 This Sunday marks the civil celebration for all our dads. Please join me in praying for all of our fathers on this Father's Day. May the Lord God bless these men and keep them safe, and beloved in their families. For those of us that have lost our fathers, let us lift them up in prayer, and ask the Lord God to grant them the peace of the Kingdom.
Though we mark off one Sunday a year to honor our dads, every day was Father's Day for Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, for as long as Joseph lived, Jesus loved and respected the beloved husband of Mary. Yes, Jesus learned from Joseph and worked with him, in the toil and laughter of the workshop. Yes, Jesus loved him and glowed in the love Joseph must have showered upon him. But as Jesus left the confines of Nazareth and began his public ministry, he lived for another father, his Abba, his heavenly Father... the One beyond our sight, beyond our understanding. Jesus of Nazareth spoke to the Almighty, the Lord God, with the same intimate term many of us use for our fathers. Jesus used the term Abba... daddy, and those who heard him address the Lord God this way were both startled and attracted to this intimate interaction between a human being and the Majesty of God. We too, are to live each day, remembering the Abba of the Lord, our Father.
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This Sunday marks the civil celebration for all our dads. Please join me in praying for all of our fathers on this Father's Day. May the Lord God bless these men and keep them safe, and beloved in their families. For those of us that have lost our fathers, let us lift them up in prayer, and ask the Lord God to grant them the peace of the Kingdom.
Though we mark off one Sunday a year to honor our dads, every day was Father's Day for Jesus of Nazareth. Yes, for as long as Joseph lived, Jesus loved and respected the beloved husband of Mary. Yes, Jesus learned from Joseph and worked with him, in the toil and laughter of the workshop. Yes, Jesus loved him and glowed in the love Joseph must have showered upon him. But as Jesus left the confines of Nazareth and began his public ministry, he lived for another father, his Abba, his heavenly Father... the One beyond our sight, beyond our understanding. Jesus of Nazareth spoke to the Almighty, the Lord God, with the same intimate term many of us use for our fathers. Jesus used the term Abba... daddy, and those who heard him address the Lord God this way were both startled and attracted to this intimate interaction between a human being and the Majesty of God. We too, are to live each day, remembering the Abba of the Lord, our Father.
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The Holy Spirit is the Church’s living memory, [and] the Spirit and the Church cooperate to manifest Christ and his work of salvation in the liturgy (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1099). On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, we rejoice in the great gift we have been given... the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus, given to us at holy Mass, as food and drink for the journey.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church offers us a sense of the richness of this “source and summit of Christian life”, by listing some of the titles we use in referring to the gift of the Eucharist:
The Eucharist, a thanksgiving of God’s works, and especially, God’s greatest work, the gift of the Son (1328).
The Breaking of the Bread, because Jesus used this rite at table, and his disciples recognized him through the breaking of the bread (1329)
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I want you to think about your family, and those relationships that have helped to "define" your life, your personality. We don't think about this much. We think about and worry about the economy, house payments, the cost of educating our children, our grandchildren. We think about and worry about our jobs, our health, the crazy schedule we are keeping. Granted, all of these concerns are concerns, and are important. But for a minute or two, I want you to think about your family, and how family and friends "define" much of what your neighbor sees in you.
Now, as we begin to think about our earliest memories of our family, we will experience good and bad, for most of us have memories that bring both pleasure and discomfort. In this little exercise, try to focus only on the good...those memories that bring you a sense of joy, a remembrance of love, a sense of peace and thanksgiving and child-like fun.
Remember the presence of your mom and dad or a favorite relative. Remember that best friend that was so close to you, in those years of childhood, in those exciting and awkward teenage years. Try and remember the good that these special people seemed to create in you. You shined with their light, and that shining with light made them even prouder of you.
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