Sunday Inbox Inspiration: November 15, 2020: 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations 

November 15, 2020

33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A


 

The Giftedness of Children

 

Some years ago, I read a story about a young man named Brian.

 

Brian always loved to tinker with mechanical devices. As a 6-year old, he took apart a remote-control toy car.

 

At age 9, Brian helped his dad fix the lawn mower. In high school, he spent hours rebuilding computer equipment.

 

And as a young adult, Brian became a sound technician for a theatre company. His parents steadily encouraged him from a very young age.

 

But, Brian, in his school years, was never labeled as “gifted.” The definition of the “gifted child” was traditionally limited to the top 5 to 10% of children who achieved high test scores in school.

 

No question, these children are gifted, but, there may be other ways for children to be gifted. Today, educators and psychologists tell us that nearly all children have special gifts.

 

Children may display their giftedness through words, numbers, music, sports, technical skill, social interaction, intuitive insight, creativity, and on it goes. Many professionals now say that all children have gifts, and they just vary from one child to another.

 

Our Gifts and the Gospel 

 

I came across these insights in an article entitled Fifty Ways to Bring Out Your Child’s Best.  

 

This was written by Dr. Thomas Armstrong, the Director of the American Institute of Learning and Human Development. The article has led me to see today’s gospel parable from a slightly different perspective.

 

Instead of reflecting on the use of our own gifts, I am thinking about how we can encourage others, especially children, in using their gifts. The article gives 50 ways to bring out the best in children; this morning, I want to share just 5 of these with you. 

 

Five Ways to Bring Out a Child’s Gifts

 

First, look for what really interests children. Be alert to what captures their attention in a positive way.

 

These interests may say a lot about where their gifts are. By being alert to this, we are in effect letting children discover their own giftedness.  

 

In today’s gospel parable, the number of talents – 5, 2, or 1 – does not just mean having more or less talent than others. These numbers also represent different kinds of gifts, and our task is to help children identify their own unique gifts.

 

Second, encourage children, but do not push or pressure them too much. If we do that, they may become too stressed and not develop their gifts well.

 

The master in today’s parable does not pressure. He simply gives his servants the gifts and the opportunities to use them.

 

Third, allow children to make some mistakes. If they have to do everything perfectly, they may never take the risks necessary to discover and develop their gifts.

 

It’s important to assist a child in realizing a mistake and learning from it. But first, we need to allow some appropriate freedom to make mistakes.

 

And the fourth rule is connected with this: don’t criticize children in a way that puts them down. Instead, give them encouragement and constructive criticism.

 

These last two rules – 1) allowing children to make some mistakes and 2) not putting them down – are borne out in the third servant in the gospel parable. He feels afraid and intimidated, and the result is that he does not develop his gifts.

 

And the fifth rule: accept children as they are. Maybe your son is musically inclined and does not have a lot of athletic ability.

 

Or maybe your daughter is more into computers than dance. The important thing is to take children as they are, because that will be the best environment for using their gifts and for becoming the persons God intended them to be.      

 

Fr. Michael Schleupner 

 

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: November 8, 2020: Friday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time

 (Instead of a regular homily, the pastor spoke at all Masses this weekend about stewardship or offertory renewal. Therefore, today I am posting a homily which I gave at Mass this past Friday.)   

 
Friday of the 31st Week in Ordinary Time
November 6, 2020      11:00 a.m.
Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center 
Readings:   
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 16:1-8
 

This past Sunday, I had a Zoom visit with my brother and sister-in-law who live in Roanoke, Virginia.
As you know, with Zoom and Facetime and other technologies like them, we can be miles away from each other and still see one another as we talk.
What a blessing this has been for families and friends and businesses and everyone during this pandemic!
Then there is the capacity of our computers and cell phones and GPS systems – some years ago, we would never have imagined such conveniences.
But, imagination and initiative have led to so many things that have improved or made our lives more comfortable. 
 
