Feast of Corpus Christi - June 2

Corpus Christi: This is Fr. Jeff’s Homily, which begins like this.  I am the bread of life. In the year 2009, I was distributing communion to the faithful when a young woman approached and extended her hands to receive the Eucharist. Almost as soon as I had placed the Host in her hands, she began moving away and in the process she dropped the host. Standing over the fallen Host lying on the ground, a slight giggle, shrug of the shoulders, and re-extended hands, her body language said to me, ‘Ooops, I dropped it. Can you give me another one?

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world”.

August 15, 1996 an elderly Eucharistic minister was distributing the Precious Body of Christ to the faithful in a parish in Buenos Aires, Argentina when a similar accident occurred. Not wanting to consume the Host because it was dirty after falling to the ground, he asked the priest to pick it up. Reverently the priest placed the Host in a receptacle of water and put it into the Tabernacle where it would dissolve with time. Six days later when the priest examined the Host that should have been dissolved by now, he was perplexed by what he saw. The Eucharist seemed to have grown in size and was covered with red splotches. 

Leave it for a few more days, he thought; it’s just a matter of time. But then with each passing day the Sacred Species took on the appearance of coagulated blood, until eventually the Host looked like a piece of flesh. The bread that I will give is my flesh. A miracle! Perhaps, but first this had to be investigated. A lab in Buenos Aires examined a sample from the Host. The scientist discovered red blood cells, white blood cells, and hemoglobin, but what perplexed him the most was that the cells were moving and beating. 

Three years later Dr. Ricardo Gomez was called in to perform a more thorough examination. He sent a sample from the Host to a lab in New York but didn’t tell them what it is; he wanted them to tell him what it is. They did. It’s a living muscle from a human heart.

Now the year is 2004, Dr. Gomez had located a unique doctor named Frederick Zugibe whose expertise in examining the heart of a dead person allows him to know the nature of the person’s death. He too was given an opportunity to examine the Host without knowing that this heart was formerly a round wafer of wheat bread. His findings? 

The heart belonged to a person who had been severely tortured. So Pilate wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified. 

After his examination, Dr. Zugibe passionately said to Dr. Gomez, You have to explain one thing to me, if this sample came from a person who was dead, then how could it be that as I was examining it the cells of the sample were moving and beating? If this heart comes from someone who died in 1996, how can it still be alive? When Dr. Gomez explained to Dr. Zugibe that it was the Eucharist, he nearly pulled his hair out of his head in shock. 

Backtrack to the 8th Century in Lanciano, a town in southern Italy where a priest was celebrating the Mass doubting that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. As he raised the Host, it instantly transformed into a piece of flesh in his hands. In the 1970′s this piece of flesh, which remains available for veneration to this day, was tested by a leading Italian doctor. His findings? It is living muscle from a human heart. Dr. Gomez decided to cross examine the Host from Buenos Aires with this Host from Lanciano.

Amazingly, both hearts were found to have come from the same person. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. My brothers and sisters, our faith proclaims to us the wondrous mystery that Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist, the Bread of Life. It’s no mere symbol, no mere reenactment. It is the Precious Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ! What I place in your hand or upon your tongue is not a ritual piece of bread. I place God in your hand! I place God on your tongue! 

I know that even after telling you the story of the Eucharistic miracle in Buenos Aires, I haven’t proven this. I can never prove this truth, because it’s a matter of faith. However, all I’m asking my brothers and sisters is that you ponder the story I shared with you today. 

Perhaps, the skeptic in you calls it all a bunch of lies. Perhaps, the unimpressed call it a coincidence.  

Perhaps you’re a person of faith and you’re in awe at what I’ve shared with you. All I ask, Fr. Jeff continues, is that if there’s the slightest inkling in your hearts that what you receive in the Eucharist is the flesh of God, then please my brothers and sisters, never let the lance that pierced my heart in 2009 when that young woman stood carelessly over God’s fallen Body pierce my heart again. Please treat this mystery which you receive with the reverence God deserves. 

