Christ Is Our Light

Deacon Kevin Gingras

June 14th, 2026

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/061426.cfm

Exodus 19:2-6a     Psalm 100:1-2, 3, 5 

Romans 5:6-11     Matthew 9:36—10:8  

Jesus looked upon the crowds and: 

His heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.

Jesus does not look at the crowd with annoyance, judgment, or indifference. He looks at them with compassion. He sees their struggles, their fears, their wounds, and their longing for God. Jesus indeed loves us the same way and understands we all live in difficult times. He sees our struggles, our hurts, and our longings - His heart is still moved with pity for all of us.  

It’s good to have him on our side for sure because, oftentimes, we are too hard on ourselves.  For example, when I receive the Eucharist, I expect that warm feeling inside, to be overwhelmed that I just consumed My God and the God of my ancestors.  If we receive in good standing, without mortal sin, then why don’t we have those Jesus feelings, all warm inside and all that!  Why don’t we return to our pews weeping with joy for what we just consumed?  I know for me, I start to doubt my faith, and I begin to think I might be doing something wrong!  I’m not receiving Jesus correctly! We mustn’t be so hard on ourselves!  Remember who Jesus picked to be his closest followers while on Earth. They are listed in today’s Gospel. Jesus picked a tax collector, somebody who would betray him, another who denied Him 3 times, and who Jesus even called Satan, and two fella’s who fought over who was the greatest!  Ok, so that probably doesn’t make you feel much better thinking about how bad they might have been!  Maybe just remember that Jesus is indeed on our side!

One thing we must remember when we don’t have that magical feeling after receiving the Eucharist is that our spiritual DNA has been damaged by the sin of Adam and Eve at the very start of Sacred Scripture.  Today we must remember that:

God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.

We are sinners, yes, sin is darkness, yes. Satan tries to twist our thoughts to make us think that our sins define us.  Sin does not define us! Sin is darkness, and we are not meant to live in the dark; we are meant to live in the light, the light of Christ! Christ in the Eucharist! It’s confession that shines the light of God’s grace on sin so we can see sin for what it is and remove it from our lives and be brought back fully into the light of Christ.  The more we go to confession, the easier it becomes to see that sin and even the near occasions of sin, and avoid them!

Our first reading tells us that:

if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my special possession … You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.”

Because of Adam and Eve, we were born into sin.  By our baptism, we are brought into the light of Christ and become priests, prophets, and kings!  That doesn’t sound so bad now, does it?

Jesus looks upon His church members, upon us, and sees people searching for meaning, he sees families facing challenges, young people seeking direction, and many who feel lost or forgotten. He sees us exactly where we are, and His response is not condemnation but mercy and love.

This week, through prayer and adoration, thank Jesus for bringing us out of darkness and into the light by our baptism, by our reception of the Eucharist, and by the sacrament of confession.

I’ll leave you with these words from St. Maximus of Turin

The light of Christ is eternally glowing with luminous radiance and can never be extinguished by the darkness of sin.” 

Know, Love and Serve God

Deacon Kevin Gingras April 19th, 2026 Third Sunday of Easter https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/041926.cfm Acts 2:14, 22-33   Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 111 Peter 1:17-21    Luke 24:13-35

Are we walking toward Emmaus like Cleopas and his friend, or are we walking towards Jerusalem?  These two men were walking away from Jerusalem, seven miles away, towards Emmaus. They should have been heading to Jerusalem. They had heard that the women didn’t find Jesus and that a vision of angels said He was alive; others verified what the women described, and they were still headed in the wrong direction! They had hoped that Jesus would be the one to redeem Israel. They were sad that Jesus didn’t become the next king in Jerusalem and free them from Roman oppression.  Their minds were on earthly things. They didn’t understand Jesus’ true plan to conquer sin and death for us and for all eternity. No wonder they didn’t recognize Jesus!

In scripture, the New Jerusalem is heaven.  In the book of Revelation, St. John describes his vision:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband … The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”

The new Jerusalem is Heaven, and Jesus is the one who makes all things new! Sometimes I ponder in what ways I am walking away from Jerusalem, from God, from Jesus.

