves. I suggest that Jesus calls us to this level of moral living by reminding us that it is what’s inside us, within our hearts that counts most.

 

 

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: August 18, 2021: Eucharist 1-8

  Eucharist - 1 

 

Dear Friends, 

At first, it may sound strange, but in reflecting on the Eucharist, the first thing I want to say is that we human beings have both body and soul.

We are incarnate spirits, souls that have a body.

Because of this, our senses are part of our identity: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste.

Most of what we learn comes to us through our senses.

Therefore, we need a God who relates through our senses.

And God does just that; God respects us as we have been created and comes to us in this way.

“Thus, the central tenet within Christianity, the very thing that defines it, is the belief that, in Christ, God took on concrete flesh and became tangible, physical, someone who can touch and be touched.”

Saint John, in his gospel, the last of the gospels to be written, does not mention Mary or Joseph or Bethlehem or anything about the birth of Jesus. 

John simply says: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

That one sentence says it all.

It states clearly, simply, and unequivocally that God became one of us, took on our humanity, and relates to us in a human way.

Also, this physical presence of God was not limited to Jesus’ thirty-three years on the earth.

Rather, Jesus made sure that this would continue and that is why he gave us the Eucharist.

This is God’s physical presence, the real presence of God in our world and to us, under the forms of bread and wine.

God knew that we humans need this sensory experience of God’s presence and that we need this regularly, weekly or even daily.

This is why God’s Son, the Word of God made flesh, has left us this sacrament.

It is why being able to receive Communion is so very important to us. 

I will continue with some more reflections on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox of August 25.      

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation above from Our One Great Act of Fidelity by Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I. 

 Eucharist - 2 

 

Dear Friends, 

In our Catholic tradition, the Eucharist is fellowship, the gathering and sharing of our faith community.

But it is also more than fellowship.

The Eucharist is a remembrance or commemoration of the Last Supper and of the dying and rising of Jesus.

But it is also more than remembrance and commemoration.

In our Catholic tradition, the Eucharist is Jesus, present, here and now. 

We have used the words “real presence” and “transubstantiation” to express what we believe here.

“If we believe in the real presence, what then do we actually think takes place in the Eucharist? We hold that the full reality of Jesus Christ enters our body. He is our food. He actually becomes part of us and we a part of him. We are thereby reenacting the central story of our redemption: that the eternal Word would take human flesh and dwell among us. The One who sent the Word now looks upon us and sees within us the real presence of Jesus. Thereby we are saved. We, in turn, look upon each other, even the least, and see the face of Christ.”

So, our walking or processing forward to receive the Eucharist is a physical statement that Jesus is our Lord and our God.

Our saying “Amen” to the words “The Body of Christ” is a verbal statement that we believe that Jesus, the Christ is present and comes to us in this sacrament.  

Our standing expresses our dignity as God’s sons and daughters, worthy of the Eucharist because Jesus’ words “Take this, all of you, and eat of it” make us worthy.  

The result of all of this is communion.

The gift of Holy Communion gives us communion with Jesus, the Christ and Son of God, and that means communion with God.

I will continue with some more reflections on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox of September 1.      

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotations above from The Word Embodied by John Kavanaugh, S.J. 

 Eucharist - 3 

 

Dear Friends, 

The term the body of Christ is used in three ways in Scripture and theology.

First, it refers to the actual physical body of the Christ.

Saint John’s Gospel states this very tersely and clearly: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

The Word is the Son of God.

So, the Son of God took on a physical body in the birth of Jesus, and in Jesus we find the Christ, the anointed one of God who brings God to us and us to God.

This is the body of Christ. 

Then, the term the body of Christ also refers to the bread, the Eucharist.

“When the hour came, he took his place at table with the apostles…Then he took the bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.’” (Luke 22:14, 19)  

Jesus does not say that this is a symbol of his body, but that this is his body.

He is really present here in this consecrated bread.

This is the real presence of Christ and thus of God.   

Finally, the term the body of Christ refers to us, the body of believers, the persons and the community of faith.

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ…Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.” (I Corinthians 12: 12, 27)  

Once again, the Scripture does not say that we as the faith community are similar to Jesus or a representation of him.

Rather, we are the body of Christ.

So, the incarnation of God in our world continues.

There is the very personal incarnation in Jesus, and his body is the body of Christ.