Conclusion: The tone of those words, almost became a tone of pleading on Jesus’ part, “This is my body,” “please believe me; this IS my body and I want all of you to believe and to receive my Heart of Love!” We are so blessed to have the Eucharist!!! Anyways, I’d be happy if you should share this homily with others; these are the miraculous stories that God wants us to share so that our faith can be strengthened. As it says in the Scriptures, “Encourage one another while it is still day.” It’s sort of like the Transfiguration which was revealed to Peter, James, and John so that they could persevere through the Passion and death of Jesus.

Introduction: Corpus Christi

Message: Melchizedek, priest of God Most High, offers bread and wine as a blessing upon Abram.  Jesus fulfills this offering, giving us his own Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine.  Thus is our hunger satisfied in abundance as we make our pilgrim way to the heavenly banquet feast.

Saints and Events in this Week:  3-Monday-Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs; 5-Wednesday-Saint Boniface, bishop, martyr; 6-Thursday-Saint Norbert, bishop; 7-Friday-The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; 8-Jun-Immaculate Heart of Mary;

IX Sunday-OT: Corpus Christi: Jun-2: Gen14:18-20; 1Cor-11:23-26; Lk9:11-17

IX Sunday-OT: Corpus Christi: Jun-2: Gen14:18-20; 1Cor-11:23-26; Lk9:11-17

Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège had a vision in which a glistening full moon appeared to her. The moon was perfect but for some hollow dark spots which she was told represented the absence of a feast of the Eucharist. This led to the celebration of the feast of the Body of Christ, Corpus Christi, which was introduced into the church calendar in 1264.

The most precious gift that Jesus gave to his church is that which we celebrate today, the gift of his own body and blood in the form of bread and wine.  "Eucharist (Gr., eucharistia, thanksgiving), the Sacrament and sacrifice of the New Law in which Christ the Lord is Himself present, offered, and received under the species of bread and wine. The name is from the account of the last Supper."

The will of Jesus does not say a word about what Jesus taught. Its focus is on what Jesus did. He gave his body to his followers as food and his blood as drink. Remember, this was taking place in the context of the Passover meal. So Jesus was presenting himself as their Passover lamb. The Israelites in Egypt had to eat the flesh of the Passover lamb to identify themselves as God’s own people. They marked their doorposts with its blood as a sign to keep away the angel of death. Every Israelite was supposed to participate in this ritual every year to renew their identity as God’s people who enjoy God’s special blessings and protection. Seen in this light, the Eucharist becomes for us the place where we come to renew ourselves as God’s new people in Christ.

Story:  Remember the two little kids who (as they would later tell the story) “almost drowned” in the storm on the lake? After their father had brought them ashore, what did he do? Well, of course, he gave them something to eat. Now their father was not much of a cook and their mother had gone shopping with their big sister. So he didn’t know quite what to give them to eat. What would you like to eat, he asked them. Ice cream, said the little boy. Chocolate ice cream said the little girl. With chocolate sauce, the little boy insisted. And whipped cream the little girl added. And raspberries, the little boy finished their litany of wants. Well, the father wasn’t even very good at making chocolate ice cream sundaes with raspberries and chocolate sauce and whipped cream. But his little kids wanted it and they had just recovered from at terrible scare so he did his best.  Food becomes Life-giving, relief, comfort, love, relationship, and occasion of socialization.  For Christ it is sacrament and also a sacrifice.

Practical applications:  Jesus invites us to the banquet. “Do this in remembrance of me … Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (verses 24-25). Folks, this is the last thing Jesus asked us to do before he died. He asked to keep doing it as often as possible until his return in glory (verse 26). Why then is it that many of us take the Eucharist so lightly? We seem to be so ready to skip attending Mass at the slightest excuse: “I just didn’t feel like going … We were on vacation … I don’t like Pastor John’s preaching, I seem to get more from the TV service.” But no amount of television programming can take the place of Holy Communion. Let us today ask our Lord Jesus to increase our faith in the sacrament of his body and blood which he gives us in the form of bread and wine.