I’ve heard some speak in absolutes, that everything we do either leads us closer to God or closer to Satan.  I try to avoid speaking in absolutes, since, as any Star Wars fan will tell you, only a Sith speaks in absolutes.  Some of my hobbies, such as napping, for example, don’t always lead me closer to either God or Satan.   Fishing, on the other hand, always leads me closer to God, even if I don’t catch anything. Just being out there on the water, in God’s creation, taking in God’s glory, it’s peaceful and magnificent.

I could easily go on all day about fishing, but how would my talking about fishing bring us closer to God?  Some might remember the old Baltimore Catechism that instructed:

The purpose of human existence is to know, love, and serve God in this world so we can be happy with Him forever in heaven

So we have three steps: first, get to know God, second, learn to love God, and finally, by that love of God, we will want to serve Him.

Studying scripture helps us to know God, so that’s step one. We have all sorts of scripture study groups here; get involved with one!  Open your bible at home and read it, study it, learn about salvation history from the beginning of Adam and Eve’s sin, where we came to need salvation, to the coming of Christ, who is our salvation!  The second reading from 1 Peter sums Jesus up nicely:

He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Step two is to love God.  Once we know God, we should grow to love Him. To do that, it is important that we recognize Jesus present in the Eucharist! In today’s Gospel, Cleopas and his friend recognize Christ after He used the same four verbs used at the last supper: takes, blesses, breaks, and gives.

Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that, their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.

Scripture scholars have said that this Emmaus Gospel is like the first celebration of the Mass.  They were exposed to the scriptures, and Jesus gave the Homily explaining it all, and then they had the celebration of the Eucharist.  They then went forth, this time back to Jerusalem, where they should have been headed to begin with, to proclaim how they had just experienced Jesus. 

That seques nicely to step three: to serve God. Once we get to know Jesus,  how merciful He is, and how he gave us our salvation, we can love him, then we must proclaim that to our families, our neighbors, our friends, basically everyone.  We can proclaim that with our words, but also in how we live. When the dismissal comes, and you hear, "Go forth glorifying the Lord by your life”, realize we don’t just say that to kick you out; it’s an instruction for all of us!

St. John Christostom said it well:

So, let your life correspond to the holiness of your mission, so that God's grace may be proclaimed everywhere.

Emulate St. Joseph in Small Ways

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

March 19, 2026

Solemnity of St Joseph

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031926.cfm

2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16   Psalm 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29

Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22    Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a

When reflecting on St. Joseph, I like to think about what I have in common with St. Joseph.  Both of us are men. Both of us were blessed with beautiful wives, and both of us remained loyal to those wives. Both of us were foster fathers to a child, and both of us protect our families.  St. Joseph protects Jesus, and as a deacon, one of my roles is defender of the Blessed Sacrament. The similarities end there.

St. Joseph is the husband of the Queen of Heaven and Earth; I am not.  His wife was pregnant when he got married; mine was not. He is the foster and adoptive father of our redeemer, the King of the Universe; my adoptive daughter is royalty, but only in my house.  St. Joseph's lineage to King David survived through a humble, hidden branch of David’s family.  My ancestors came from Canada. St. Joseph is never quoted in scripture; his silence is powerful.  I have a hard time knowing when not to speak!  The list goes on!  Anyway, let’s move on to some of the virtues of St. Joseph.  As we go through this list, let’s think about how well we portray these virtues ourselves, which ones we are great at, and which ones we need to work more on. We are supposed to emulate the Saints after all.

Just/Righteous: Described in Scripture as a "just man," he committed to doing what was good and following God's law, rather than merely following human rules.

Obedient and Faithful: He listened to God and acted immediately, such as accepting Mary as his wife and fleeing to Egypt when the angels told him to do so.  

Chaste and Pure: Known as the most chaste spouse, he loved Mary and Jesus with a pure, selfless love, creating order and peace in the Holy Family.

Humble and Hidden: He lived a life of humility, avoiding the spotlight and serving God and his family in obscurity.

Provider and Worker: As a carpenter, he demonstrated the dignity of labor, working diligently to support Jesus and Mary.  St. Joseph is even known as the Model for Workers.

Courageous Protector: He acted swiftly to defend the Child and Mother from dangers like King Herod during the “Slaughter of the Innocents”.  He is even known as the Terror of Demons!

Patron of a Holy Death: His life of piety and devotion to Jesus and Mary makes him a model for the final moments of life.

