JUNE 13/14, 2020
5:00 PM (SAT), 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASSES
This weekend we commemorated the Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua. You can see his statue next to the St. Joseph altar.
His story is fascinating – you might want to look it up online or in a book. He was known for his powerful preaching, supreme knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick.
He can also help you find your car keys if you pray for his intercession.
But the story I want to relate was later in his life when he was preaching in Toulouse in the south of France. the people in that area had lost their faith in the Eucharist. They doubted if the bread and wine were merely a symbol, or if it was indeed the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
And one outspoken man challenged him. He brought a half-starved mule and waited to see its reaction when shown a pile of food on one side, and St. Anthony holding the Blessed Sacrament in a monstrance on the other. The animal totally ignored the fodder and to everyone’s amazement knelt before Our Lord in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.
This feast is of relatively recent origin, the Mass and Office texts having been prepared by none other than St. Thomas Aquinas in the year 1264.
The immediate reason was to commemorate a miracle, one year before, where a German priest, doubting the generosity of Christ in coming Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist … was given a singular miracle when at the Words of Institution, “This is My Body,” the host began to bleed onto his hands and onto the altar cloth.
But even more than commemorating a 13th century miracle, this day celebrates the central mystery of our Faith – what the Second Vatican Council referred to as the “source and summit of the Christian life.”
Which begs the question – do we recognize Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist?
As we approach this altar to receive the Sacred Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – quite possibly for the first time in almost 100 days … let us pray for a deeper appreciation and experience of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in this most Blessed Sacrament. And may the infinite and manifold graces of the Eucharist transform us – and our homes, our neighborhood, our country, and our world – all for the greater glory of God.