Introduction: Corpus Christi

Message: Melchizedek, priest of God Most High, offers bread and wine as a blessing upon Abram.  Jesus fulfills this offering, giving us his own Body and Blood under the forms of bread and wine.  Thus is our hunger satisfied in abundance as we make our pilgrim way to the heavenly banquet feast.

Saints and Events in this Week:  3-Monday-Saint Charles Lwanga and companions, martyrs; 5-Wednesday-Saint Boniface, bishop, martyr; 6-Thursday-Saint Norbert, bishop; 7-Friday-The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus; 8-Jun-Immaculate Heart of Mary;

The Most Holy Trinity Sunday: [c]Prv 8:22-31;Rom5:1-5;Jn16:12-15

The Most Holy Trinity Sunday: [c]Prv 8:22-31;Rom5:1-5;Jn16:12-15

Introduction: The Easter season is over. It was concluded last Sunday with the Pentecost. Today we return to Sundays in Ordinary Time. If there is one theme that marks the Ordinary Time of the liturgical year, it is the theme of growth in Christian living. The liturgical color green symbolizes life and growth, as we know from nature. Ordinary Time will take us to the end of the liturgical year. If the theme of the Ordinary Time is growth, why then does the church choose to come back to it with the solemnity of the Blessed Trinity? Growth is a practical, everyday concern but the Trinity seems to be high up there, a matter of theological and philosophical profundity.

Exegesis: When we are personally caught up in the mystery of the love of God, then we shall find the rationale and the motivation to work for our personal growth in Christian living.  The easiest place to understand trinity is to begin with love.  The First Person of the Trinity is the Father.  Jesus taught us to call His Father, Our Father.  Actually, more than the formal “father” we are to call Him “Abba” or “Daddy”.  This is not the view that many of us have of the First Person.  We tend to see the Father only as the all powerful Creator with a view similar to the way Michelangelo presented Him on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. But the Father is Love.  He created us out of love.  He sent His Son to deliver us from the death that selfishness and hatred brought upon the world, to restore us to His Love.  The Abba loves us.

We can certainly understand the Love of God in the Second Person, the Son.   Jesus Christ is Love Incarnate, Divine Love taken on human flesh.  There are many ways that He pours His Love on us; certainly the central way was through the sacrificial love of the Cross.

Our ability to respond to the Creative Love of the Father and the Compassionate Love of the Son is infinitely more powerful than any love the human soul can produce.  We have been given the Spirit of Love, the Power of Love, the Holy Spirit.

Event: There is a very old and much-repeated story about St. Augustine, one of the intellectual giants of the Church.  He was walking by the seashore one day, attempting to arrive at an intelligible explanation for the mystery of the Trinity.  As he walked along, he saw a small boy on the beach, pouring seawater from a shell into a small hole in the sand.  "What are you doing, my child?" asked Augustine.  "I am emptying the sea into this hole," the boy answered with an innocent smile.  "But that is impossible, my dear child,” said Augustine.  The boy stood up, looked straight into the eyes of Augustine and replied, “What you are trying to do - comprehend the immensity of God with your small head - is even more impossible.”  Then he vanished.  The child was an angel sent by God to teach Augustine a lesson.  Later, Augustine wrote: "You see the Trinity if you see love."  According to him the Father is the Lover, the Son is the Loved One and the Holy Spirit is the personification of the very act of Loving. This means that we can understand something of the mystery of the Holy Trinity more readily with the heart than with our feeble mind. Evagrius of Pontus, a Greek monk of the 4th century who came from what is now Turkey in Asia and later lived out his vocation in Egypt, said: "God cannot be grasped by the mind. If God could be grasped, God would not be God."

Joke:   One parishioner said, “Our pastor is a lot like the Trinitarian God because he is invisible in the rectory during week days and incomprehensible on Sundays because I don’t understand his sermons.”

Practical Applications:  1) Let us respect ourselves and others because everyone is the temple of the Holy Spirit where all the three Persons of the Holy Trinity abide.

