11th Sunday in Ordinary Time

June 14, 2026

Our mission is not just not nurturing our own personal spirituality or even the spirituality of the Church; we have a mission to the world.

Matthew 9:36-10:8

At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.” Then he summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus; Simon from Cana, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Jesus sent out these twelve after instructing them thus, “Do not go into pagan territory or enter a Samaritan town. Go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

Jesus sees the “troubled and abandoned”  crowds and he has a concern.  He must have help to address their needs, So he calls together the Twelve – his first official disciples. He shares his vision with them; he invites them to see what he sees.  They accept his invitation to follow him and to see with his eyes. But that doesn’t mean they would have gotten together socially – joined a bowling club together or had each other over for a 4th of July barbecue.  We know that from the list and brief descriptions Matthew gives of the first disciples. Simon and Andrew were brothers.  They probably got along, but what did their families think of their dropping their fishing nets to go off with the itinerant preacher?  Not all families share our ideals.  The woman I described said that her parents thought she could make more money working for a bank, or a brokerage house: after all, she has the skills necessary to lead a team and raise two million dollars. James and John were also brothers.  Mark says Jesus gave them the nickname, “sons of thunder”—Boanerges.  It doesn’t take much imagination to deduce how they got that name!  Then there was Matthew himself, a tax-collector, a traitor to the cause of Israel because he collected taxes for the Romans.  Simon was of the Zealot party.  Zealots were super-nationalists, burning with zeal for the liberation of Israel.  Some were terrorists against the Romans. I wonder what it would be like to invite the tax collector and the Zealot over for tea! There are moments in the gospel when the apostles’ diverging personalities flared and Jesus had to reign them in.  How did he do that?  By continually keeping their vision clear;  reminding them of the purpose for which he invited them and by urging them not to follow their own interests and priorities.  He said that if they wanted to follow him they would have to make personal sacrifices, put aside their differences and focus instead on the needs of others. “Pick up your cross daily.” Jesus brings this unlikely group together; he and his vision are the binding elements that keep them from fragmenting.  Little by little he helps them look out at the world around them – with his eyes.  He knows who they are; how different they are.  And even though he is not finished with them yet;  even though they may feel inadequate to the task, without degrees in Philosophy and Theology, not religious experts –  he sends them out.  They have been learning to see with his eyes and to notice and tend to those who are sick, those considered unclean, the lepers of society; the dead in body or spirit; those possessed of other spirits, who are “not themselves,” because they are crazed and distracted.  Those Jesus sends are to invite the very ones Jesus would have invited, so that they too will learn and receive what the disciples learned and received from Jesus. Many of us here in church today probably aren’t part of the same social circles.  We certainly aren’t all family members.  Probably there are some here we’d wish would just go to another church!  We are here, not because we are naturally drawn to each other, but because we were baptized.  The same water was poured over us and the same words said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  We have been called out, named the way the Twelve are named for us today.  And like them, we too are sent. We are like that woman who works for the homeless. As she said, “Each of us has to look around us.”  In some way, where we live, work, recreate and go to school, we are called to see with Jesus’ eyes, and act accordingly. No one can tell us exactly where and when we are to respond to Jesus’ call. We will just have to look out and see and hear the way Jesus did. And through our baptism, that is what we are being prompted and empowered to do. Today we pray for each of us: “Help us see what you want of us, help us not settle on being just occasional Christians, but “full time Christians.”  Give us sensitive sight, your eyes, for the world. We pray too for those recently baptized, that our example will help them have vision and sensitivity to those who need them.”

