FOCUS ON THIS WEEK'S READINGS from the PASTOR

Looking ahead to next week: We are entering into ordinary time. This is a time for especially appreciating the everyday, every moment, presence of our God. We celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This is the central every day feast of the Church. It is the heart of who we are. We receive Christ and become what we receive. In the sense that we celebrate the Eucharist every day, this is ordinary. That it is ordinary is itself extraordinary. Our Lord Jesus gives himself to us in the most intimate way, his own Body and Blood, everyday for all eternity. There is nothing more precious, nothing more extraordinary.

Readings for next week: Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-1; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:51-58

Reflection: We have a natural yearning for God and for relationship with him. There is a similar yearning in God for relationship with us. The goal of Christianity is union, union with God and which each other in the eternity of heaven. No one will ever reach heaven alone. The union we seek in heaven must begin here on earth. Our celebration of the Eucharist is such a beginning. It is both a foretaste and a true experience of the heaven we seek. We celebrate union with Christ, and through Christ with all believers, both in the flesh and in the spirit. Like a drink of water on the way to an oasis, the Eucharist refreshes just as heaven will refresh us, and yet leaves us thirsting for more. A taste, but only a taste, of heaven is received and shared among us.

1. Share your experience or understanding of the Eucharist with family or friends.

2. Take a walk. Keep your eyes open for things that suggest union between God and humanity.

Prayer: Father, among all your gifts, the gift of your Son is the most precious. Through him you have chosen to express your love. Through him, we express our love for you. May our sharing in his body and blood draw us ever closer to the joys of heaven.