You all may or may not be aware of this, but our church in the United States is beginning today on this feast of Corpus Christi a period of several years when our bishops are hoping that we will focus on Christ’s presence in the eucharist. And there’s a story behind why they want to do this. It all started a few years ago when a survey was conducted among American Catholics that suggested that most Catholics don’t believe that Christ is truly present in the eucharist, that it is “just a symbol” of his presence with us. And not only don’t most Catholics say they believe it, the survey…
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A few weeks ago we had some online gatherings of parishioners, and one of the things everyone was asked was what they missed the most about the parish during the pandemic. And as I was thinking about how I would answer this question, I thought two things. One of course is being in the church. I mean it’s wonderful what has been accomplished here in the great hall, a million cheers for everyone who has made it possible. But you’re all so far away. Over in the church, we are facing one another, as if we’re sitting around a table at a meal, which is what we are doing after…
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I don’t know about you, but I am a careful and conservative person. And believe me, this has its pluses in life. Part of it comes from my careful and conservative German-American father, a wonderfully kind and patient man but who didn’t like risk-taking of any sort, and who saved everything for a rainy day. In fact even when that rainy day came, he was still saving everything for an even rainier one. My guess is that many of you were taught the same way, and you have absorbed some of the same life rules. Choose a safe career that you’ll never go wrong with; before you start a project…
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I am not a morning person. Usually, my best times for work and concentration do not have the letters “a.m.” associated with any of them, and if I’m ever up at 5:00 in the morning, it usually means I’ve made a horrible decision about scheduling a flight out of town. But this past week I was down at the shore, and we were staying right on some tidal wetlands that extended out our back window. One morning last week, well before sunrise, I was completely overwhelmed by what it’s like in a place like that right before the sun comes up. In the midst of darkness, the noise of hundreds,…
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Suppose you flipped past the Discovery Channel some evening and you saw a documentary about a primitive tribe, just rediscovered by some anthropologists, who made their promises in a ritual where they slaughtered animals, smeared the blood on themselves, and on everything, and on the altar they set up to their god? If you didn’t change the channel immediately, it would be hard not to have a reaction that says: Thank God we’ve moved beyond that stage of evolution. Then, of course, you’d come here, and today, on this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we are presented with the same problem. Readings with covenants of blood everywhere,…