Quotable

Galilee was neither a religious nor an intellectual center; it did not wield political power. According to biblical literature it appears to have been outside the mainstream of Israeli life...the Galilean Jews were regarded with patronizing contempt by the “pure-minded” Jews of Jerusalem. [As a mixed race, a person from ] Galilee was a sign of impurity and a cause for rejection. The Pharisees looked down upon “the people of the land” because they were ignorant of the law. The Sadducees looked down upon them because they were somewhat lax in matters of religious attendance and familiarity with the rules of temple worship...Yet throughout all this the Galileans maintained a refreshing originality in Judaism.  It was a combination of the commonsense, grass-roots wisdom of practical experience, their more open and personal relations with foreigners and their relative distance from Jerusalem. Their hospitable and fertile land gave them a warmer, more optimistic outlook on life than the Judean Jew had...The Galilean faith in the god of the [ancestors] was thus more personal purer, simpler and more spontaneous.  It was not encumbered or suffocated by the religious scrupulosities of the Jewish intelligentsia.
—Vigilio Elizondo in, GALILEAN JOURNEY: THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN PROMISE.  (New York, Orbis Books, 1983) pages 54-5)

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

“I bore you up on eagle’s wings” —Exodus 19:4

The Israelites have escaped from the slavery of Egypt thanks to the Lord. Why did God do this? After all, the Israelites were mere slaves, the least of these. God acted out of love creating a sacred relationship. We will see that the Israelites do not always honor this relationship by failing to act in ways that testify to God’s compassion to others beyond their own.  Whenever the Church becomes more attentive to her own well-being than to her mission to be Christ in the world, she fails to honor God. What is this mission to be Christ to the world? In his book, A New Way to Be Church: Parish Renewal from the Outside In, Jack Jezreel, founder of JustFaith, writes, “How can we possibly follow Jesus and not find ourselves in the company of our sisters and brothers who are hungry, homeless, and hopeless?…If our churches are not forming or trying to form real-life saints committed to the abandoned and downtrodden, then what are they doing?” (21-22). Jezreel believes “that every facet of Catholic life in most parishes is being shortchanged” because, as he writes, “the vision of God’s love and justice and Jesus’s proclamation of the reign of God and the life journey of compassion and integrity outlined in Catholic social teaching and the Gospels are central, critical ingredients of our mission, our self-identity, and our vision” (21). In most parishes, we have more ministries inside the walls of the church than those that go out beyond those walls. We must look at our parishes, and ourselves, and ask, “How much of the life of my parish is done outside its ‘walls’? What am I doing to be Christ in the world? The Vatican II document on the laity makes it clear that Christian social action is the laity’s pre-eminent work and goes so far to say that “the demands of justice must first of all be satisfied; what is already due in justice is not to be offered as a gift in charity” (8). Clearly, for the laity, this call to mission to be Christ to the world must be instilled as the way of Jesus and as the way to life with God. God bore us up on eagle’s wings so we can spread God’s love to others.

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book”is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading:At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd.....Jesus sent out the twelve after instructing them thus... “As you go, make this proclamation: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’  Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons.  Without  cost you have received; without cost you are to give.”

Reflection:Many of us here in church today probably aren’t part of the same social circles.   We are here, not because we are naturally drawn to each other, but because we were baptized. We have been called and named--- the way the Twelve were called and named for us in today’s gospel.  And like them, we too are sent.

Through our baptism we are being prompted and empowered to see with Jesus’ eyes and respond to the needs of those around us--- where we live, work, recreate, go to school and in the world.

So, we ask ourselves: Can I name a specific way in which I have been called to follow and serve in Jesus’ name? What do I need to do to respond better to my call to be a Christian in the world?

Some Thoughts on Today’s Scripture

Jesus is addressing His disciples before he sends them out to heal, witness and cast out demons. He tells his disciples that all they have received from Him was free, without payment and now they must in turn do the same.

• Every one of us is being called to be a harvester. Each one of us can reach a corner of the harvest field that is accessible to no one else. These include my family, my neighbours, my work colleagues and others who come into my life. I may be the only person who brings Jesus with his healing and compassion into their lives.

• There are so many people who need to hear the message of love and compassion in their lives today. Where can I harvest?

• Jesus was compassionate, living out a mission of mercy in proclaiming Good News and bringing healing. He gave authority to his disciples to do the same, asking them to do so generously. It was a gift that they had received and they were to share it in the same spirit. His kingdom was near, a kingdom of mercy that offered hope and love to all who would accept it.

• I am part of a broken world that needs compassion. Jesus went out to all the cities and villages reaching out to those in need. In what way am I a lost sheep? How does that feel? In my prayer I ask the Lord to help me recognise and minister to the lost sheep of this time?

