JULY 2, 2017
7:30 AM, 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM, 5:30 PM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn is an emeritus Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 1979 he founded and for years directed its world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic.
In 1994, he wrote the book Wherever You Go, There You Are … subtitled Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life.
There are many definitions of Mindfulness … but perhaps the simplest is the best:
the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.It would seem that for most people, an awful lot of life is lived on autopilot. Now, 23 years later, Mindfulness is all the rage. It’s on television and radio, and all over books and magazines.
Today is the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
In the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul asks the rhetorical question:
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ JesusOne would presume that any Christian would know that. But St. Paul is asking the obvious question because if we are baptized into the death of Christ, then we have risen with Him. Can we forget that? Have we forgotten that?
were baptized into his death?
The issue here is “awareness.” When St. Paul is asking “[a]re you unaware …” he’s making a point to remind the Romans … and us as well … that we have to “live in newness of life” with the risen Christ.
In our reading from Romans, and the verses that follow, St. Paul speaks about going from “knowledge,” to “consideration,” and finally to “offering.”
Knowledge is mere data. We must reflect on it and mull over what it means for ourselves in our own situation, and then unite it with the Cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, for a Christian, everything we have … our possessions, our thoughts, our actions, our desires … must be joined to Christ. First through knowing, then by reflection, and finally through union.
In this we become fully aware of our connection to His life, allowing us to more fully “liv[e] for God in Christ.”
This is why we must willingly “take up [our] cross and follow after [Jesus].” As He tells us in the Gospel.
We do not do this out of some desire for self-inflicted pain. Nor do we do it to impress someone, or to receive the honor of the world. Rather, our desire must be to live for Christ … so that everything … everything … we do … is done … through Him, with Him, and in Him.
This awareness consecrates our hearts, our minds, our souls, and our bodies to God … making every aspect of our lives … and every action of a lives … a living sacrifice: through, with, and in Christ Jesus.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – let us offer ourselves with Him as a sacrifice to God. May everything we do – from the greatest to the least … our every thought, word, and deed … be done in Christ, with Christ, and through Christ. His death is our life. Our hope is in His resurrection … which transforms us into the members of His Body – the Church.
May we be drawn more deeply into the life of the Most Holy Trinity … through Baptism, and all the Sacraments we receive … especially as we are nourished today by this great Sacrament of Sacraments … the Most Holy Eucharist.