That incarnation continues in the Eucharist, and this is also the body of the Christ.

And to top it off, even we who are joined with Christ through faith and sacrament are the body of Christ, living on this earth today.

Last week, I reflected on our response in word and posture to the sacramental body of Christ.

Next week, in the Inbox of September 8, I turn to our response to the living body of Christ, to the community of faith and to each person in the community.

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 Eucharist - 4 

 

Dear Friends, 

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke recall the Last Supper with Jesus giving the bread and wine to his apostles and saying: “This is my body” and “This is my blood.” (Matthew 26:26-27. Mark 14:22-24. Luke 22:19-20.)

The gospel of John also recalls the Last Supper, but not in the above way.

John tells about Jesus taking a towel, a basin, and a pitcher of water and washing the feet of the apostles. 

He then tells of Jesus saying: “Do you realize what I have done for you? As I have done for you, you also should do.” (John 13:5,12, 15)  

Why would John not tell of Jesus giving us himself, his body and blood, under the forms of bread and wine?

To answer this, we have to remember that John’s was the last of the gospels to be written.

It was probably not written until the year 90CE or even a bit later.

By that time, the acceptance and practice of the Eucharist was well in place.

What may not have been sufficiently in place was a sense of oneness with one another as fellow Christians and a sense of service to all people.

So, John records something that happened at the Last Supper that the other evangelists do not record.

He is reminding his readers of what the Eucharist is intended to do.

It is not only a private devotion or a way to develop my own individual relationship with Jesus and with God.

Rather, it is also intended to form us as persons who are other-centered, persons of service.

“The Eucharist is both an invitation that invites us and a grace that empowers us to service. And what it invites us to do is to replace distrust with hospitality, pride with humility, and self-interest with self-effacement so as to reverse the world’s order of things.”         

I will continue these reflections on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox of September 15.

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation above from Our One Great Act of Fidelity by Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I.

 Eucharist - 5 

 

Dear Friends, 

In our Catholic tradition, we often speak of the sacrifice of the Mass.

What does it mean for the Mass – and that means the Eucharist – to be a sacrifice?

I can recall learning many years ago that the Mass is a sacramental sacrifice.

The idea is that Jesus’ giving fully of himself on the cross out of love for us is the one complete, final, and eternal sacrifice.

It and its effects, our reconciliation with God, last forever.

Nevertheless, at the Last Supper, Jesus gave us himself, his body and blood, under the forms of bread and wine.  

He was clear that this was not to be a one-time thing.

He told us: “Do this in memory of me.” (Luke 22:19; I Corinthians 11:24)

This remembering is a making present once again the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross – Jesus’ sacrifice of his body and blood.

We now remember this and make this present again under the forms of bread and wine.

This is why the Mass, not a new sacrifice, is a sacramental sacrifice.

Jesus wants us to do this because this is our way of allowing the life and love of God to be absorbed more and more fully into our entire being.

Maybe we can think of it this way: 

“To make a sacrifice is to surrender something out of love, something that is ours and is painful to give away, and to let the pain of that surrender stretch and change our hearts in such a way that we are now more open to communion with God and others.”

Jesus’ sacrifice of himself was a giving of something very valuable, his human life, out of love for us.

He tells us to make this sacrifice present again and again under the forms of bread and wine.

His intention is that through this, our hearts will be more and more open to communion with God and others. 

I will continue these reflections on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox of September 22.

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation above from Our One Great Act of Fidelity by Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I.

 Eucharist - 6 

 

Dear Friends, 

In the Mass, after the presentation of the bread and wine and the preparation of the altar, the priest addresses those present with these words:

“Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father.”

The focus here is on the Eucharist as a sacrifice.

The question is: why the words “my sacrifice and yours”?

The first thing to recall is that the Eucharist is not a new sacrifice. 

It is a re-presenting of the one sacrifice of Jesus under the forms of bread and wine.

In the invitational prayer above, the ordained priest is acting in two distinct roles: 

in persona Christi, in the person of Christ who is really the one offering the sacrifice;

and in persona ecclesiae, in the person of or on behalf of the Church.

This is the reason for the words “my sacrifice.”

At the same time, the invitation states “my sacrifice and yours.”

This is because all who are present have a priestly role through baptism and are to be part of the offering of this one sacrifice of Christ.

