August 1, 2021 - The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary time
July31,2021
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
At the heart of our Catholic Faith is the Most Holy Eucharist. We believe that according to the plan and mind of the Lord that He remains present to us under the appearances of bread and wine, where He is contained, offered, and received. The transformation of the bread and wine into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ takes place during the Consecration of every Mass, which the Church rightly calls Transubstantiation. Jesus instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. On Good Friday, with arms stretched out and nailed to the Cross, Jesus completed the First Mass as He cried out “It is consummated!” After the sword of the Roman soldier pierced through His side, sacred Scripture records that blood and then water poured out. The water indicated the Sacrament of Baptism by which we would become God’s beloved sons and daughters and the blood the Most Holy Eucharist, which as Sacrament and Sacrifice, Jesus would continually make present to us His dynamic and powerful love that draws us into God’s saving work. Jesus set in place the corner stones of His Church and the Catholic way of life.
The gift of the Holy Eucharist is to us the Lord’s most precious gift. We cannot begin to describe adequately what has been accomplished on our behalf. The words of the Lord in chapter six of St. John’s gospel help us grasp this most profound mystery of our faith. To hear our Lord refer to Himself as the Bread of Life gives us great comfort. His concern to feed us at the depths of our being tells us of His great love for us. Without Him we would be lost and set adrift. Left to our own designs and ourselves we would soon lose the way and suffer the worst pangs of spiritual desolation and hunger. That void would be filled with the emptiness of sin and godlessness and we would even be hungrier than ever. It would be like trying to quench our thirst with seawater instead of fresh water. Seawater with its salt only makes the situation worse. The thirst becomes an agony beyond imagination.
To love our Eucharistic Lord is our response to all that the Lord has revealed about Himself. We should participate at every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with the purest soul and with fervent prayers on our lips. Our entire being should adore Him and then receive Him with humble hearts. Adoremus in aeternum Sanctissimum Sacramentum; Let us adore forever the Most Blessed Sacrament! May the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ preserve our souls unto life eternal. Amen.
Yours in the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Fr. Mark G. Mazza, Pastor