Giovanni da San Giovanni, Christ with the Eucharist between two angels (1633), oil on canvas, Santa Maria Della Fonte Nuova (Italy)
We Christians eat the Body and drink the blood of the Lord in a mysterious way. From the earliest days of the Church, we have referred to the Eucharist as the Mystery of Faith, an expression of Christ’s death, resurrection and second coming. For all of us, to understand Communion is to take a leap of faith into mystery. We are receiving the real Body and Blood of the Lord. At Mass, the bread and wine are consecrated, not just blessed. They become Jesus in a mystical way, a way beyond our understanding. The Eucharist is infinitely more than a meal of fellowship. It is this, but it is far more than this. The Eucharist is infinitely more than the union of the community with Christ as its head. It is this, but it is far more than this. When we receive communion, we receive Jesus, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. The bread and wine become the Lord and remain the Lord. The consecrated hosts are kept in our tabernacles for us to take to the sick and for us to pray before in adoration. Our non-Catholic brothers and sisters have no reason to do this. They do not have tabernacles because they do not believe that bread and wine are transformed into the Lord’s Body and Blood. Nor do they have priests capable of doing this for the community. Their communion services are radically different than ours. That is the reason why a Catholic cannot leave the Catholic Church without leaving the Eucharist even if they join a faith that has a communion service.
So, we Catholics are people of mystery. We do not know how, but somehow, we are united to Christ in a mystical way every time we receive communion. To understand the miracle and mystery of the Eucharist, our starting point must be Jesus. Jesus is Divine, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity. He is the Eternal Son of the Father. When we eat His Body and drink His Blood, when we receive communion, He gives us who He is, Eternal Life. Our Founding Fathers, Washington, Adams, Franklin, Jefferson gave us liberty, but they were not liberty. Abraham Lincoln gave the slaves freedom, but he was not freedom. But Jesus gave the Bread of the Eternal Life because He is the Bread of Life. Jesus was not just a great man. He is Divine. The Bread of Life is Jesus, our Divine Sustenance. And we take Him into ourselves. When we receive the Eucharist, we are united to Him, to each other and to the whole Body of Christ. It is no wonder that those who wish to destroy the Church begin by attacking the Eucharist. In England of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, France in the Eighteenth Century, Mexico in the Twentieth Century, and throughout the world in the Twenty-first century. Throughout history and continuing to the present day priests are tortured and killed for saying Mass for the people who long for the Bread of Life.
Every Sunday, and for some of us every day, we enter into the Mystery of the Eucharist. We receive the One who is the Bread of Life. This is Jesus who unites Himself to Us with His Body and Blood. This is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Eternal Son of the Father, who humbled Himself to become one of us, to die for us, and then gave the gift of His Life and Death to us in the form to the Blessed Sacrament. This is Jesus whom we will take into ourselves today when we receive communion. The people of the Gospel reading murmured. They murmured because they were not open to faith. We do not murmur. We proclaim • AE
St. Joseph Catholic Church (Dilley, TX) • Weekend Schedule
Fr. Agustin E. (Parish Administrator)
Saturday August 10, 2024.
5.00 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation
6.00 p.m. Santa Misa.
Sunday, August 11, 2024
8.00 a.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation
8.30 a.m. Holy Mass.
10.30 p.m. Sacrament of Reconciliation.
11.00 a.m. Holy Mass.
Thursday, August 15, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(Holy Day of Obligation)
6.00 p.m. Holy Mass
XIX Domingo del Tiempo Ordinario (Ciclo B)
La incredulidad no es como decía un autor (profundamente equivocado, desde luego) una «deformación perversa del espíritu», o algo propio de hombres malvados y retorcidos que pretenden enfrentarse con Dios. No. La incredulidad sutil, una tentación que siempre va a estar presente en nuestra vida y que empieza a echar raíces cuando decidimos, en pequeños o en grandes momentos, vivir de espaldas a Dios.
Vivimos en un mundo en el que Dios no está de moda, y en el caso de que lo necesitemos, luego resulta fácil arrinconarlo en algún lugar donde no moleste demasiado. Al final, lo más fácil es vivir como si Dios no existiera ¿Qué puede significar hoy para muchos hombres y mujeres la invitación de Jesús en el evangelio de este domingo a vivir como discípulos, escuchando lo que dice el Padre? Y es que incluso los que nos decimos creyentes hemos ido perdiendo capacidad para escuchar a Dios. No es que Dios no hable ya en el fondo de las conciencias. Es que, llenos de ruido, avidez, posesiones y autosuficiencia, no sabemos ya percibir Su presencia. Quizá sea ésta una de las mayores tragedias del hombre contemporáneo. Estamos arrojando a Dios de nuestra conciencia. Rehusamos escuchar su llamada que nos busca. Intentamos ocultarnos a su mirada amistosa y a la invitación que nos hace a sentir su amor, su perdón, su luz y su alegría. Preferimos otros dioses con quienes vivir con más tranquilidad. El Concilio Vaticano II nos recordó que la conciencia es el núcleo más secreto y el sagrario del hombre, en el que se siente a solas con Dios, cuya voz resuena en el recinto más íntimo de aquélla (Gaudium et Spes, 16). Cuando los hombres perdemos esta capacidad de escuchar la invitación de Dios en el fondo de nuestra conciencia, cuando no hay silencio interior, cuando vivimos del ruido y por el ruido, corremos el riesgo de gritar colectivamente afirmaciones muy solemnes sobre el amor, la justicia, la solidaridad y honestidad, pero sin hacerlas vida en nuestra vida. Llamaradas de petate, que dice la sabiduría popular. Como aquel que gritaba, en auditorios llenos de personas, aquello que de cien almas le interesaban las cien, pero al final le interesaban solamente aquellas que le reportaran algún beneficio.
Cuando no escuchamos la llamada personal de Dios e intentamos responder, con esfuerzo, con sacrificios, con días malos y con días buenos, empezamos a escuchar con más atención nuestros intereses egoístas, y a buscar la satisfacción de nuestros deseos por encima de todo. Y de todos.
No podemos olvidar que nuestra vida la vamos construyendo no tanto en los acontecimientos ruidosos, y mucho menos en nuestra a veces tan vacía participacion en redes sociales. Nuestra vida se va haciendo en esas horas silenciosas en las que hablamos con el Señor y le escuchamos, en esas horas de trabajo, en esos días a veces grises, a veces luminosos, en los que damos nuestro mejor esfuerzo por encontrarnos con el Señor • AE
Music for prayer
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (1525 -1594) was an Italian composer of late Renaissance music. The central representative of the Roman School, with Orlande de Lassus and Tomás Luis de Victoria, Palestrina is considered the leading composer of late 16th-century Europe. Primarily known for his masses and motets, which number over 105 and 250 respectively, Palestrina had a long-lasting influence on the development of church and secular music in Europe, especially on the development of counterpoint. According to many scholars, Palestrina’s «success in reconciling the functional and aesthetic aims of Catholic church music in the post-Tridentine period earned him an enduring reputation as the ideal Catholic composer, as well as giving his style (or, more precisely, later generations’ selective view of it) an iconic stature as a model of perfect achievement.» It is to Palestrina that we owe this beautiful version of Ego Sum Panis Vivus • AE
LA MEDITACION DE LA ESPOSA 