2) Let us have the firm conviction that the Trinitarian God abides in us and that He is the source of our hope, courage and strength and is our final destination.

3) Let us practice the Trinitarian relationship of love and unity in the family relationships of father, mother and children, because by baptism we become children of God and members of God’s Trinitarian family.

 4) Let us practice the I–God–my neighbor vertical and horizontal Trinitarian relationship in society by loving God living in others. 

Introduction: The Most Holy Trinity

Message: We are at peace with God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.  God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  This Spirit, who is Wisdom itself, will lead us into all truth.  How wonderful the name of our God in all the earth.

Saints and Events in this week: 27-Monday-St.Augustine of Canterbury, bishop; the Memorial Day;  31-Friday-The Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary; 1-May-Saturday-Saint Justin , martyr.

Pentacost Sunday:[C]: Acts 2:1-11; I Cor 12:3-7, 12-13; Jn. 20:19-23

Pentacost Sunday:[C]: Acts 2:1-11; I Cor 12:3-7, 12-13; Jn. 20:19-23

Pentecost literally means 50^th. It is a feast celebrated on the 50^th day after the Passover feast by the Jews and a feast celebrated on the 50^th day after the feast of the Resurrection of Jesus by the Christians. The Jewish Pentecost was originally a post-harvest thanksgiving feast.  Later it was celebrated to remember God’s covenants with Noah after the Deluge and with Moses at Mt. Sinai.

Exegesis:  “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were.  Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.  And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.”(Acts 2:2-4)  On that day, 1) The Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and Blessed Virgin Mary as fiery tongues. 2) The frightened apostles were transformed into fiery preachers and evangelizers by a special anointing of the Holy Spirit. 3) The audience experienced a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit with the gift of tongues, hearing Peter speaking in their languages. 4) The early Christians became powerful witnesses and brave martyrs for faith.

Event:  An old beggar lay on his deathbed.  His last words were to his youngest son who had been his constant companion during his begging trips.  “Dear son," he said, “I have nothing to give you except a cotton bag and a dirty bronze bowl which I got in my younger days from the junk yard of a rich lady.”  After his father’s death, the boy continued begging, using the bowl his father had given him.  One day a gold merchant dropped a coin in the boy’s bowl and he was surprised to hear a familiar clinking sound.  “Let me check your bowl,” the merchant said.  To his great surprise, he found that the beggar’s bowl was made of pure gold.  “My dear young man," he said, “why do you waste your time begging?  You are a rich man.  That bowl of yours is worth at least thirty thousand dollars.”  We Christians are often like this beggar boy who failed to recognize and appreciate the value of his bowl.  We fail to appreciate the infinite worth of the Holy Spirit living within each of us, sharing His gifts and fruits and charisms with us. 

Joke: A young man finally got a job at the Post Office. He was full of energy and eager to please. The supervisor agreed to work with the new employee, even though he had been warned that he was still immature and knew nothing of the job.

The first job the supervisor gives the young man is in sorting, and much to everyone's surprise, the new employee separated the letters so fast that his motions were literally a blur. The supervisor was very pleased and asked the young man to come into his office at the end of the day.

He said, "I just want you to know that we are all very proud of you. You're one of the fastest workers we have ever had."

The humble young man said, "Thank you, sir. And tomorrow, I'll try to do even better."

"Better?" the supervisor asked with astonishment. "How can you possibly do better?"
The young man smiled proudly and said, "Tomorrow, I am going to read the addresses."

Practical applications: 1) Permit the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives: a) By constantly remembering His holy presence and behaving well.  b) By praying for His daily anointing so that we may fight against our temptations and control our evil tendencies, evil habits and addictions.  c) By asking His daily assistance to pray, listening to God through meditative Bible reading and talking to Him.

2) Ask the help of the Holy Spirit to do good to others and to get reconciled to God and others every day.  To be moved along with Holy Spirit.

