Dear Parishioners,
I was driving to church a couple of weeks ago when my car was hit on Richie Highway. It was totaled, and we had to get a new car. This is what I feared about the trip from Annapolis. So, I am relieved that with my reassignment, I won’t have to regularly do the trip. But the accident also brought home to me God’s protection. Had the car hit my car a couple of feet further to the front, my door would have been hit, and who knows what injury would have occurred. As it was, I was thankfully not injured.
God’s protection and presence in my life is a source of goodness and holiness that I readily acknowledge and seek out. This is a reflection of my faith. Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. This Solemnity recognizes the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It is his body and blood, soul and divinity. It dates back to 1264 and Pope Urban IV, under the influence of St. Juliana of Mount Cornillon, Belgium, a sister who had great devotion to the Eucharist and St. Thomas Aquinas, the great theologian. The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist means that we believe that Christ is truly present, and as we consume the Eucharist, Christ comes to be present in our body, mind, and spirit. The Eucharist is significantly described by the Vatican II Council as the source and summit of our faith. Christ is therefore present in the world around us and in ourselves, having partaken of the Eucharist. We live in him and he in us, in him we have our being. Let us therefore be aware of his true presence and be open to the fruits of his presence and thankful for its benefits.
Blessings,
Deacon Steve