Finally, the words addressed by the priest also invite us to bring here all the sacrifices we make in our daily lives, especially in care and service of one another. 

So, we may regularly give our time to care for aging parents or refrain from buying some new clothes for ourselves so that we can afford some sports equipment for our children.

We can bring all of these personal sacrifices with us to Mass and join them to the sacramental sacrifice of the Eucharist.

“…we ourselves are to become spiritual sacrifices in the sense that we offer ourselves in service to others. Again, what we find here is ample evidence that what we do at the liturgy should be reflected in the way we live our lives. What Christ did once for all was to offer himself as a saving sacrifice for our salvation. What remains to be seen is how well we in fact sacrifice ourselves for the sake of others.”

I will continue these reflections on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox of September 29.

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation above from Responses to 101 Questions on the Mass by Father Kevin W. Irwin.

 Eucharist - 7 

 

Dear Friends, 

Why do we have to come to Mass?

Why is our celebration and reception of the Eucharist so important every Sunday?

We can simply say that Sunday is the Lord’s day and we are keeping the third commandment in coming to Mass on Sunday.

For us Catholics and for all Christians, there is also the truth that each Sunday is like a little Easter, celebrating that very special first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead after dying on the cross.

We can also say we need certain regular patterns in our relationships.

For example, we need these to stay together as a family.

Regular dinners together are important for a family.

They can be very simple, but it is the being and eating together that are important.

We need these regular times together for family unity, for a sense of belonging, and even for our identity as individuals. 

The same thing is true spiritually, with the Eucharist. 

We need the Eucharist to stay in communion with God, with Christ. 

We need this sacrament to be nourished and strengthened for living our everyday lives in communion with God.

One author puts it this way: 

“The mystery of our faith, the heart of the matter, is the paschal mystery – Christ’s death and resurrection and our dying to sin and rising to new life through him. Because it is the key to all that we believe and because through the Mass we just don’t think about it, but we truly experience it and participate in it, it makes sense that the church would want to insist on how important it is by making it obligatory. Put a different way: Because it is so important, why wouldn’t we want to go at least every Sunday.”    

I will conclude these thoughts on the Eucharist next week, in the Inbox of October 5.

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation above from Responses to 101 Questions on the Mass by Father Kevin W. Irwin.

 Eucharist - 8 

 

Dear Friends, 

Our English word Eucharist comes directly from the Greek word which means thanksgiving. 

So, the heart of Eucharist or the Mass is giving thanks to God for all that God has done for us and our salvation, especially through Jesus Christ.

It follows that the Eucharistic Prayer is the heart of the Mass.

We begin this prayer with a dialogue between the priest and the people which concludes with the priest saying, “Let us give thanks to the Lord our God” and all responding, “It is right and just.”

That brief interchange gets to the very core of the entire Eucharistic Prayer.

Here we recall God’s saving actions in Jesu Christ, especially his death and resurrection.

We remember this especially in the words of consecration of the bread and wine which re-present what Jesus did at the Last Supper.

He gave us this sacrament of his body and blood as a way to remember and become one with his dying and rising.

In all of this, we are giving thanks to God.

“Thank you is the response we make to someone who has either given something to us or has done something for us. God did not give us something, as much as he gave us someone: his very own Son.”   

The Eucharist leads us not just to be thankful during the celebration of the Mass, but to adopt a posture of thankfulness toward life in general.

Maybe at each Mass we can focus on being thankful to God for life, for loved ones, and for life situation.  

For life: just for this day of life and for the years we have had so far.

For loved ones: family, friends, persons who have made a difference in our lives.

For life situation: having a home, food, and so many things we may take for granted.

Being grateful to God is an expression of the core truth or fact of our existence – that we have our very being and life from God.

Gratitude, inspired by the Eucharist, is the core of our spiritual condition.

 

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation above from Understanding the Revised Mass Texts by Father Paul Turner.

 

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: August 21, 2021: Wednesday of 20th Week in Ordinary Time, August 18, Cycle B

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations 

 

(This weekend, I did not preach. Therefore, today I am posting one of my recent weekday homilies.)

 

Wednesday of 20^th Week in Ordinary Time

August 18, 2021

Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center 11am

 

Gospel: Matthew 19:23-30

 

Today’s gospel is a good lesson about comparing ourselves to others.

The workers in this vineyard who began working at dawn would have been okay if they had not known how much pay those who worked only part of the day received.