It’s that kind of imagination and initiative that Jesus praises in today’s gospel parable.
And, let’s be clear, that’s the only thing he is praising here.
Jesus is not praising the dishonesty of the steward in the story.
That guy was dishonest in managing his boss’ business, and Jesus is not condoning that. 
Rather, Jesus’ one point is to call us to have the imagination and initiative that this guy had, but to have it when it comes to the things of God.
So, he wants us to be imaginative and take the initiative when it comes to our personal relationship with God.
He wants us to look for ways to carve out time for prayer and even to look for new forms of prayer that will bring us closer to God. 
Jesus also wants us to be imaginative and take the initiative when it comes to our relationships with each other.  
He wants us to look for the right way to show empathy for that family member who is hurting and even to figure out ways for the last and the least and the lost in our society to have enough.
 
So, be as imaginative and take as much initiative in the things of God as in the things of the world – that’s the message today.    
 
Father Michael Schleupner 

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: November 1, 2020: Friday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations 

November 1, 2020

 

(Parish deacons preached at the Sunday Masses. Therefore, today I am sharing a homily which I gave at Mass this past Friday.)   

 

Friday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time

October 30, 2020       11 a.m.

Bon Secours Retreat and Conference Center, Marriottsville

Readings:   Philippians 1:1-11

Luke 14:1-6

 

This morning I want to point out two details in the gospel.

And I think each detail has some lesson for us.

 

First, today we see the fourth time in Luke’s gospel where Jesus heals someone on a Sabbath day.

There are two incidents of this in John’s gospel and one in Mark’s – a total of seven such incidents where Jesus heals on the Sabbath.

What is the significance?

Why the Sabbath and why not a Monday or Friday or whenever?

The idea seems to be that the physical healing points to spiritual healing.

Jesus physically heals on the Sabbath to highlight the spiritual healing that the Sabbath is all about, the spiritual wholeness that he as God brings to human life.

Jesus now offers us that spiritual healing through the Eucharist and the other sacraments, through the inspired Word of God, and also through the wisdom and compassion of one another.  

It is helpful for us to recall how Jesus offers us spiritual healing and wholeness today. 

 

Then, Jesus does this healing while he is having dinner with a leading Pharisee.

Throughout Luke’s gospel, Jesus shares meals with those labeled as sinners – like tax collectors.

And he shares meals with those not labeled as sinners but who still are sinners – like the religious leaders who were sinners because of their self-righteousness.

Jesus consistently draws others to God by being with them, by communion with them.

He does not try to do this by excluding or shunning others or keeping distant from them.

I think this is a lesson that we as a Church and we as individual persons of faith need to bear in mind. 

We draw others to God by including and not by excluding. 

 

So, two details in today’s passage and each of them, I believe, contains an important lesson for us. 

 

Father Michael Schleupner

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: October 25, 2020: 30th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations 

October 25, 2020

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A


 

Jazz Vespers 

 

Back in April, New York City was in some very dark days of this pandemic.

 

In the midst of that, a man named Roy Nathanson who lives in Brooklyn took some initiative. Roy Nathanson is an accomplished jazz musician and one April afternoon, he came out on his porch with his alto-saxophone and began to play Amazing Grace.

 

Roy Nathanson appeared on his porch at 5 p.m. the next day and kept doing that day after day. Soon, other musicians joined him.

 

Bass, drums, guitar, melodica, and trumpet all became part of the socially distant ensemble. In the weeks that followed, banjos, flutes, horns, and other instruments indigenous to Brooklyn’s many cultures also appeared.

 

David Gibson, the Director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Fordham University, lives in that Brooklyn neighborhood. He witnessed all of this and began calling it “Jazz Vespers.”

 

Vespers, as you probably know, is the traditional title of our Catholic Evening Prayer, which is usually prayed around 5 PM. Well, David Gibson writes about this “Jazz Vespers” in Commonweal magazine.

 

He says: “They played through rain and wind. Street life hummed along with the instruments. 

 

“In the first weeks, ambulance sirens were a mournful counterpoint to almost every performance. The Q train rumbled along the tracks behind Roy Nathanson’s house. 