Introduction: Pentacost Sunday

Message: All of us have been baptized into one and the same Spirit, and live by that same Spirit.  That same Spirit, the Advocate, was given as gift to the disciples to remind them of all that Jesus said and did, and to strengthen them to go forth in the name of the Lord, “to renew the face of the earth”.

Saints and events in this week: 20-Monday-Ordinary time, 7^th week begins; Saint Bernardine of Siena, priest; 21-Tuesday-Saint Christopher Magallanes, priest and companions, martyrs; 22-Wednesday-Saint Rita of Cascia, religious; 25-Saturday-Saint Bede the Venerable, priest, doctor of the Church; Saint Gregory VII, pope; Saint Mary Magdalene de” Pazzi.

VII Sunday Easter:[C]: Acts 7:55-60; Rev.22:12-14,16-17,20; Jn 17: 20-26

Introduction: The first reading describes the martyrdom of Stephen and how he bore witness to the forgiving love of Jesus by his last prayer.  In the second reading, from the Book of Revelation, Jesus, the Alpha and the Omega, is pictured as having all the forces of heaven and earth at his disposal, and standing ready to help us in our Christian witness-bearing.  It is relatively easy to acknowledge our oneness with Stephen, and to long for the experience of eternal oneness with “all those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb."  But to remain truly one with all of our brothers and sisters continues to be a daily challenge.  Today’s gospel is the last part of the “priestly prayer” of Jesus after the Last Supper. This chapter of John has been called “The Testament of Jesus” or “Jesus’ High Priestly” or “Jesus’ Intercessory Prayer.” During that long prayer, Jesus prayed first for himself - for his own glorification (vv 1-5) – as he faced the cross.  Then, he prayed for his disciples that they might be unified and protected in the face of opposition from the world. (vv 6-19), and finally he prayed for those in distant lands and far-off ages, including ourselves, who would enter the Christian faith.  Thus, this is Jesus’ prayer for each one of us.  We have complete faith and certainty because Jesus put his confidence in God.

Event: The 1973 movie, Message to My Daughter, is the moving story of Miranda, a completely disoriented teenage girl who saw the world as “meaningless, cruel and stupid.” Miranda did not know her mother. She died when Miranda was only two years old. Miranda felt unloved and was incapable of loving anyone. Then she discovered some tapes on which her dying mother had recorded a “message” for her. As she listened to the words of her long-dead mother, she realised that she was not the unloved child she thought she was. Her mother had thought of her and had loved her very tenderly. This discovery brought about in her a complete change in the way she saw herself and the world around her. She was finally able to acceptance herself and put her life together again.

Exegesis:  It makes a lot of difference for us to know that Jesus thought of us, that he had us in mind as he died and gave his life for the salvation of the world, that he actually prayed for us. We know that God always hears the prayer of Jesus. So, if Jesus prayed for us we would like to know what it was that he prayed for us about. What Jesus asked the Father in our behalf is basically one thing: unity.

Joke:   1) A teacher was giving a lesson on the circulation of the blood.

Trying to make the matter clearer, he said, "Now, boys, if I stood on my head the blood, as you know, would run into it, and I should turn red in the face."

"Yes, sir," the boys said. 

"Then why is it that while I am standing upright in the ordinary position the blood doesn't run into my feet?"

A little fellow at the back shouted, "Because your feet aren't empty."

Practical Applications:  1)We need to pray for unity and serve one another in unity.  We must pray for unity and discuss the similarities we share with others as well as our differences. Along with prayer, we must put our words into action. This means that we are to serve one another and to love one another as brothers and sisters in the Lord.  2) Let us try to make peace and unity wherever we are.   3) Let us also pray for all our mothers.

Introduction:  Seventh Sunday of Easter; Ascension of the Lord; Mothers Day

Message:  Jesus commissions his disciples to baptize in his name, reminding them that he is always present through his Spirit.  Jesus ascended to his Father amid cries of gladness, entering into the heavenly sanctuary.  We are to be his witnesses, mindful of the great hope to which we are called.

Saints and events in this week:   13-Monday-Our Lady of Fatima; 14-Tuesday-Saint Matthias, Apostle; 15-Wednesday-Saint Isidore(USA); 18-Saturday-Saint John I, Pope, martyr.

