St. Anthony & Our Lady of Fatima

At every Eucharist we accept and commit to a Christlike relationship with all those who join us at the altar, and with all those we encounter in life.  Our concern is different than the crowds who ask: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”  Our concern is how to give what we have and who we are to those who hunger and thirst for God.  Our faith assures us that Jesus is the living bread for us; it is that same faith that sends us from Eucharist to be living loaves of love, bearers of justice an signs of compassion.

The Scriptures reveal that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit cannot be understood apart from their unity.  To be in a relationship with God is to enter a relationship with all that God is an all that God does.  Our union with God is union of concern for all God has created.  We are initiated into that union at Baptism, and at that moment we no longer exist in isolation but are joined with the communion of saints; we become members of a body that we dare to name the Body of Christ.  Every time we invoke the Trinitarian God we affirm this truth.

What would it have been like to have seen the risen Jesus and to have heard him say, “Peace be with you” before handing on the Holy Spirit?  Yet, for those of us in the twenty-first century, we experience the same Holy Spirit.  When we were baptized, we were given the gift of the Spirit, and then we were sealed by that same spirit in confirmation.  The Holy Spirit lives in our parishes, families, friends, and relationships.  After he rose from the dead, Jesus gave his Holy Spirit to be with us.  In our daily lives, let us allow ourselves to be guided by the Spirit of Christ, whose disciples we are.

The night before he died, Jesus prayed for us and for all those who were chosen by God.  Rather than make us smug, this knowledge should humble us and cause us to emulate him who came to serve rather than be served.  We live in the world but are not of the world.  It is only a temporary home for us.  A bright future awaits where love reigns and glory is resplendent.  For Jesus in the Gospel of John the crucifixion is the lifting up, the exaltation of the Son of God.  With eyes of faith, let us see anew and reorient our lives.