They learned this and compared themselves to those guys. 

The comparison is what led them to be resentful and envious.

A good lesson from this is to find our peace in ourselves, in who God made us as persons, and in what gifts God has given us.

We don’t need to compare ourselves to anyone.

We just need to become fully who God made us to be and to use fully what gifts God has given us.

If we do that, we will find peace and fulfillment.

 

Father James Martin in one of his writings says that when we compare ourselves to others, we tend to minimize our gifts and maximize our problems.

We minimize our gifts and maximize our problems. 

So, when we compare ourselves with others, we tend to see them as better or as better off or as having more.

We maximize their gifts and minimize our own.

And when we compare ourselves with others, we tend to see them as not having as many problems or challenges in life as we do.

We minimize their problems and maximize our own.

 

So again, when we compare, we minimize our own gifts and maximize our own problems.

That is why it makes good spiritual sense not to compare.

As James Martin says, “Compare and despair.”

“Compare and despair.”

Just takes ourselves and our gifts as we are, do our best, respond to God as we are, and peace and fulfillment will follow. 

 

 

Father Michael Schleupner

 

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: August 15, 2021: The Assumption of Mary into Heaven, August 15, Cycle B

Sunday Inbox Inspirations

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven 

Cycle B

August 15, 2021

 

A Guide Sees God  

 

There is a story about a man and his young son who went on a camping trip in the mountains of New Mexico.

 

They hired an experienced old guide, a Native American. He led them into areas that they probably would never have found on their own.

 

This old guide was always pointing out beautiful little sights that most hikers would have missed. The young son was fascinated by the guide’s ability to see so much in the surroundings. 

 

One day he said to this Native American, “I’ll bet that you can see God out there.” The old guide smiled and replied, “Son, as life goes on it’s getting hard for me to see anything but God out there.”

 

Mary Sees God in the Child 

 

That wise, old guide helps us to appreciate why we in our tradition hold Mary in such a place of honor. 

 

Mary sees God everywhere in her life. To begin with, she sees God at work in bringing this special child into the world.

 

Mary does not really understand this, but she still sees the power and mystery of God at work. She is open to God’s presence.

 

Mary Sees God in the Poor 

 

Then, in today’s gospel, we hear the story of Mary visiting her older cousin Elizabeth. 

 

In this visit, Mary offers the prayer or canticle that we just heard. Experts in Scripture call this prayer of Mary the great reversal.

 

The idea is that some people, in the religion of Mary’s day, saw affluence, success, or power as signs of God’s favor and presence. In fact, we still this in some Christian preachers today – that faith will lead to physical and material comfort.

 

But here, in this prayer, Mary sees the reverse – that God has reversed things. Just think of her words.

 

She sees God as lifting up the lowly, filling the hungry, and favoring the weak. It is as if Mary has already seen the truth of the words that her Son would eventually speak: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”

 

So, in those who are materially poor, and in those who may not be materially poor – maybe like a lot of us – not materially poor but are poor in spirit – Mary sees God here. It is when we are poor in spirit that God is truly present.

 

It is when we know that we need and depend on God, when we know that we are not ultimately in control, when we know that we one with all other persons and not above them, and when we know that we one with all of creation and not just its master – it is then that God is present with us. Mary already sees this and sees God in all that is.

 

Conclusion

 

So, like the old guide in the mountains, Mary sees God in unlikely places and persons.

 

This is what makes her such a holy person. In fact, our tradition says that this is what makes her a singular human being, the most God-like of all of us.

 

This is why our tradition has believed that Mary came to the fullness of life with God right at the final moment of her life on earth. She was assumed, taken up by God into heaven.  

 

This is what today’s title of the Assumption of Mary means. And I think this is why our prayer the Hail Mary is so beautiful and appropriate.

 

We pray: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.” Maybe especially on this day in honor of the Assumption of Mary, we pray that our death may in some way be like hers.

 

Though we are imperfect, we ask her to be with us and pray that at our dying, we too will be taken up to heaven, to resurrected life with God. “Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”     

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: August 11, 2021: Hatred versus Love?

 

INBOX INSPIRATIONS

August 11, 2021

 

 Hatred versus Love?  

 

Dear Friends, 

At Jesus’ baptism and again at his Transfiguration, the voice of God from the heavens declares: “This is my beloved Son.”

