JULY 21 / 22, 2018
5:00 PM (SAT), 8:00 AM (ST. HELENA) ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
Rear Admiral Alan B. Shepherd was the first American in space, and the fifth man to set foot on the moon. Not only the fifth man on the moon, but also the oldest, and the earliest born.
He was born in 1923, in Derry, New Hampshire; and died in Pebble Beach in 1998 – at the age of 74.
He served in the US Navy during World War II, and was one of the first astronauts, being chosen as one of the Mercury 7 in 1959.
His first space flight was May 5, 1961. The one obvious malfunction was that there was no provision for … well … using the bathroom. Nature called during the flight, and Shepherd’s space suit suffered a couple of non-fatal electrical shorts.
Three months short of 10 years later, he was on the moon – and is famous for hitting two golf balls … the second one (he claims) flew for “miles and miles.”
Today is the 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
And besides the first reading which speaks of the failure of human leaders to properly shepherd the people of Israel – and God’s promise to appoint a shepherd Himself … and the Gospel, where St. Mark indicates Our Lord’s pity for the people who were “like sheep without a shepherd;” and the Responsorial from Psalm 23 … what do shepherds have to do with today’s readings?
Not much.
Neither is there much connection with astronaut Alan Shepherd.
Rather, today’s Gospel is a prelude to the next month’s worth of Gospel readings on the Bread of Life discourse.
Over the next several weeks, we will shift gears from Mark’s Gospel – which brings us to the point just before Jesus feeds the multitude – to John’s Gospel … Chapter 6 … which is the theology of the Most Holy Eucharist … right from the Savior’s mouth.
St. Paul gives us a theological foreshadowing of this. Telling the Ephesians, and us as well that “the blood of Christ” has brought us near to God, has broken down our divisions, and established peace.
We are “reconcile[d]” with God “through the cross . . . through [Christ] . . . in one Spirit to [God] the Father.”
This word – “reconciliation” comes from a Greek word (apokatallassÅ) that literally means to reverse a separation through a transformation.
This is the point of the Sacraments. Baptism changes us from strangers to God into members of His family. Confirmation moves us from spiritual infancy into spiritual maturity.
We are fed by the Eucharist – which is the whole point of the Mass – and our celebration of the Eucharist at the altar.
Every Mass, we hear this proclaimed at the end of each Eucharistic Prayer: “Through him, and with him, and in him . . .”
And the graces we receive are the power of God which brings about the reversal of whatever separates us from God . . . so that we may be transformed by His most powerful grace.
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, let us pray that we might be immersed in that transforming grace … that removes whatever separates us from our divine inheritance. And that “through . . . with . . . and in” Christ Jesus, we might be raised up as God’s daughters and sons, redeemed in Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
