{"id":2542,"date":"2018-06-03T12:14:16","date_gmt":"2018-06-03T16:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2542"},"modified":"2018-06-03T12:14:16","modified_gmt":"2018-06-03T16:14:16","slug":"the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-b-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-b-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B<\/a>
\nExodus 24:3-8
\nPsalm 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18 (13)
\nHebrews 9:11-15
\nMark 14:12-16, 22-26
\nJune 3, 2018<\/p>\n

As we celebrate today\u2019s Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, our diocesan Year of the Eucharist draws to a close.<\/p>\n

When Bishop Matano proclaimed this Year of the Eucharist, his pastoral letter<\/a> called us to a deeper understanding of the Mass and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.\u00a0 Whether we are celebrating a Year of the Eucharist or not, the Eucharist is always the source and summit of who we are as a Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the Eucharist is to celebrate the Crucifixion of Jesus for our sins.\u00a0 To receive the Eucharist is to become more like Jesus.<\/p>\n

Our gospel passage today comes from Mark\u2019s telling of the Passion of Jesus which we heard on Palm Sunday earlier this year.\u00a0 The passage as read today ends with Jesus\u2019 words at the Last Supper instituting the Eucharist as he proclaims the bread and wine to be his Body and Blood.\u00a0 Prior to that we hear of the disciples making preparation for the Passover.<\/p>\n

How do we prepare ourselves to celebrate the Eucharist?\u00a0 One thing we do is to fast for an hour before receiving Communion.\u00a0 This is to be a witness of us saying what we are about to receive is important.<\/p>\n

We are also called to think about our worthiness to receive the Eucharist.\u00a0 Have we committed any mortal sins that need to be confessed in the Sacrament of Reconciliation?<\/p>\n

Do we think about why we call it \u201cCommunion\u201d?\u00a0 In receiving Communion, we are saying that we want to be part of the Body of Christ.\u00a0 We desire to live as Jesus teaches us.\u00a0 Think of the first reading where it says Moses \u201crelated all the words and ordinances of the LORD<\/em>\u201d and they answered, \u201cWe will do everything that the LORD has told us.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Do we live as the Lord tells us?\u00a0 Do we desire to become what we receive, the Body of Christ?<\/p>\n

What does it mean to be a member of the Body of Christ?<\/p>\n

For us individually, it begins with Baptism.\u00a0 It continues with our reception of the Eucharist (and the other sacraments).\u00a0 It calls us to live as Christ taught us.<\/p>\n

Being a member of the Body of Christ is not just a matter for us as individuals.\u00a0 Being part of the Body of Christ is to be part of the community of believers in our Church.\u00a0 The Church is the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n

This means coming together, each with our different gifts, working together as one body for the building up of God\u2019s Kingdom (think of the words we say in the Lord\u2019s Prayer, thy kingdom come<\/em>).<\/p>\n

How do we experience the Church as the Body of Christ?\u00a0 Our most tangible way of experiencing \u201cchurch\u201d is in our parish building.\u00a0 Yet, being \u201cChurch\u201d is not solely about a building.\u00a0 The building is important and needs to be a very reverent space to grow deeper with Christ.\u00a0 The Church also involves the people but not just the people who come to St. Michael\u2019s.<\/p>\n

To speak of The<\/em><\/strong> Church is think universally, including every child of God.\u00a0 As I said, the parish can be the tangible way in which we think of church but we need to think more broadly.\u00a0 To discern what this means, we need to ask ourselves what is the best way to make God\u2019s kingdom known in this world.<\/p>\n

We have just celebrated the 150th<\/sup> anniversary of the establishment of our diocese.\u00a0 When our diocese was established in 1868, it was a growing Church.\u00a0 It continued to grow, establishing new parishes and building Catholic schools for several decades.\u00a0 Now, we are a shrinking church.<\/p>\n

In light of this, how are we called to be the Body of Christ to the world today?\u00a0 To do this, Bishop Matano has called for increasing collaboration among parishes.\u00a0 Near the end of February, we had an article in the bulletin to announce that he has called all of the Catholic parishes in Wayne County to be in dialogue to talk about our future.<\/p>\n

In today\u2019s bulletin you will find both an insert and an article about our planning process (Click here for more information<\/a>).\u00a0 There is information there to direct parishioners to a survey<\/a> that we are asking all parishioners to do to help us assess what we are doing well and where we can be doing better.\u00a0 You can take the survey online<\/a> or we have paper copies in church.\u00a0 Your opinion is important as we work to be the Body of Christ.<\/p>\n

In the insert, you will also find some possible scenarios about how we can collaborate with one less priest in Wayne County.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure there\u2019s going to be questions.\u00a0 The article in the bulletin itself has the names of our parish representatives for this process. \u00a0Please feel free to ask questions and offer constructive comments always remembering that our goal is to be the Body of Christ as we work to make God\u2019s kingdom known in this world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B Exodus 24:3-8 Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18 (13) Hebrews 9:11-15 Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 June 3, 2018 As we celebrate today\u2019s Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, our diocesan Year of the Eucharist draws to a close. When Bishop Matano proclaimed this Year …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[113,82,302],"tags":[456,24,103,304],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-F0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2542"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2546,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2542\/revisions\/2546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}