 

“Curious passersby stopped to listen. Some were strangers, some neighbors.

 

“There were skateboarders and cyclists, dog walkers and strollers. All the colors and creeds of the neighborhood would stop and listen.

 

“Some wept, all applauded…As the weather improved, the onlookers increased…

 

“In May, when the dogwood in front of Roy’s house began to bloom, lockdown life began to ease. Spirits lifted: the tunes grew more up-tempo, more diverse.

 

“But it was never a jam session. All was intentional, planned.

 

“Neighbors who knew each other by sight now knew each other by name; acquaintances became friends; friends introduced us to strangers. We began to collect money to help those without food and for local social-service groups.”

 

David Gibson says that those 5 p.m. concerts continued for eighty-two days and ended with a final two-hour concert in late June. But, the 5 p.m. concerts continue to bear fruit.

 

He writes: “The musicians created a website to raise money for community agencies helping the neighborhood recover from the pandemic. Faith and hope are wonderful, but charity is the best.”

 

A Response of Love 

 

When I read about this “Jazz Vespers,” I was immediately moved by it.

 

I see it as a genuine point of light in the midst of this pandemic. I see it as an expression of love, an expression of the kind of love that Jesus talks about in today’s gospel.

 

Jesus urges us to put our talents, our gifts, our resources at the service of God and of God’s sons and daughters. To love with “all our heart and all our soul and all our mind” enables us to move beyond our fears and differences.

 

It enables us to comfort, support, seek out, and welcome back. “Jazz Vespers” reminds us that maybe we underestimate what we can accomplish when we act out of love.

 

It reminds us of what we can accomplish through a love that is centered on the needs of the other person, a love that has no ulterior motive except the well-being of the other. It reminds us of what we can accomplish through a love that is of God, who is, as the Scripture reveals, unconditional love.   

 

 

Father Michael Schleupner

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: October 18, 2020: 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations 

October 18, 2020

29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A


 

Image 

 

The key word to understanding today’s gospel is the word “image.”

 

Hold onto that for now – I will come back to it in a minute. There is something else I want to point out first.  

 

The Either-Or Question 

 

Matthew’s gospel tells us that there are some people who are out to get Jesus. 

 

They oppose him because he is attracting a following. He is becoming fairly popular, and that is threatening to some of the religious leaders.

 

So, they devise a question that, they figure, will be an ironclad trap for Jesus. They ask him: is it lawful to pay the tax to the emperor or not?

 

If Jesus says yes, it is okay to pay the tax, he will be discredited with his fellow Jews. His popularity will dip because they resent this tax that is imposed by the foreign power occupying their country.

 

On the other hand, if Jesus says no, it’s not okay to pay the tax, he will get in trouble with the Roman rulers. Maybe he will be put in jail because they won’t tolerate opposition to their authority.

 

So, these religious leaders pose this either-or question to Jesus. They figure that they’ve really got him.

 

The Both-And Answer 

 

And then comes the surprise.

 

Jesus asks his opponents if someone has one of the coins used to pay the tax. Quickly, one of them pulls a coin out of his pocket and hands it to Jesus.

 

Jesus then asks: “Whose image is this on the coin?” – and here we are, back to the word “image” that I mentioned at the beginning. The opponents say: “Caesar’s.”

 

So, based on this image, Jesus simply says: “Then give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.” So, a both-and, not an either-or response.

 

And, there’s a big hook in Jesus’ response. The coins belong to Caesar because they have his image on it. 

 

The question is: what belongs to God? And the answer is: anything that has God’s image on it. 

 

And that means: all human beings. This is exactly what the Book of Genesis says: that we are made in the “image and likeness of God.”

 

So, what Jesus is saying is that all human beings, all human life is God’s because it is made in the “image” of God. This means that we owe to God respect and care for human life in whomever and wherever it is found.   

 

Image: Human Life/Humanity

 

This is why a central piece of our Catholic moral teaching is the respect for human life.

