The Most Holy Body And Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Dear Parishioners,

    What do we believe about the Eucharist?  This is something that we might reflect on as we commemorate the Feast of Corpus Christi.  The two words by which we refer to this sacrament can teach us a lot. 

    We commonly talk about Mass or Holy Mass.  I often wonder if there is another kind of Mass than a Holy Mass, but I guess we need to remind some people that Mass is a supernatural event..  Mass is a word that comes from the last line of the Latin Tridentine Mass.  This, of course, was the Mass commonly celebrated before Vatican II.  The last line was Ite, missa est. The words meant, “Go, the Mass is ended.”

The implication of this was not just to say, “The End.”  The reason this was said was to challenge people to take the Christian message out to the World.  Today the last line of the Mass can be, “Go proclaim the Gospel of the Lord.”  All of this reminds us that the Mass never ends.  The Mass gives us the grace to go out in the world and proclaim the good news by word and action.

The other way we commonly refer to our worship on Sunday is that we call it Eucharist.  Eucharist means thanksgiving.  Eucharist also implies an action that we participate in.  We do not come to watch Mass.  We come to add our energies to the worship.  When we sing.  When we respond with enthusiasm with the prayers.  When we come forward reverently to receive the Eucharist. We are truly taking part in the Eucharist action.

Eucharist is not a spectator sport.  Sometimes people say that they do not come to Eucharist because they are not fed.  Sometimes I think that implies passivity.  What responsibility do we take to prepare ourselves for Mass? How friendly are we when we pray with each other at Mass?  How do we try to apply the Gospel message in our day to day life after we leave the Eucharist?  

Mass is all about participating in the Christian life. If we do that earnestly then we hunger for the Body and Blood of the Lord. We then feel like we need to be at Mass.

Blessings,

Fr. Mark

P.S. I would like to thank all those that helped with the Rummage Sale last week.  I would also like to thank the committee for sponsoring a Stained-Glass window for $24,000.  This is a big help as we seek to preserve our historic church.  If anyone else would like to offer additional funds for a window please contact Bobbie Vidmar at our parish office.