Blog & Pastor Letters

Help at a Time of Need

06-14-2020From the Parish Administrator’s DeskRev. Victor C. Yakubu

A day before I traveled for my vacation, the Knights of Columbus at St. Paul Phoenix gave me a beautiful gift. Would you like to guess what the gift was? If you said a chalice, then you got it right. What better gift can you give the priest than that of a chalice? I love this gift and I will cherish it. The gift is a reminder of my priestly commitment in the service of God’s people. I am sure the knights do the same for many other priests who serve across the United States and beyond.

A day before I traveled for my vacation, the Knights of Columbus at St. Paul Phoenix gave me a beautiful gift. Would you like to guess what the gift was? If you said a chalice, then you got it right. What better gift can you give the priest than that of a chalice? I love this gift and I will cherish it. The gift is a reminder of my priestly commitment in the service of God’s people. I am sure the knights do the same for many other priests who serve across the United States and beyond.

Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday when he took bread and said, “This is my Body”, and took the cup filled with wine and said, “This is my Blood. “He also said, “Do this always in remembrance of me.” By this mandate, the Church continues the tradition of celebrating the Holy Eucharist as a memorial of Christ’s self-giving to the world. But the Eucharist cannot exist without the ministers to administer communion. Thus, we have the sacrament of Holy Orders that empowers men to administer God’s love as found in the Eucharist.

In the first reading, Moses reminded the people of Israel, "Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its seraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers." The Lord fed his people at a time when they were in dire need of food to sustain them in the desert. They ate to their satisfaction and they did not die of hunger. This action is a prelude to the feeding of a multitude of people that Jesus did throughout his ministry. He fed people who needed nourishment, as he did not allow them to starve to death. It is necessary therefore for Moses to remind the people, to never forget the Lord for his generosity in feeding them and sustaining them.

In the gospel, Jesus outrightly told the Jewish people, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." They thought that Jesus was giving them his flesh to eat, so they shunned this gift as a call to cannibalism. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” they kept asking themselves. Jesus said to them, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” What we often miss out in this passage is the gift of self that Jesus offered to us, which the Jewish people did not see due to their intolerant attitude. Like their ancestors, they always looked at the surface of things instead of looking deeply to see what Jesus offered to them.

The celebration of Corpus Christi is a reminder to all of us of the gift Jesus gives to the Church. When we receive Holy Communion under the appearances of bread and wine, we are truly receiving the Body and Blood of Christ after the priest mentions the words of consecration in a process called transubstantiation. Ordinary bread becomes the Body of Christ, and ordinary wine turns into the Blood of Christ; mysteries that we cannot comprehend unless we apply the eyes of faith. However, what we do know is that Jesus will always be present at every celebration of the Eucharist to nourish us just like the Israelites were nourished with manna in the desert. The journey of life is tough, but the support of God through the communion we share will enliven us to forge ahead despite the harsh realities of this journey. We know that God will sustain his Church at this time of great need. In the journey of life, nobody can predict the conditions on the way. But God knows our needs and He will sustain us along the path.

Keep praying!

 

 

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