 

And this includes the life of all human beings. It goes from conception to natural death and includes everything or everyone in between.

 

Pope Francis has spoken on this, and I want to leave us with what he wrote on two separate occasions. In 2018, he said this.

 

“Our defense of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. 

 

Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”

 

In that 2018 statement, Pope Francis goes on to cite some other human life issues, like the care of migrants and health care for all. And then, in June of this past summer, Pope Francis wrote to us, the American people and adds this.

 

“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of human life.”

 

Conclusion

 

So, the word “image” – all human beings are made in the image of God. 

 

And because of that, all human beings, human life wherever it is found, belongs to God, and we need to respect and care for it. That is the clear and challenging extent of our ethic of life.   

 

 

Father Michael Schleupner

Inbox Inspiration: September 14, 2020: Pope Francis

 Pope Francis - 1    

Dear Friends,
On October 4, our Catholic calendar celebrates the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi. This has led me to some reflections on the first of our 266 Popes to choose the name Francis.
Since his election to the papacy in March 2013, Pope Francis has been an inspiration for me. 
Maybe the first and most basic message of Francis is his focus on Christ.
He calls us often to a “personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
If this is not present, then faith or religious practice can become just a set of rules or an institutional structure or a list of beliefs.
As Francis says, that can be lifeless and can become more of an “ideology” than faith. 
How can we have this “personal encounter?”
Remembering that God in Jesus Christ has taken the first step in reaching out to us, what can we, on our part, do to have this encounter?
I can think of two things.
First, we need to become gospel-centered in our prayer and spiritual life.
We listen to God speaking to us, to me personally.
We read and listen with the mindset: what is God saying to me here?
And second, we respond and speak to God.
We speak to God from our hearts, in addition to our minds.
We silently voice our peace or anxiety, our love or fear, our gratitude or pain. 
This allows a personal encounter to happen.
And, if we make this the center of our faith, we will be alive in God.
We are “…liberated from our narrowness and self-absorption.
“We become fully human when we become more than human, when we let God bring us beyond ourselves in order to attain the fullest truth of our being.”
My reading of Pope Francis tells me that it all starts here – in this “personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
This is the first way that the Holy Father inspires me – more to come next week!
 
Father Michael Schleupner
 
(Quotations from: Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, 2013; homily at Santa Marta, February 21, 2014)

*********

Pope Francis - 2
 

Dear Friends,
Pope Francis emphasizes faith as a “personal encounter with Jesus Christ.”
He is also very clear that this encounter is made possible through the faith community, the Church.
Without the Church, we could become quite narrow and even self-focused.
The Church opens us to a fuller image of God and fuller understanding of our ourselves and our relationship with God. 
 “The originality [of the Christian faith] lies precisely in the fact that the faith makes us participate, in Jesus, in the relationship that He has with God who is Abba, and in this light, the relationship that he has with all other[s], including enemies, in the sign of love…The singularity of Jesus is for communication, not for exclusion.”      
Pope Francis approaches all human beings with this openness that reaches out and includes.
“The Church is called to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open.”
This is the way, in the twentieth-first century, of sharing God’s love with others and of drawing them to a community of faith.
To do this, bishops and we priests are wise to follow Francis’ description of our role as shepherd.
“…he will sometimes go before his people, pointing the way and keeping their hope vibrant. At other times, he will simply be in their midst with his unassuming and merciful presence. At yet other times, he will have to walk after them, helping those who lag behind and – above all – allowing the flock to strike out on new paths.”   
Finally, in all of this, the Eucharist is central.
Again, as Francis says: “In the Eucharist, the one true God receives the greatest worship the world can give him, for it is Christ himself who is offered. When we receive him in Holy Communion, we renew our covenant with him and allow him to carry out ever more fully his work of transforming our lives.”  
I repeat what I said at the end of last week’s column: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.  More next week!
 
