The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ_C - There's Plenty to Go Around_062225

Deacon Tom Writes,

“There’s Plenty to Go Around!”

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year C

Can we ever be satisfied… with anything? We want faster, bigger, better, more of everything and we want it right now. We don’t want to wait to have it or work long and hard to get it. Have you noticed how some people have reacted to the ongoing supply chain disruption from Covid, Tariffs, Strikes, avian flu in the case of recent egg shortage? Some people are visibly upset; others are outraged; other will rush out and buy a ton of whatever to make sure they can weather the storm;and then others don’t seem dismayed at all. But this last group appear to be the exception. The truth is that we have been consummate consumers driven by immediate gratification. We have swallowed hook, line and sinker the clarion call from Fifth Avenue, from self-help gurus, from the media, and even from some pulpits that, “We can have it all and we can have it our way... right now.” Tell-tale signs that our expectations are not realistic and are a red flag that something has to change.

 

Our spiritual senses, if they are well developed, will tune us in to the fact that there is a problem with this type of behavior and warn us that this is not the natural order of things. No created thing, no human being can completely satisfy us or our hearts desires. It is only God who can satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts as we know from the famous saying of St. Augustine, “Our hearts will not rest until they rest in you”. Today we contemplate the wisdom of God as we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. God, the architect of the universe and the one who sustains all that exists within it, designed us to seek the ultimate good, which, of course, he is by his nature, by his very being. He “hard wired” us, so to speak, so that we would come looking for him, seeing his image in all creation, and putting aside all else in our search for the “real thing,” the ultimate goodness, the one and only giver of life and of all that is.

 

Those who were fortunate to be around Jesus listening to him speak about the Kingdom of God may not have fully realized the gift they were given: the bread of life, food that would satisfy completely. What’s our excuse? As Catholics there is no more profound mystery of faith than what we experience when we receive the Eucharist – the Son of God coming into our lives and dwelling within us and satisfying us completely. God becomes, in a sense, the very fuel that energizes us to do our part in helping bring about the reign of God in our times, in our lives, and in the world around us. What we receive we are meant to pass along to others as our part of making Christ present in the world.

 

That God would become really present in the bread and wine during the Consecration remains as difficult a teaching today as it was when Jesus first revealed it. Recall how many walked away because this teaching was too difficult? Jesus asked the apostles, “Will you leave me also.” And Peter responded, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

 

The gift of the Eucharist reveals God’s desire to be a part of the very fiber of our lives. We give God our thanks for this precious gift by sharing our faith and our lives with one another as we await the fullness of his long-awaited kingdom on earth.

 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

 

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacs engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those thinking of coming into or leaving it.

 

Recommended Reading: Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton. One of the most famous books ever written about a man’s search for faith and peace. A Journey of Faith and Transformation, Exploring Vulnerability, Forgiveness, and the Quest for Spiritual Fulfillment in the Midst of a Turbulent World

 

Recommended YouTube Video: Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life - Here is Fr. Rohr’s presentation on the First Half of Life.

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Credit: Southern Crab Nebula:  STScI-2019-25  

Deacon Tom Writes,

“We Are God’s Delight”

 

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year C

 

The reading from the Book of Proverbs summons our imagination to that moment in time when God, the master craftsman, is busy laying “the foundations of the earth.” Witnessing this extraordinary event is this mysterious figure, “The Wisdom of God.” God’s Wisdom is “poured fourth”, personified, given a physical reality, in order to be by God’s side as his craftsman to assist in bringing forth creation. God’s Wisdom is euphoric at what is happening, “being God’s delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; finding delight in the human race”. The Wisdom of God is such a cooperative, willing, and light-hearted assistant, and one so eager to find delight in God’s masterpiece of creation, the human race.

 

Today’s readings give us insight into the Holy Trinity whose feast we celebrate today. We recognize God, as the Creator, calling into existence the entirety of the cosmos. At work also is the Wisdom of God, God’s delight, the Holy Spirit, that “mighty wind” who swept over the waters of creation in Genesis. In the Gospel today, Jesus, the Logos, through whom all creation came to be, is completing his mission on earth. Before he leaves, however, he imparts to his disciples the Spirit of Truth that will continue to guide and teach them as they continue Jesus’ work of advancing the Kingdom of God here on earth.

 

The Trinity will always be a mystery for us, in this life and the next. We know that we will never be able to comprehend God’s essence completely. Yet, we do share in God’s very nature by virtue of our participation in the Sacramental life of the Church. In that divine community we encounter Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who delight in our human family.   

 

The celebration of Trinity Sunday is a sign that our Easter Season is behind us. We have reentered Ordinary Time at a critical moment when our world is challenged in many ways, divided according to many ideologies, ethnicities, beliefs, colors, languages, hopes and desires. Jesus told his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to remind them of all he had taught them and to guide them through all the ups and downs of life. As we move beyond our Easter Celebration let us endeavor to live in the light of the Holy Spirit and act as disciples of Christ by loving one another, forgiving those who have caused us sorrow and pain and serving one another as Christ taught and gave us the example to follow.

 

In the days to come, may we be aware that in Baptism we too have received Jesus’ spirit, “the Spirit of truth. May the “Spirit of Truth” that abides in us help us to see ourselves, our loved ones, and even those we may hold in little regard as “God’s delight” also.

 

Enjoy the day!

Deacon Tom

 

Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacons engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those on the threshold, those thinking of joining our Catholic Community or walking away from it. 

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Photo: Weeki Wachee Sunset_tjc

Deacon Tom Writes,

“Lord, Send Out Your Spirit,

And Renew the Face of The Earth”

 

Pentecost Sunday, Mass During the Day, Year C

 

If you are among the diminishing number of Catholics that attend church on a regular basis, I think you would agree that we don’t show much enthusiasm about being there.

 

The event that set the world on fire, spiritually that is, has become routine, ho-hum, ordinary. That event, Christ sending his spirit into the world to complete the work he had begun, seems to have fallen on deaf ears. And perhaps you have notices this too, that our world, our communities, our schools and shopping malls and homes are at a loss because of this. Things change, we all know that. New ideas, trends, philosophies, come and go. I get that. But to surrender our faith, our core beliefs centered on God’s unconditional love for his creation in favor of the glitter and trinkets the world has to offer, well, I don’t get that. More than ever, we are in need of Divine intervention, help from above to guide us and direct our hearts and minds and enlighten them as to who we are and what God has called us to be. On this special day, a day that for these past two millennia has been called the birthday of the church, we pray to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, whose help we are most in need. We pray for the Spirit of God to come into our lives and revive our hearts so we may know God’s presence at work within us and in our world, renewing us and filling us with his love.

 

This Pentecost we pray that the Spirit of Jesus Christ will awaken in us a desire to know God and to do his Will. Yet, we really don’t need to ask for this gift…. Jesus told us that he would send… “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name -- will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you” JN 14:26. Our need is to be open to receive this Spirit of God deep within the fiber of our being. We need the Holy Spirit so that we can meet the demands of Christian discipleship … that is to grow daily in the knowledge and love of God and in service to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is the Holy Spirit who breathes into us the knowledge of God’s love so that we, in turn, can love and engender love in others as Jesus taught us. For indeed… “we have been given the manifestation of the spirit for some benefit” …. and that benefit is to realize God’s abundant love not only in ourselves, but in others also giving them the opportunity to discover God’s love for themselves.

 

Jesus sent his disciples into this world that hungered for the love and peace that only God can give and to find rest from the toils and anxieties of life. We have these same needs today! Can there really be any question about that as we witness the horrific suffering in our world, the political divisiveness, the economic disparity, and the hopelessness engendered by the degradation of the human spirit? We are in desperate need of the gifts of the Holy Spirit...wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord so that we can live together and realize our full potential as children of God. These gifts of the Spirit transform our lives and conform us to the life of Christ in every way. Too difficult? Yes, for us left to ourselves, but not for Christ to accomplish in us. That is the transformative power of Holy Spirit this Pentecost for all who strive to be disciples of Christ today. As Christ sent his first disciples into the world to dispel the darkness and give it hope, he now sends us into the world so we can continue to be people of hope…. who forgive and love one another, who act justly and work for a justice in this world, who look forward to the fullness of God’s reign. We, like those who have gone before us, have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and, so empowered, are sent into the world to be witnesses of God’s love and to cooperated with his own Spirit so that together we can renew the face of the earth.

 

Enjoy the day

Deacon Tom

 Please Visit www.deaconspod.com and listen in as the three deacons engage in a contemporary conversation exploring the treasures our Catholic faith has to offer to those on the threshold, those thinking of joining our Catholic Community or walking away from it. 

 

OTHER RESOURCE

Recommended Reading: Against an Infinite Horizon - the Finger of God in Our Everyday Live by Ronald Rolheiser O.M.I - is one of Fr. Ronald Rolheiser’s most beloved books in which he leads us to a deeper experience of the beauty and poetry of Christian spirituality. In this reflective work Fr. Ron asks us to view our lives against the infinite horizon of God's love and power.        

 

Recommended Podcast: Desert Fathers in a year podcast with Bishop Erik Varden. Erik Varden is a Cistercian monk and the Bishop of Trondheim in Norway. Bishop Vardan has become a leading Catholic voice through his writings that engage our secular culture using the language of beauty to point us to the centrality of our search for God, even when we look in the wrong places.

 

A Catholic convert during his studies at Cambridge, he discovered the monastic tradition and the Desert Fathers, inspiring his own vocation at Mount St. Bernard's Abbey in England where he eventually became abbot.

 

He guides us through the insights won in the spiritual combat of the ancient desert which direct us to what we need most today: the love of Christ that conquers all obstacles.