Welcome to Our Community of Faith

    THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST JUNE 22, 2025

This past Thursday we celebrated Juneteenth a National Holiday, a day of

prayer and learning commemorating the end of slavery, our nation’s original

sin. At a time when there is a concerted effort to turn back the progress we

have made in this country, it is an opportunity for us to recommit ourselves to

the hard work of making our country a place where there is liberty and justice

for all people. We ask God to help us to not grow weary.

“As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death

of the Lord until he comes.”

Those words of St. Paul in today’s second reading remind us that there is

an unbroken link and connection between what we do here today and what

Jesus did at the last supper. Down through the ages, we as a Church have

placed our faith in those words of Jesus and we do exactly what he asked us to

do. We gather each Sunday to bless and break bread and to drink from the one

cup, and we believe that whenever and wherever we do this, Jesus changes the

bread and wine into his body and blood. We believe that he is really and truly

present among us and we are abundantly blessed when we receive his Body and

Blood in Holy Communion. We profess this as the mystery of faith, “When we

eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you

come again.”

Today’s Feast celebrates the gift of the Holy Eucharist, but it also

celebrates the gift of the Church, because the Church is the body of Christ. He is

the Head and we are the members. By Baptism we are incorporated into the

Body of Christ and empowered to use the gifts and talents God gives us to build

up the Church, the Body of Christ. When we come forward to receive Holy

Communion, the priest or the Eucharistic minister says, “The Body of Christ”,

and we respond “Amen”. When we say amen, we are professing our faith that

this blessed bread is the Body of Christ, but we are also professing our faith that

WE are the Body of Christ and that we need the grace and blessings of the

Eucharist to live out our responsibilities as members of the Church, the Body of

Christ.

For 101 years, on this property, the parishioners of the Shrine of Our

Mother Of Mercy have gathered together to celebrate the Eucharist, to be fed

by God’s Word in Sacred Scripture and to be nourished by his Body and Blood in

Holy Communion. At the end of every Mass, we are told, “Let us go in peace to

announce the Gospel, the Good News of the Lord to love and serve the Lord and

one another, and we respond Thanks be to God. We are commissioned and

empowered to work together to build up God’s Kingdom on earth, to make our

world a better place where justice and peace is a reality for all people.

So, we pray: Lord, we thank you for the gift of the Eucharist, the gift of

your body and blood, your soul and divinity in the Holy Communion. We thank

you for the opportunity to receive you in Holy Communion every time we come

to Mass. Deepen within us a love and appreciation of your presence among us

until the end of time. Empower us with your grace to be your faithful witnesses

in our world. Let the Church, the body of Christ say Amen. Amen.

                                                                                                                        - Father Ed