{"id":2897,"date":"2019-06-23T13:21:51","date_gmt":"2019-06-23T17:21:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2019-06-23T13:21:58","modified_gmt":"2019-06-23T17:21:58","slug":"the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-c-homily-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-c-homily-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year C – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year C<\/a>
Genesis 14:18-20
Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4 (4b)
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Luke 9:11b-17
June 23, 2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we come together to praise God this\nweekend, this is a very important weekend in the life of our parish for three\nreasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, I\u2019ll mention it is my last weekend\nhere as your Pastor.  On Tuesday I will\nmove to St. Luke\u2019s in Geneseo.  St.\nMichael\u2019s will become part of a new cluster with St. Joseph the Worker\n(covering Lyons\/Clyde\/Savannah) and the Catholic Community of the Blessed\nTrinity (covering Wolcott\/Red Creek\/Fair Haven).  Fr. Tedesche will become the new Pastor here\nand Fr. Walter will become the assistant. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, as part of the new clustering, this\nis also the last weekend that St. Michael\u2019s will have a 4:30 p.m. Mass on\nSaturday.  For those who have been coming\nto this Mass for years, this will be a big change and a loss.  Thus, this is important in the life of our\nparish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Loss and\/or change can be a\nchallenge.  How do we get through\nit?  This question leads me to what is\nreally the most important thing we celebrate this weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is the Solemnity of the Most\nHoly Body and Blood of Christ<\/em><\/strong>.  It is the Body and Blood of Christ that we\nreceive in the Eucharist that gives us the strength we need in our lives to\nlive as Christ\u2019s disciples through our sufferings and life\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Eucharist is the \u201csource and summit\u201d\nof what we do as Catholics.  Jesus really\nis present in the Eucharist.  It is Jesus\nwe receive in Communion.  It is Jesus we\ngaze up in our Holy Hours.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of bread and wine in religious\nlife was not new with Jesus but it took on a new significance.  In our first reading today, we hear of\nMelchizedek offering bread and wine.  Later\nin the Old Testament, God fed the Israelites with the manna, the bread from Heaven,\nduring the Exodus.  Unleavened bread was\npart of the annual Passover celebration as prescribed by God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Last Supper came at the time of the\nPassover.  Before that, Jesus had fed\n5,000 men with the five loaves.  \u201cThey all ate and were satisfied.<\/em>\u201d  It was their bellies that were\nsatisfied.  At the Last Supper, Jesus\ntakes the bread and wine and makes it his Body and Blood to satisfy the hunger\nof our souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was not some human invention.  As Paul speaks of the Eucharist in today\u2019s\nsecond reading, he speaks of how he received it \u201cfrom the Lord<\/em>.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are those in other denominations who\nonly believe what is found in scripture (sola scriptura).  They do not see the Eucharist in scripture\nbut it is.  The gospels of Matthew, Mark,\nand Luke all contain stories of the Last Supper that include Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cThis is my body\u2026 this cup is the new\ncovenant in my blood\u2026do this in remembrance of me.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those who think our belief in the Real\nPresence is not founded in scripture, we also find it in chapter six of John\u2019s\nGospel where Jesus says we must \u201cEat his\nflesh and drink his blood.<\/em>\u201d  We need\nthe Eucharist to strengthen us.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here I turn to the Christmas story, the\nnativity scene.  Where do they lay baby\nJesus?  In a manger.  A manger is not a crib.  It is a feeding trough for animals.  It prefigures Jesus feeding us with the\nEucharist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I said at the beginning, this weekend brings changes.  I am leaving.  New priests are coming.  We lose the 4:30 Mass.  There is also changes to the daily Mass and confession schedule (you can find the schedule for the entire cluster here<\/a>).  As these changes occur, I imagine some of you may also be facing difficulties in your own lives.  Whether it be the changes we face as a parish or the challenges you face in your own lives, you do not have to face them alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We face them as a community of believers.  We face them as disciples of Christ.  We face them led by the Spirit, with gifts of understanding and wisdom along with courage.  We face them as Jesus feeds us with his Body and Blood so that we have the strength we need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year CGenesis 14:18-20Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4 (4b)1 Corinthians 11:23-26Luke 9:11b-17June 23, 2019 As we come together to praise God this weekend, this is a very important weekend in the life of our parish for three reasons. First, I\u2019ll mention it is my last weekend here as …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year C – 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],"tags":[176,103,606,102],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-KJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897"}],"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=2897"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2900,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2897\/revisions\/2900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}