I try to emulate St. Joseph in my own small ways.  I have a Prayer to St. Joseph, the Worker, at my desk in Canton.  I try to remember to say that each day so that I may thank God for the successes in my workday and offer my failures to God in reparation for my sins and those of the world. I prayed to St. Joseph a lot when my father was in Hospice care. I knew my mother would be with my dad when he passed, and I wanted him to die peacefully for her sake as well as his.  Late one night, he just stopped breathing. He passed very quietly with her by his side.  St. Joseph’s intercession aided us at a very difficult time.

St. Joseph is a key saint in my Saint Posse, assisting me as a father, husband, deacon, and employee.  How can he assist you in your life?

I’ll end with this prayer from Saint Bernadine of Siena to St. Joseph:

Remember us, Saint Joseph, and plead for us to your foster-child. Ask your most holy bride, the Virgin Mary, to look kindly upon us, since she is the mother of him who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns eternally. Amen.

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.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life

Deacon Kevin Gingras

August 18, 2024

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/081824.cfm

Prv 9:1-6     Ps 34:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Eph 5:15-20    Jn 6:51-58

I came across a photo of me from long ago.  It was very long ago.  At that time I was in great shape, I had, what you would call, six-pack abs.  I worked out every day and ran three to four miles daily and it showed.  Now, not so much.  Now I fish.  I try to convince myself that fishing is a sport but I don’t look like what I used to so it’s difficult to convince people I’m still an athlete!  

Like any sport or endeavor, if you want to advance, you have to practice. You have to keep up with the work, which, clearly, I did not!  This is also true for our faith and that brings us to today’s readings.

Jesus was trying to advance their faith, to get them to level up in their understanding of who He is and what it is He is about to do.  This was going to be a difficult workout for them, for some of them it would be too hard.

Jesus begins by telling them that He is the bread from Heaven and that:

whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.

Well, that’s kind of shocking, I can understand why the Jews began to quarrel among themselves.  Eat his flesh?  But Jesus doubles down:

Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,

Now you have to go back to the original Greek that this was written in to fully understand what Jesus was saying.  The first word Jesus used to describe eating his flesh was “phago” which simply means to eat like a human normally would.  After the Jews quarreled among themselves the word Jesus used was “trogo” which means to munch or to gnaw, as an animal would do!  This statement would be much more graphic!  It was indeed a hard saying.  It was meant to grow their faith in Jesus Christ himself and prepare them for the Eucharist He would establish at the last supper that lasts even until today.

Some were ready for that workout as the early church truly believed in the real presence. Back in 112 AD Pliny the Younger, the governor of a Roman province went to look into what these Christians were doing, thinking, perhaps, that they were cannibals! He wrote a letter back to the Emperor Trajan and in the letter, Pliny describes the practices of these alleged “criminals”:

“They were in the habit of meeting on a certain fixed day before it was light, when they sang in alternate verses a hymn to Christ, as to a god, and bound themselves by a solemn oath, not to any wicked deeds, but never to commit any fraud, theft or adultery, never to falsify their word, nor deny a trust when they should be called upon to deliver it up; after which it was their custom to separate, and then reassemble to partake of food–but food of an ordinary and innocent kind.”

What stands out is that the letter states that they partake of food of an ordinary and innocent kind.   Pliny stressed that it was ordinary food because back then Christians were thought to be cannibals since they ate the flesh and drank the blood of Jesus Christ!  Yes, the early Catholics, just like we do today, eat the true flesh of Christ at the Eucharistic feast.

I think Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel challenge us to the same spiritual workout.  They call us to level up our faith in the Eucharist.  As St Paul told the Ephesians:

be filled with the Spirit … giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father

And we can thank Him personally, here today at Mass, present in the Eucharist.  We need to level up our faith in Jesus ever present in the Eucharist.  Our gym is the Church and the Adoration Chapel.  Spend time in adoration, face-to-face with Jesus Himself. Our workout should include praying to the Holy Spirit to strengthen our belief.  One of our tougher gym workouts is Confession, but don’t skip Confession Day!  Try to go often, at least monthly.  That will strengthen you more than you can imagine!

