Showing posts with label Eucharist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eucharist. Show all posts
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Genesis Ministries
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God's time is God's time. God's ways are God's ways. And sometimes, those times and ways are completely unexpected. In the midst of chaos and violence, Cpl. Andrew Roy, Jr. found his way back to Christ and the Eucharist. Not only that, but in the middle of Afghanistan he is now leading others to explore the possibility of that reunion as well. When God comes in power, our transformation is unbelievable!(from Catholic News Service)
Roy, who never made it past his first Communion to confirmation until adulthood, struggled with understanding and embracing his faith for most of his life, until this deployment to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division. "In May, he was bringing in books to disprove God's existence, and now he's willing to fight for it," said the Rev. Jeff Masengale, a captain and a Southern Baptist chaplain.
"I just wanted to rile things up," Roy told Catholic News Service. But over a three-month period, discussions between the two men led Roy back to his Catholic roots. Recently, he decided to turn his private research into a catechism class for other soldiers on this forward operating base, or FOB. READ MORE
Roy, who never made it past his first Communion to confirmation until adulthood, struggled with understanding and embracing his faith for most of his life, until this deployment to Afghanistan with the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division. "In May, he was bringing in books to disprove God's existence, and now he's willing to fight for it," said the Rev. Jeff Masengale, a captain and a Southern Baptist chaplain.
"I just wanted to rile things up," Roy told Catholic News Service. But over a three-month period, discussions between the two men led Roy back to his Catholic roots. Recently, he decided to turn his private research into a catechism class for other soldiers on this forward operating base, or FOB. READ MORE
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Genesis Ministries
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So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Ephesians 5:2
The bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world. John 6:51
Live in love... The word "love" has been so abused over the years, this simple instruction becomes more confusing. What is it to live in love? As we continue to meditate on the image of bread, Jesus gives us an even stronger image of what it means to love. His love is to give up his flesh, so that we may live and have hope of reconciliation with God. If we are to imitate God's love, then love is no less than sacrifice. Love is living in the Truth of God. Love is not just butterflies and rainbows and the happy thought that everyone is okay.
I once heard a priest brilliantly define an issue that plagues our current culture. He said that we all go around afraid to speak out, because we are taught that we're all okay - "I'm okay, you're okay." The truth, if we are to live as authentically in Christ as we can, is quite the opposite. We are none of us "okay" - we are all plagued by something, but Jesus, the Bread of Life, offers his flesh as food for healing. So it is more accurate to say, "I'm not okay, but in You I am made well, Lord."
If we are to truly live in love, we must be willing to live in the truth that each of us is somehow suffering. Out of love, we must lead each other to the only one who can make us "okay," to the Divine Healer, to the Bread of Life who came that we too may live.
Do we humble ourselves before Christ to admit our failings and allow Him to heal us through Reconciliation and the Eucharist? If we do not, pray this weekend that the Holy Spirit may reveal and heal what it is that keeps us away from the new life we are promised.
The bread that I give is my flesh for the life of the world. John 6:51
Live in love... The word "love" has been so abused over the years, this simple instruction becomes more confusing. What is it to live in love? As we continue to meditate on the image of bread, Jesus gives us an even stronger image of what it means to love. His love is to give up his flesh, so that we may live and have hope of reconciliation with God. If we are to imitate God's love, then love is no less than sacrifice. Love is living in the Truth of God. Love is not just butterflies and rainbows and the happy thought that everyone is okay.
I once heard a priest brilliantly define an issue that plagues our current culture. He said that we all go around afraid to speak out, because we are taught that we're all okay - "I'm okay, you're okay." The truth, if we are to live as authentically in Christ as we can, is quite the opposite. We are none of us "okay" - we are all plagued by something, but Jesus, the Bread of Life, offers his flesh as food for healing. So it is more accurate to say, "I'm not okay, but in You I am made well, Lord."
If we are to truly live in love, we must be willing to live in the truth that each of us is somehow suffering. Out of love, we must lead each other to the only one who can make us "okay," to the Divine Healer, to the Bread of Life who came that we too may live.
Do we humble ourselves before Christ to admit our failings and allow Him to heal us through Reconciliation and the Eucharist? If we do not, pray this weekend that the Holy Spirit may reveal and heal what it is that keeps us away from the new life we are promised.
Come Lord Jesus!
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Genesis Ministries
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Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." John 6:27 (NRSV)
We continue from last week on the central image of food, of bread. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Just as God sent down manna from the heavens for the Israelites to nourish them while they were lost, he sends us Christ for our eternal and spiritual nourishment. More than simply food, the Bread of Life nourishes our souls, transforming them into a new creation in Christ. One cannot authentically encounter Jesus Christ and recognize him as Lord without being somehow changed. Every instance of such encounters in the Gospels lay evidence to that.
We not only encounter Christ, but in the Mass, he makes Himself one with us in the Eucharist. By consuming Christ, He is at work within us, helping to restore us into God's original image, holy and blameless in His sight.
How is the Lord calling you to change this week?
We continue from last week on the central image of food, of bread. Jesus is the Bread of Life. Just as God sent down manna from the heavens for the Israelites to nourish them while they were lost, he sends us Christ for our eternal and spiritual nourishment. More than simply food, the Bread of Life nourishes our souls, transforming them into a new creation in Christ. One cannot authentically encounter Jesus Christ and recognize him as Lord without being somehow changed. Every instance of such encounters in the Gospels lay evidence to that.
We not only encounter Christ, but in the Mass, he makes Himself one with us in the Eucharist. By consuming Christ, He is at work within us, helping to restore us into God's original image, holy and blameless in His sight.
How is the Lord calling you to change this week?
