The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – August 4, 2024
John 6:35 “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
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