All of this is to give us the spiritual muscle to fight the demons Satan will send our way during our time on Earth.  All this is to help keep us strong when the temptations of life come our way.  This way when we have finished the Earthly race we can spend eternity.  St. Ambrose gives us a great workout plan:

 “Let your door stand open to receive Him, unlock your soul to Him, offer Him a welcome in your mind and then you will see the riches of simplicity, the treasures of peace, the joy of grace. Throw wide the gate of your heart, stand before the sun of the everlasting light.”

The Tale of Two Fruit Plants

 Deacon Kevin Gingras

April 28, 2024

Fifth Sunday of Easter

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042824.cfm

Acts 9:26-31      Ps 22:26-27, 28, 30, 31-32

1 Jn 3:18-24    Jn 15:1-8

This is the tale of two fruit plants.  In my yard I have an apple tree out back and a blueberry bush out front.  The apple trees I never prune and they are now a bit out of hand - they bear bad fruit or no fruit at this point.  The blueberry bush in the front, however, I prune the dead branches and the ones that bear no fruit each year.  Because I do this we get a good crop of blueberries from it yearly.  Faith and I will pick and eat them right from the bush, you can’t get fresher than that!

Now I know nothing about pruning grape vines but back in biblical times that must have been what people were familiar with as it is so deeply rooted in the Old and New Testaments.  We hear it in Isaiah 5, The Song of The Vineyard.  We hear it in today’s Gospel as well.  We also read of it in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. In Chapter 1108:

In every liturgical action the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form his Body. The Holy Spirit is like the sap of the Father's vine which bears fruit on its branches. 

I love that analogy.  God the Father sent his only Son into the world for our salvation.  God the Son ascended into Heaven and sent us God the Holy Spirit to give us the sap of the vine of Christ.  The nourishment we need to keep our souls alive!

Now sometimes pruning hurts.  We heard of our friend Paul, also known as Saul in today’s first reading.  He needed a lot of pruning.  Jesus spoke to him in a flash of light knocking him to the ground.  Saul was blind for three days, he didn’t eat or drink at all until Ananias healed him. Even years after his pruning and conversion the Apostles didn’t yet trust him.  Barnabas had to vouch for him.

I guess this brings the homily to us.  What do we need to prune from our lives?  What are the things that take away our sight of Jesus and how can we remove them?  Don’t worry, Jesus will help us to do this pruning, just reach out to Him. How? 

• Pray, and if you can, spend time in adoration with Jesus, and ask him to point out the dead branches in your life that need to be removed.  

• Receive the sacrament of Confession. Tell Him, in Confession, the sins you want to be pruned. Sure, sometimes some of the bad branches will grow back, and when they do go back to Confession again! 

• Receive the Eucharist in a state of grace.  When we receive the Eucharist, Christ turns us into tabernacle.  

If we do these things, along with proclaiming Christ to others Jesus will be more present to us!  In my morning prayer on Saturday  one of the intercessory prayers was:

You are present to all who preach your Gospel, and give power to their words - make us today preachers of your resurrection by our holiness in life.

You may wonder if it will work, will people come back to church because of something I say to them? A few men from the Holy Family Men’s group had sent out those flyers from one of Fr. Matt’s Homilies entitled Why Come To Mass on Sunday. We sent them out to all of you, but you attend church so our hope was you would give them to somebody you know who doesn’t go to Mass. We also sent them to parishioners on our mailing list we hadn’t seen in a while. After the 4:00 PM Mass Saturday a gentleman asked me if I was part of the Men’s ministry and wanted me to thank the men for the flyer. He said it has been 10 years since he has been to Mass and the flyer inspired him to return. Praise God! He told me “The lost sheep has been found’!

Today, upon our dismissal from Mass, our prayer should be that we go forth announcing the Gospel to the world just like St. Paul who was one of the greatest missionaries the Church has ever seen.

Mother Angelica tells us:

The Lord God has no one else but you.  You’d better get off your lead bottoms and go out there and change this pagan world!

Three Tabernacles

 

Deacon Kevin Gingras

December 24, 2023

4th Sunday of Advent

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/122423.cfm

2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16     Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29

Rom 16:25-27    Lk 1:26-38

Today, I want to talk about three tabernacles. The word tabernacle means ‘place of dwelling.’  Tabernacle #1 is from 2 Samuel; King David wants to make God a home:

When King David was settled in his palace, and the LORD had given him rest from his enemies on every side, he said to Nathan the prophet, "Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God dwells in a tent!"