VI Sunday Easter:[C]:Acts 14:1-2, 22-29; Rev 21:10-14, 22-23; Jn 14:23-29

VI Sunday Easter:[C]:Acts 14:1-2, 22-29; Rev 21:10-14, 22-23; Jn 14:23-29

Event: In Africa young girls who consecrate themselves to God as nuns dress up as brides for a wedding and sing love songs to Jesus. A few years after such a religious ceremony, a young nun who had been having a rough time in her mission assignment comes back to the convent and asks the Mother Superior: “Mother, is it really true that we are spouses of Christ.” “Yes, it is true, my daughter,” replies the Mother Superior, “Why do you ask?” “Well,” stammered the young nun, “Since I was professed five years ago, I haven’t actually felt anything!”

Our poor nun may not have felt anything, yet she remains on the right track in understanding the relationship between Jesus and his devotees in terms of an intimate love relationship. When Jesus speaks in today’s gospel of “those who love me” he is referring to his followers. For Jesus “those who love me” is another way of saying “my disciples” or “those who believe in me” or simply “Christians.” The relationship between the Christian and Christ is essentially a love relationship. That is why Jesus said in John 15:15 “I do not call you servants any longer ... I call you friends.” Yet many of us feel more comfortable serving Jesus as boss rather than relating to him as a friend. There is a limit to what a boss can demand from you. There is no such limit when it comes to friendship and intimacy.

Sometimes loneliness overwhelms us.  It overwhelms everyone at times.  Sometimes we think about our mistakes, our sins, and we become despondent.  Everyone at some time or other asked himself or herself, “How could a person like me, a person who is inclined to sin do God’s work?”  Everyone suffers from crippling guilt at times in his or her life.  Everyone makes the mistake of letting the past destroy the present and eliminate the future. When we feel we are all alone, when we feel that we are not good enough, we need to remember that Jesus did not ascend and then leave us destitute. He didn’t leave us with His Power, His Presence, His Life.    And he didn’t leave us to spend the rest of our lives contemplating our belly buttons.  He empowers us to bring His Presence to all, beginning with our families and then extending to the entire world. 

“Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them” (John 14:23).

Joke:   A 2 ½-year-old, Kelli, went with a neighbor girl to church for First Communion practice. The pastor has the children cup their hands, and when he gives them the Host - in this case, a piece of bread - he says, “God be with you.” Apparently this made quite an impression on her. She came home and told her mother to cup her hands and bend down. Kelli took a piece of bread from her sandwich, placed it in her mother’s hands, and whispered, in her most angelic voice, “God will get you.”

Practical Applications:  1)We are not alone.  One of the great social and ethical problems of our time is isolation.   Spouses, parents and children often live as virtual strangers to one another.   This is unfortunate because we never need to be alone.   Jesus can always be present to us.  2)Let us live our daily lives appreciating the abiding presence of God within us.  It is the abiding presence of God within us that enables us to face the future with undying hope and true Christian courage.  

Introduction:  Sixth Sunday of Easter

Message: By listening attentively to the Spirit promised by Jesus, the early Church resolves the question whether Gentile converts need to observe certain Jewish ritual practices.  All are called to dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem, founded on the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Saints and events in this week:   9-Thursday-Ascension of the Lord; 10-Friday-Saint Damien de Veuster, priest from USA;

V Sunday Easter[C]: Acts 14: 21-27; Rev 21: 1-5; Jn 13: 31-33, 34-35

V Sunday Easter[C]: Acts 14: 21-27; Rev 21: 1-5; Jn 13: 31-33, 34-35

Introduction:  Jesus tells his disciples in this passage from the Last Supper Discourse that now he is glorified, and God is glorified in him and will soon glorify him further. Jesus says that he will be with them only a little while longer. Then Jesus gives them a new commandment: "As I have loved you, so you also should love one another." This is the sign whereby people will be able to recognize disciples of Jesus -- their love for one another.