• ‘Curing every disease and every sickness’ is an essential part of the spread of the Gospel. It is not only the miracles of the saints or the work of the medical professionals, but we all have a duty to visit the sick.

• Jesus asks us to pray that he sends labourers into his harvest. Again, it is not just the religious professionals, priests and religious, that he is going to send. We need to be open ourselves to being sent as ‘missionary disciples,’ like Pope Francis says.

• Jesus had compassion on the people who were harassed and helpless. What about me? Do I feel the need of his help in some part of my life?

• He tells us to pray to send labourers into his harvest. So, let’s do it! Am I free to help the mission in some way?

• The Twelve are to perform cures, to cast out devils (and even to raise the dead - all in the day’s work, as it were). Indeed, something totally new has to be stirring!

• A shepherd-king has suddenly arrived - Jesus, full of compassion, is bringing heaven close to earth.

• Humanity is being launched on a new trajectory, is being taught the ways of a new kingdom - the people are being led forward from the ordeals of the past to a future that is all brightness.

• Jesus, in this gospel account I see you engaging with vigilant eyes and ears to the cry of the suffering world of your day. To them you were the compassionate one, bringing balm to the wounded places of their lives. 

• Lord, the cries of the poor and broken hearted are evident in the mass migration daily beamed into my living room. Let me not forget that you summon me today, to be your eyes, your ears and your hands of compassion. May I respond with loving compassion to all who come to me.

• Do I know any people who are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd? Let me hold them before my mind's eye for a moment. Can I now imagine Jesus looking at them? How does he see them? 

• If I feel harassed and helpless, how does he see me? I ask for the grace to look on the world around me with the compassionate eyes of Jesus?

• The compassion of God is meant to spread throughout the world. So Jesus calls others to action. The community of Sacred Space is also called. How strong is my compassion?

• We ask for the blessing of energy and devotion to others in their time of need. We may do many things for them, and that is good. But sharing the Good News that God has ‘come near’ and is close to us may be the most valuable thing we can do for people in distress.

• I travel in imagination with Jesus as he makes his journeys. I ask him what gives him so much energy to serve the sick, many of whom must have been frightening to look at and to touch. He chats with me about compassion, and I ask that my small heart may grow to be as compassionate as his. I sense his compassion toward myself, and it comforts me.

• Jesus has a mission for me. Who are the ‘lost sheep’ today whom he may want me to help? Am I generous enough to do what he asks of me?

• How do I see the crowds? Do I focus on their violence or mindless greed? But so many are like sheep without a shepherd, without direction. I am often like that myself. They call for compassion, as I give without payment. This is more complex than it seems. Lord, you do not tell me to avoid money as such, but to avoid payment for preaching the Gospel. I should give freely what I have freely received. In my prayer today I ask: What place does money have in my heart?

• In Jesus' time, people believed that those who had serious psychiatric illnesses were 'possessed' by demons. Even today we talk of alcoholics as being possessed by the 'demon' drink. Maybe I need to examine my 'demons.'

• Jesus' good news was the love and forgiveness of God poured out on people like you and me. When we love and forgive others, especially the poor and those on the margins, we spread the good news of God's kingdom, God's reign of love.

• The harvest is plentiful and ripe. I think of the people around me and ask God to enlighten me to notice where there is opportunity to reap, gather or to acknowledge goodness. I bring what is good before God, giving praise and thanks.

• There is so much good that is not noticed, so many blessings that are unacknowledged. I pray for a deeper appreciation of the rich harvest that is around me.

• In the Gospels, sickness is clearly not treated as a mere medical problem. Once again, sickness (like sin and even like death) is ultimately ascribed to the activity of the Evil One. The demonic power was feared. So Jesus saw his mission as : hand-to-hand combat with the Enemy.

  • Even some of those meant to be spiritual leaders of the people, allowed their motivation to come under the diabolic influence – like the Pharisees here who perversely ascribe Jesus’ miracle to the devil-in-chief.