Before the Temple was built by King Solomon, the Tabernacle was the moveable tent that housed the Ark of the Covenant while the Israelites were nomads in the desert. The Tabernacle Tent was 45 feet long, and The Ark of the Covenant was placed in a fifteen-foot cube towards the back part of the Tabernacle, called the Holy of Holies.  

The Ark was the link between God and Earth, and it was in the Holy of Holies where the high priest could enter only once a year on the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur, is the highest holy day of the Jewish calendar. The High Priest would make an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people.  This act of paying the penalty for sin brought reconciliation between God and His people. After the blood sacrifice was offered to the Lord, a goat was released into the wilderness to symbolically carry away the sins of the people. This "scapegoat" was never to return.

In a rarely-read passage in the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant is hidden by Jeremiah. We hear of this in the Second Book of Maccabees 2:4-7

The same document also tells how the prophet, …, ordered that the tent and the ark should accompany him, and how he went to the very mountain that Moses climbed to behold God’s inheritance. When Jeremiah arrived there, he found a chamber in a cave in which he put the tent, the ark, and the altar of incense; then he sealed the entrance. Some of those who followed him came up intending to mark the path, but they could not find it. When Jeremiah heard of this, he reproved them: “The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.”

No, Indiana Jones did not find the Ark of the Covenant, and no, it’s not stored deep in some government archival building. Remember the Prophet’s words:

The place is to remain unknown until God gathers his people together again and shows them mercy.

This brings us to Tabernacle #2, the Ark of the New Covenant, which is Mary, the Mother of God.  Through Jesus, God is about to gather all of His people, whether Jew or Gentile, when the word becomes flesh in Jesus through Mary as the angel Gabriel speaks these words to her in today’s Gospel.

"Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end."

We know that through Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, sin entered the world. Through Mary’s yes, her Fiat, and the birth of Jesus, a man and a woman, that first sin can finally truly be reversed. Now is the time for God to gather His people together again and show them mercy. Mary is not only today’s second Tabernacle; Mary is also a new Ark of a New covenant.  Through her yes, salvation entered, the Word was made Flesh, and Jesus Christ was born.

So what could be the Tabernacle #3? Our church today has a lot of similarities to the Old Testament Tabernacle tent. When you enter a church, you will see golden lampstands. Back then, there was, to the right, a table for the Bread of the Presence. Today, to the right of our altar is the Credence Table that holds the unconsecrated bread that will soon become the True Presence of Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Just before the giant curtain, there would also be an altar of incense. We have our altar here, and we also incense it at the beginning of most of our Masses. Finally, against the back wall, but no longer hidden, is the tabernacle that holds the remaining consecrated hosts after Mass. Jesus, the Son of God, is present in our tabernacle right now.  But that is not the third and final tabernacle I’d like to discuss. Tabernacle #3 is us. Once we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we become a tabernacle; we hold within us our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It is so important to remember that! After we receive Communion, we should return to our pews, kneel, and pray. Offering prayers of thanksgiving for finding us worthy to receive Him.  

A few weeks ago, a parishioner asked me why we have rules of not eating an hour before Holy Communion but no rules for after receiving. I didn’t know, so I looked it up, and here’s what I found from Catholic.com:

There is no present requirement for fasting after  Communion, but many books have recommended, as an act of reverence, not eating or drinking for 15 minutes after receiving –about as long as the sacred Species remains intact. If one remains at Mass until the closing blessing, one likely observes this recommendation even without realizing it.

Saint Alphonsus Liguori tells us:

“There is no prayer more agreeable to God, or more profitable to the soul than that which is made during the thanksgiving after Communion.”

 

Tend Your Domestic Church

March 22, 4th Sunday in Lent - Year A http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/041920.cfm

Well, what an odd Divine Mercy Sunday we are having this year!  The church has been turned upside down and a lot of us really need that mercy more than ever now!  We need Jesus’ Divine Mercy on all the churches across the entire world to get back to a bit of a sense of normalcy when it comes to our faith.  In our first reading, we can also see their faith was changing too.

In the first reading from Acts, the first followers along with the Apostles were also leading a sort of hybrid Christian faith.  They would gather in homes for the breaking of the bread but also go to the temple to meet. They participated in both the temple worship and the Eucharist in the earliest stages. They weren’t thinking of dividing Christianity and Judaism at this time.  