Father Michael Schleupner
 
(Quotations above from: A letter to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, 2013; Evangelii Gaudium, The Joy of the Gospel, 2013; Gaudete et Exsultate, Rejoice and be Glad, 2018)

*********

Pope Francis - 3
 

Dear Friends,
We believe that God is the creator of all that is.
We believe that all life ultimately comes from God and that human life is especially sacred.
This is why our Christian and Catholic morality calls us to respect human life from conception through natural death.
At various times, Pope Francis has highlighted our calling to respect the life of all human beings and given us an important, broad perspective on this.
Francis says:
“Our defense of the innocent unborn…needs to be clear, firm and passionate, for at stake is the dignity of a human life, which is always sacred and demands love for each person, regardless of his or her stage of development. Equally sacred, however, are the lives of the poor, those already born, the destitute, the abandoned and the underprivileged, the vulnerable infirm and elderly exposed to covert euthanasia, the victims of human trafficking, new forms of slavery, and every form of rejection.”
Pope Francis goes on to cite migrants as other persons for whom our human life ethic calls us to care.
Also, earlier this past summer, Pope Francis wrote to us, the American people:
“My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of human life.”
In fact, the Holy Father says that holiness, being authentically or holistically Christian or Catholic, demands that we care for the life of all human beings.
“We cannot uphold an ideal of holiness that would ignore injustice in a world where some revel, spend with abandon and live only for the latest consumer goods, even as others look on from afar, living their entire lives in abject poverty.”         
Yes, the Pope’s teaching is challenging and not easy.
It is sweeping, a consistent ethic of life. 
I repeat what I said at the end of last week’s column: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.  
More on Pope Francis next week!
 
Father Michael Schleupner
 
(Quotations above from: Gaudete et Exsultate, Rejoice and be Glad, 2018; Letter from Pope Francis to the American People, June 3, 2020)
 ********

 Pope Francis - 4

 

Dear Friends,
In 2015, Pope Francis wrote an encyclical on the earth, our environment – the first encyclical ever written on this topic.
By the way, an encyclical is a long letter that popes write on a specific topic as a way of teaching and exhortation.
This 2015 letter is titled: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home.
Francis brings an interesting educational background to this topic: a Doctorate in Theology and a Master’s Degree in Chemistry.
So, he has both a scientific and a spiritual perspective. 
In the encyclical, Francis identifies the serious problems with our earth or environment, especially carbon emissions and over-consumption of our resources. 
He calls us to embrace a culture of care for one another and for our common home. 
As I see the encyclical, there seem to be two ingredients to this culture of care: 1) being prayerful and 2) being provident.
Francis first calls us to be prayerful, and he especially highlights the prayer before meals.
He says this:
“I ask all believers to return to this beautiful and meaningful custom.
That moment of blessing, however brief, 
reminds us of our dependence on God for life;
it strengthens our feeling of gratitude for the gifts of creation;
it acknowledges those who by their labors provide us with these goods;
and it reaffirms our solidarity with those in greatest need.”
So, a simple recommendation.
Pope Francis very insightfully sees this grace before meals as affirming human life and affirming the earth and the goods that we derive from it.
It is a way for us to stay alert to our calling to care for our common home.    
I repeat what I said at the end of prior columns in this series: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.  
Next week, I will conclude this series by focusing on the second ingredient in the culture of care that Francis promotes. 
 
Father Michael Schleupner
 
(Quotations above from: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, 2015)