I believe that God speaks these words to us at baptism: “You are my beloved daughter.” “You are my beloved son.”

In fact, I believe that God speaks these words to all human beings at the time of our conception and birth.

All persons are beloved to God. 

We need to remember this.

Being beloved by God and being assured of God’s love can transform us.

It can give us a foundation for self-worth that is invaluable for our identity as persons. 

If we are assured of our own worthiness and value in God’s eyes, we will be much more inclined to look for worth and value in others.

If we see God as primarily and essentially loving, we will much more inclined to be empathetic and compassionate toward others.

We will be far less inclined to be judgmental, condemning, and hateful. 

It seems to me that this is a fundamental, basic, core tenet to our faith – that we are loved by God.

It is difficult to be a Christian or a Catholic Christian without holding this as central to our faith. 

 One of the most highly respected spiritual authors of the twentieth century puts it this way.

“The beginning of the fight against hatred, the basic Christian answer to hatred, is not the commandment to love, but what must necessarily come before in order to make the commandment bearable and comprehensible.

It is a prior commandment, to believe.

The root of Christian love is not the will to love, but the faith that one is loved. 

The faith that one is loved by God… that one is loved by God although unworthy – or, rather, irrespective of one’s worth.”

     

Father Michael Schleupner 

 

Quotation above from New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. 

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: August 8, 2021: 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 8, Cycle B

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations

19^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 

Cycle B

August 8, 2021

 

A Mother’s Presence

 

Recently I read an article about a woman who was a wife and mother; she died when her daughter was only twelve years-old.

 

This mother had suffered for almost four years. But, despite surgeries and chemo, she was the best mom and friend a child could have.

 

Every day ended with mother and daughter spending time together. Every night mom tucked her daughter in with a kiss and the expression: “I love you to the moon and back.”

 

Though not unexpected, her mom’s death was devastating to this twelve-year-old. The morning after her mother’s funeral, she woke up to find a box on the desk in her room.

 

Her dad had placed it there after she had fallen asleep. She opened the box to find a collection of envelopes, each addressed in the same way: “To my beautiful daughter.”

 

There were envelopes to be opened at specific times, each with handwritten words: “on your 16^thbirthday,” “on your graduation from high school,” “on the day you leave for college,” “on your graduation from college,” “on the day of your first full-time job,” “on your 21^st birthday,” “on your 30^th birthday,” and so on.

 

There were also cards to be opened: “when things go bad,” “after a painful breakup,” “when you feel alone.” And then came the last three envelopes in the box: “on your engagement,” “on the day of your marriage,” “on the birth of your first child.”

 

Over the ensuing years, this daughter would open the envelopes and read what her mother had written. Her mom was with her, offering encouragement, comfort, and wisdom at each milestone of her life, and always ending with the expression: “I love you to the moon and back.”

 

She opened the last envelope the day her own daughter was born. In it was a photo: a picture of her mother holding her when she was six months old. 

 

The card read: “Congratulations on becoming a mother. What a lucky little girl my grandchild is to have you for her mom.

 

“You’ll be a terrific parent. May your child bring you as much joy as you brought to your dad and me. Love her to the moon and back.”      

 

Jesus’ Presence  

 

Well, today’s gospel, for the third week in a row, is from the sixth chapter of John’s Gospel.

 

The entire chapter is about Jesus giving us the bread of life. Last week, the message was that this imperishable food satisfies our highest human needs and leads us to eternal life.

 

Today, I am seeing another message. Jesus gives us his very self as the “bread of life” for our sustenance.

 

This “bread of life” is a twofold reality: 1) Word and 2) Sacrament. It is Jesus’ Word to encourage, comfort, sometimes challenge, and always guide us. 

 

And this “bread of life” is also Sacrament. It is Jesus himself, his body and blood, under the forms of bread and wine.

 

Conclusion

 

So, Jesus is always here for us and is always giving himself to us as Word and Sacrament. 

 

He is with us each week and each step of our life. What that mother did for her daughter expresses in a very human way what Jesus is doing for us here and now as the “bread of life.”

 

She expresses the kind of person that the “bread of life” shapes us to become and what it moves us to do for one another. Jesus says: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

 

Jesus is saying what that mother was saying to her daughter every step of the way: “I am here for you always. I love you to the moon and back. “

 

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner