Shared ...

Dear Friends in Christ,

This weekend is your last chance to take in the Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit on campus. Please set some time aside and come and explore. It is also Community Sunday - a wonderful time to share fellowship, meet someone new, grab a coffee and enjoy what it means to be part of our parish family. Please make time to head to Nolan Hall. Our Pastoral Council and our Liturgy Committee are hosting. Please feel free to introduce yourself; they are happy to share with you in our parish life. 

Over the course of these three weeks, we have been spending time centered on the Eucharist and the words blessed - broken - shared. Actions we take from the Last Supper when Jesus first celebrated the Eucharistic feast with His closest friends the night before His self-oblation on the cross. Jesus blesses the bread and through the hands and words of the priest today, that same blessing is imparted. Jesus breaks the bread, a sign that what is one is divided but still mystically united in Christ. Many though we are, we are all one body, as Saint Paul explained (see 1 Cor 12:12ff). Jesus shares the bread with his friends just as he shares himself with us. And we are invited to go and do likewise.

During this last week, our focus is on the word “shared.” What first comes to mind for me is the hard work and effort that Blessed Carlo put into the miracles exhibit and the great witness it is for the Church. Truly, it is a moment to share the beauty of our faith. Also, while I was aware of some Eucharistic miracles, I would never have guessed that more than one hundred are documented and verified. Seeing them compiled and presented is beautiful, heart-warming, thought-provoking, and faith-filling.  

There are several which somehow relate to animals recognizing the divine presence even when humans struggle with faith. Take for example Rimini, 1227 - when a donkey adores our Eucharistic Lord as a test to convert his master, even after not eating for three days. The doubtful man becomes a great collaborator with Saint Anthony of Padua, sharing the faith with others after his beast of burden revealed the truth to him! Or there is the case in Glotowo, Poland, when in 1290, the oxen bowed in reverence in the middle of a field to reveal the presence of the sacred host, which had been buried there before an invasion. Similarly, animals recognize the divine presence in Salzano 1517 as a priest takes Holy Communion to the dying. In each case, the animals recognize and adore the divine presence and so they witness to the truth of the Eucharist. If I can say it this way, they share the faith with us; they give testimony. Can you find any other miracles that relate to animals?

What we can say of the Eucharist is that it is our greatest treasure, but it is a treasure that is meant to be shared. We share the faith with our next of kin; we try to pass along the faith to the next generation. There comes a time when each Catholic must embrace the truth of the Gospel for themselves. To receive the gift of faith each person must come into a personal relationship with the living God, to come to understand and believe that Jesus is real. Jesus is alive. And Jesus wants to have a deep friendship with each of us. Without that faith, we are merely practicing religion or ritual, following doctrine or teaching. But our faith is meant to be a living supernatural relationship with the living God, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

I hope that this time will move you to come to deeper faith and even to share that precious treasure with someone you love.

In God’s peace,

Fr. Wilson