*********

 Pope Francis - 5
 

Dear Friends,
In his encyclical Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis calls us to a culture of care for one another and for the earth.
As I see the encyclical, there seem to be two ingredients to this culture of care: 1) being prayerful and 2) being provident.
Last week’s Inbox focused on being prayerful.
Being provident means that we live and act with all other human beings in mind and with the future in mind. 
Francis calls us to live more according to need than want, and in that way, avoid waste.
He asserts that “Approximately a third of all food produced is discarded” – wasted, thrown away.
A study by our own Food and Drug Administration says that the same percentage is true in our country.
This is a stinging fact in the face of other data that tells us that approximately 800 million people, 10% of the world’s population suffer from malnutrition.
All of this can seem big and beyond us, but each of us can do something.
Turning off unneeded lamps and lights to conserve energy, buying only the kind and amount of food that we know we are going to eat, recycling whatever we can (like glass, plastics, and paper), and even trying to buy cars with lower carbon emissions – actions like these have effects.
So, by being prayerful (the simple grace before meals), we stay alert to our calling to care for one another and for our common home.
And by being provident, we actually do something to fulfill this calling.
The following words of Pope Francis provide further foundation for this:
“We need to strengthen the conviction that we are one single human family. There are no frontiers or barriers, political or social, behind which we can hide, still less is there room for the globalization of indifference.”   
I conclude this series by repeating what I have said at the end of each of the prior four columns: I find great inspiration and motivation for ministry in Francis’ vision.  
 
Father Michael Schleupner
 
(Quotations above from: Laudato Si’ – On Care for Our Common Home, 2015)

Sunday Inbox Inspiration: October 11, 2020: 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Sunday Inbox Inspirations 

October 11, 2020

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A


 

Food, Glorious Food 

 

Maybe I am dating myself a little bit here, but today I am remembering a play called Oliver.

 

I’m sure some of you remember this and probably saw it. Oliver originally came out as a play in 1960 and then there was also a movie version of it.

 

It is based on the classic novel Oliver Twist that was written by Charles Dickens – one of the books I had to read in high school. One of the really popular songs in the show is titled Food, Glorious Food.  

 

It starts like this: “Food, glorious food, we’re anxious to try it. Three banquets a day, our favorite diet…” and on it goes.

 

In the story, Oliver Twist and other young boys are at a workhouse orphanage in London in the early 1800’s. The living and working conditions for these boys are awful – very, very meagre.

 

For them, it can be hard to get enough to eat and that’s why they sing of Food, Glorious Food. But for them, food is also a metaphor or symbol of deeper things that they hunger for – a home, a family, security, and some hope for the future. 

 

Food in Scripture 

 

Today’s Scripture readings also focus on food.

 

In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah says that “the Lord will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines.” In the gospel, Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a “wedding banquet.”

 

Now it is important to understand that here in the Scripture, as in the show Oliver, food is also a metaphor. It points to God satisfying deeper hungers that are within each one of us.

 

The Food of Eucharist 

 

And all of these food images point to the Eucharist.

 

The Eucharist is Jesus – real spiritual food. And, as spiritual food, it is also a kind of metaphor and it responds to our deeper hungers of living fully, of acceptance and belonging, of being loved and loving.

 

The Eucharist gets to the very heart of what we hunger for deep down within ourselves. That is why receiving the Eucharist is so important for so many of us. 

 

Eucharist as Source and Summit

 

Our Church describes the Eucharist as the source and summit of our lives.

 

I like those words – the source and summit of our lives. Let’s think of it this way.

 

On Monday morning, after being here for Mass on the weekend, we may experience the Eucharist as the source of our lives. It may empower us to deal with a job that we dislike or with a deadening routine. 

 

The Eucharist may strengthen us to deal with stress in your family or with loneliness after the death of your husband or wife. The Eucharist, I know, has been a source of life for many of us during this pandemic.

 

You and I are able to be physically here at Mass today and there are many more people who are watching livestreamed Masses and would love to receive Communion sacramentally. So yes, the Eucharist is a source of life if we remain aware of its power and open ourselves to it.  

 

And then, the Eucharist can also be the summit of life for us. What I mean is that the Eucharist can be a highpoint of the week and can give us hope for tomorrow, the kind of hope that keeps us going. 

 

And this sacramental food can also give us hope for the long-term future and be for us a taste of the heavenly banquet. So, the Eucharist is this summit of life if we remain aware of its power and open ourselves to it. 

  

Conclusion

 

As Oliver Twist and his friends say, this is Food, Glorious Food.

 

The Eucharist is Jesus, real spiritual food and in that way, it is also a metaphor and it nourishes those deeper hungers that we all have within us. It can be the source and summit of our lives.

 

Father Michael Schleupner