When you fall in love with the Eucharist, you fall in love with Jesus Christ

Deacon Kevin Gingras

Jan 18, 2026

2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/011826.cfm

Isaiah 49:3, 5-6   Psalm 40:2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10

1 Corinthians 1:1-3    John 1:29-34

John the Baptist knew Jesus.  They were cousins, so that makes sense.  But John tells us he didn't know Jesus. I think what John was talking about is that he didn't know that Jesus really was the Son of God. Last week, we heard how John baptised Jesus.  The Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus - that is when John knew who Jesus was! Today, we hear that John knew who Jesus was on another level as he proclaims:

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.

John used language that Jewish people would understand.  We may not fully grasp the connection today, but it harkens back to the book of Exodus and the Passover.  Exodus 12 describes the rules for the Passover Ritual, the thing the Jews had to do to be saved:

Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month, every family must procure for itself a lamb… Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish… They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They will consume its meat that same night…

Jews sacrificed lambs, particularly for Passover, by selecting a perfect male lamb, slaughtering it in the Temple courtyard, and having priests collect its blood to sprinkle on the altar while the owner roasted and ate the meat with family. This was a solemn, communal act of remembrance and thanks, marking God's protection in Egypt. 

These words and actions should be at least remotely familiar to all of us!  This is a snippet taken from the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the book all priests use at every Mass, the one on the altar, which reads:

The Priest genuflects, takes the host and, holding it slightly raised above the paten or above the chalice, while facing the people, says aloud: Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.

Blessed are we indeed!  Jesus became the perfect sacrifice, the sinless “Lamb of God,” and his offering was pure and final, until the end of time.  He gave his life willingly, not just for his followers, but also for his enemies and those who persecuted him.  His sacrifice is eternally effective, extending to us today and on into the future.  We experience this sacrifice today, a bit different, a bit cleaner, if you will.  Today we experience this sacrifice in the Eucharist.  Here are some summaries from the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist:

It is a perpetuation of Christ's Sacrifice (CCC 1323, 1351): At the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharist to "perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again," entrusting it as a memorial to His Church.

It is one single sacrifice (CCC 1367): The Mass makes present the one sacrifice of Christ on the cross; it's the same Christ who offered Himself, but the manner of offering (unbloody) is different from the bloody sacrifice on the cross.

Christ is Present (CCC 1374): Through the power of the Holy Spirit and the priest's words, the bread and wine become the true Body and Blood of Christ, really and substantially present.

Source and Summit (CCC 1324): The Eucharist is the "source and summit of the Christian life," completing Christian initiation and uniting believers more deeply with Christ.

A Sacrament of Love (CCC 1323): It's a "sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet" where Christ is consumed, grace is received, and glory is pledged.

Offered for All (CCC 1369): As a sacrifice, it's offered for all the faithful (living and dead) for the forgiveness of sins and to obtain spiritual benefits.

So what are we supposed to do with all this information?  I suggest this week get to confession if you haven’t been in a while.  Let the Lamb of God take away your sins. Unclog that pipeline of God’s grace into your life.  After that, fall in love with the Eucharist all over again because when you fall in love with the Eucharist, you fall in love with Jesus Christ!

I pray that this week we all come to realize the words of St Thomas Aquinas: 

The Eucharist is the sacrament of love: it signifies love, it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.

Sanctify!

January 19, 2020

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year A
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/011920.cfm


Have you ever read a scripture passage so many times that you just don’t feel it’s fresh anymore, as if there is no new material in it for you to learn from?  I shouldn’t be guilty of this but I am and now I stand here to tell you - DON’T DO THAT!  Scripture is alive, the living breathing word of God!  Scripture’s meaning doesn’t change but our perception of it can as we learn more and God brings us closer to the truth of who the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is.

Today, something in the Gospel struck me that I hadn’t noticed until meditating on it these past few weeks.  The Gospel of John has this quote from John the Baptist:

‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’

Because he existed before me!  But John the Baptist is six months older than Jesus!  John the Baptist was giving a quick course in Christology before anybody even knew who Christ really was!   Christ always existed - he was begotten, not made of the father when the word became flesh.  Christ the Son, like God the Father and the Holy Spirit are all and always have been eternally one!

Ok, with that said, the next thing we need to discuss is that today we once again wear green, welcome back to Ordinary time! Today is actually the second Sunday of Ordinary Time, but last week was actually not the first week of Ordinary time, it was the feast of the Baptism of the Lord on Sunday and that ended the Christmas season so, in essence, we don’t get a First Sunday in Ordinary Time!  Confused?  Yeah, me too. When I researched how to lodge a complaint about the missing Sunday with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (or USCCB) I stumbled across what they say about Ordinary Time:

Ordinary Time is a time for growth and maturation, a time in which the mystery of Christ is called to penetrate ever more deeply into history until all things are finally caught up in Christ. The goal, toward which all of history is directed, is represented by the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Ordinary time should be a time where we reflect on how God should sanctify our lives in all areas, even what we find ordinary like waking up to go to work or school.  

Our sanctification isn’t like going to a spa where we sit back and relax and let the sanctification do its work.  Our sanctification and salvation rely on our actions and that is clearly stated in today’s readings.  Today’s readings also state that our sanctification through our work is not just for ourselves but for the whole Church.  We see this right away in Isaiah:

The LORD said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory.

And then goes on to state:

I will make you a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.

The Responsorial Psalm gives a good line to meditate upon during prayer or in adoration:

Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

We are called to live a life of service to God in every aspect of our lives, to do God’s will.  When we go to work and walk into the office each day we are called to bring God there with us, we shouldn’t be saying: “God, you wait here in the car, I’ll be back in about nine hours”.  When we go on vacation we need to bring God with us and at a minimum, we need to make every effort to find a local Church and attend Mass that weekend while we are away from home.

Again, I can’t stress this enough, God must be first always, and then everything else will fall into place.  Our lives will be sanctified and our community as well!  As Paul’s letter to the Corinthians said:

you who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be holy, with all those everywhere who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours.

That is for all of us, all the time, and with our church here at Holy Family I feel I’m preaching to the choir - we are a small but very active parish here in East Taunton and it doesn’t go unnoticed.  Others have often said to me how much we have going on with our bible studies, adoration, special Masses, Youth, March for Life (pray for the March Pilgrims as we leave for the March on Thursday morning), Saint Vincent de Paul, Knights of Columbus, That Man is You and WINE - Woman in the New Evangelization ministries for the men and women of our parish and others too.  Our outreach has affected the lives of many enriching the spirituality of those individuals as well as that of our parish and beyond.

If you feel you are on the outskirts of all these parish ministries jump in, find one of our very active ministries and get involved.  If you already are involved then invite a friend or two or twelve to get involved with you and share that gift with them! If you aren’t comfortable with that then just spend some time at our adoration chapel in the Parish center praying for the church.  Don’t neglect the power of prayer, it is one of our most important ministries to help sanctify us and our Church and our world.

As Saint Francis of Assisi said:

Sanctify yourself and you will sanctify society.