We are all currently living in a sort of hybrid Catholicism right now as well.  Our obligation to attend church has been dispensed and churches have been closed during this outbreak for the safety of the parishioners.  Instead, we “gather” with our families in our homes to virtually break bread and receive a “spiritual communion” each Sunday.  [There is a spiritual communion prayer at the bottom of this.] We watch masses on either Facebook live, YouTube, TV, or some other form of media. Even though this can be difficult, we must remain strong.  Even though we aren’t present together physically, we are present together in spirit.  We are still one Church it’s just that our “domestic church” has taken precedence over our local Churches for the time being. 

Make your domestic church as strong as it can be!  Let’s not become like poor Thomas, who in today’s gospel forever earns the nickname “Doubting Thomas”.  I’ve always felt bad for “Doubting” Thomas.  Peter was never known as “Denying” Peter for his three times denial of Jesus but Thomas doubts once and BOOM, labeled forever!  Please, don’t look down on Thomas because of this, how many of us have doubted in the past?  How many of us face doubt now?  Have we recently not trusted Jesus and relied more on ourselves?  I know I certainly have!  In these odd times do we doubt or do we trust?  We see in today’s gospel that Jesus is there in that locked room, He just shows up.  He is there, present in all of our houses, all of our domestic church buildings, we just have to recognize this, take the reins of our domestic churches.  How?  Continue with the Religious Education classes that they had to leave, pray together as a family, break out the rosary if you don’t do this already, and really recognize that Christ is present in our midst always.

Why?  Good question, why would we continue on in our domestic churches at this point?  The second reading gives us a solid answer!

Although you have not seen him you love him; even though you do not see him now yet believe in him, you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, as you attain the goal of [your] faith, the salvation of your souls.

That’s it, stay strong, continue the church in your own home, and work toward the salvation of your souls, work towards that heavenly goal.

In my domestic church, I have recently noticed one of my “parishioners”, my daughter Faith, who is only 14 and doesn’t fully comprehend what is going on has kept the faith (no pun intended).  She continually accentuates the positives of this situation.  To her she sees only benefits:

She doesn’t have to get up and get ready for the bus that used to come at 6:10 am five days a week.

• She gets to go to bed at 9 pm instead of 10 pm.
• She got a new and bigger Chromebook out of the deal to do her school work on.
• Dad is working from home all week now.
• She gets to “work” (aka school)  with mom and dad all day now.  Faith, who is deaf, always signs “the three of us are working, we are the same”.
• She gets to have “gym class” with dad after he gets out of work.  Dad, however, is old and gym class is no longer his favorite subject
• She stays in her pajamas a LOT!
• She gets to “participate” in an A.S.L. Mass through the Boston Deaf Apostolate with Fr. Shawn on Sunday morning.

She sees the good in all of this right now and trusts God because she has faith like a child in all of this.  This “parishioner” is a constant reminder of what Matthew 18:1-5 says:

At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

There is a lot going on in our diocese that shows the positive of this situation.  Look to those things.  Look to the story of priests flying over our entire diocese in a plane with the Eucharist to bless us all.  Look to the parishioners who are doing things for their pastors and still supporting their church financially during this time.  Look to your online parishes for weekly and even daily Mass.  Look to your parish to see if they do Facebook live adoration.  Ours at Holy Family in East Taunton is every Tuesday night, 8-9 p.m. on our Facebook page.  Reposition is at 8 and then we pray the rosary together from 8:30 to 9 and conclude with a virtual benediction.  Pray to the Holy Spirit to guide you as you take the helm of your domestic church.

My prayer for all is that we all keep our domestic church focusing on the positive, still “attending” our churches virtually and filled with faith like a child as Saint Edith Stein said:

“Lay all your cares about the future trustingly in God’s hands, and let yourself be guided by the Lord just like a little child.” 

Act of Spiritual Communion, St. Alphonsus de Liguori:

My Jesus, I believe that You

are present in the Most Holy Sacrament. 

I love You above all things, 

and I desire to receive You into my soul. 

Since I cannot at this moment

receive You sacramental, 

come at least spiritually into my heart.

I embrace You as if You were already there 

and unite myself wholly to You.

Never permit me to be separated from You.

Amen.