Exegesis:  The word "glory" appears about 375 times in the Old Testament and about 175 times in the New. The key to grasping its elusive meaning is to understand that, like a sacramental sign, its purpose is to create or to deepen personal relationship. "The heavens declare the glory of God...the whole earth is full of his glory" (Ps 19:2 and Is 6:3). It is possible, however, for an individual to express deep awe in the presence of the beauty of the heavens and the earth, yet not recognize the beauty as a gift of God's glory. For its inter-personal meaning to be realized, glory (like a sacrament) must at the same time be objectively given and subjectively received. To recognize the glory of divine presence in gratitude -- now doubling the meaning of the term -- is to give glory to God.

The Gospel according to John tells the good news that Jesus is the complete, human manifestation of God's presence among us: he is the glory or sacramental sign of the divine presence. John structures his gospel around seven major signs or expressions of divine glory: changing water to wine at the wedding feast ("Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him" [Jn 2:11]); cure of the noble's son; cure of the paralytic; feeding the multitude with bread; showing power over the sea; giving sight to the blind man; raising Lazarus from death. Through these signs some began to recognize the divine presence in him. Others, however, remained blind and did not perceive these events as the presence of God's glory.

In his farewell address, Jesus speaks of the eighth event that will be the summary and climax of the seven previous signs. This will happen when he is lifted up for all to see, giving himself in love even to death on a cross. This sign is the ultimate revelation that God is love -- the complete expression of God's glory. God is thus manifested or glorified in him. Jesus on the cross declares the supreme glory of God to be love. God then glorifies him through resurrection.

Anecdote: Jesus says, "I give you a new commandment: Love one another - as I have loved you..."

An incident from the life of Blessed Mother Teresa illustrates this new way of love: Once a journalist accompanied her as she made her rounds, caring for the dying. One of the men had a wound that oozed decay and gave off a foul odor. Mother Teresa calmly washed the wound, all the while speaking softly to the man.

After Mother Teresa finished and they were walking away, the journalist said, "I wouldn't do that for all the gold in the world."

Mother Teresa replied, "Neither would I." She did it for something - or someone - worth more than the entire world's gold. Her strength and love came from the time she spent before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament - an hour or more each day.

You and I are not Blessed Mother Teresa - but Jesus may call us to a similar love. One of my friends is caring for his elderly father. His dad always said that, more than anything else, he feared two things: dementia and incontinence. Now, both those afflictions have befallen him. His children, including my friend, take turns caring for their dad, one or two days a week.

"I give you a new commandment: Love one another - as I have loved you."

Joke:   There was an old woman on a plane, sitting next to the Pope. It was stormy outside, and the plane was being rocked by some severe turbulence. So this kindly old lady looked upon Death's door, and said to her papal neighbour. 'Father, surely you can do something about this...' To which the Pope replied, 'Sorry lady, I'm in sales, not management.'

Practical Applications: 1) Let us learn to love ourselves so that we may learn to love each other. The old commandment (Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18) says: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  How do we learn to cherish others and care for them if we  have never learned to do the same for ourselves?  2) Let us love others in our daily lives:  We are asked to love as Jesus loved in the ordinary course of our lives.  This means that we should love others by allowing ourselves to be moved with pity for them. 3) Let us demonstrate our love for others: When we are assembled and have guests, we have an opportunity to demonstrate our love for another.  They must see Christians as people who are glad to see one another, who are willing to take the time to visit with each other and who know each other. 

Introduction: V Sunday of Easter

Message: At the conclusion of their missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas tell the Antioch community all that the Lord had accomplished in their preaching the kingdom of God.  This kingdom, to be marked by our love for one another, will reach its fulfillment in new heavens and a new earth.

Saints and events in this week: 29-Monday-Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin, doctor of the Church; 30-Tuesday-Saint Pius V, Pope; May-1-Wednesday-Saint Joseph the Worker; 2-Thursday-saint Athanasius, bishop, doctor of the Church; 3-Friday-Saint Philip and James, Apostles