  • No wonder, then, that the people as a whole could at times feel confused, pulled this-way-and-that, harassed and dejected : Jesus was quite clear that they had both bad and good guides / shepherds.

  • Jesus had important work to do – the harvest – and was going to need co-workers to share his mission.

  • I bring to mind those who feel harassed and helpless. I pray for the compassion that Jesus had: that I may recognise those in need around me and be a shepherd to them.

  • Jesus recognised many missed opportunities as he looked at the people around him. I ask God to help me to recognise the rich harvest around me, that I may use the opportunities I might otherwise miss.

  • In face of the helplessness and harassment that many suffer, Jesus reminds us to turn to God. We work as though everything depended on us, but pray as though everything depended on God. He is the Lord of the harvest. It is his world, not ours. We do what we can, glad to be of service. But God did not create us to help him out of a jam. The work of the world's redemption is never complete. When we have done our best, we turn to our father in heaven and say: /Thank you for giving me a share in this work. Now over to you, Lord./

  • The heart of Jesus is characterised by compassion. He could enter into the lives of others, particularly the lost and the needy, and they knew he cared. He seemed to care for them with a greater care than sometimes they had for themselves. Sheep without a shepherd roam in circles and they may even be led off by a false shepherd. Thus it is with us. Prayer is the field where compassion may be sown, for those near and those far away.

  • I bring to mind those who feel harassed and helpless. I pray for the compassion that Jesus had: that I may recognise those in need around me and be a shepherd to them.

  • Jesus recognised many missed opportunities as he looked at the people around him. I ask God to help me to recognise the rich harvest around me, that I may use the opportunities I might otherwise miss.

  • The harvest is plentiful and ripe. I think of the people around me and ask God to enlighten me to notice where there is opportunity to reap, gather or to acknowledge goodness. I bring what is good before God, giving praise and thanks.

  • There is so much good that is not noticed, so many blessings that are unacknowledged. I pray for a deeper appreciation of the rich harvest that is around me.

Commentary on Matthew 9:35-10:1,6-8

The promises of the First Reading are shown being fulfilled in the person of Jesus in the Gospel, and they are arranged in two sections. First, Jesus is shown constantly on the move, teaching in synagogues all over the region, proclaiming the Good News of God’s reign coming among them and bringing healing to all who are sick and diseased. Matthew does not use the title of Good Shepherd for Jesus, but he does indicate the deep compassion of Jesus for all those are harassed and depressed, people with no direction in their lives, who are like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus is clearly the Shepherd who can lead them back to where they belong. Second, He then says to his disciples that there is a huge harvest waiting to be reaped. Up to this he has been working alone but he needs help, especially so after he is gone. There are very few people available to work in the harvest field. He then calls the Twelve and hands on to them his own powers to liberate people from evil powers and to heal all kinds of sickness. The harvest is still great and the need for labourers is as great as ever. In asking the Lord to send labourers into the harvest, we have to ask ourselves what is the role of each one of us. It is not just a question of priests and religious. Jesus was not talking to priests and religious (there was no such thing at the time the gospels were written) but to every one of his followers – to every one of us who has been baptised. Every one of us is being called to be a harvester. Each one of us can reach a corner of the harvest field that is accessible to no one else. These include my family, my neighbours, my work colleagues and others who come into my life. I may be the only person who brings Jesus with his healing and compassion into their lives. And what are we to do? Let people know that the Reign of God is very close, because God himself and Jesus are so close. Once we say Yes to God and his Son, they become part of our lives. And we are to do the same work he told his disciples to do:

• Heal the sick: by our sympathy and support, which can often do more than any medical treatment.

• Raise the dead: clearly not literally. But there are many who are intellectually, emotionally and socially dead. They are physically alive but they have stopped living meaningful lives. We can help them to find life again.

• Cleanse the lepers: all those people who are on the fringes of society, whom we neglect, ignore, despise, reject, avoid. There are the dropouts, those suffering from addictions (drug, alcohol, pornography, etc.) the homeless, single mothers, ‘sex workers’… let them know they are accepted and loved by God.

• Cast out devils: help people liberate themselves from the demons of fear, anger, hatred, violence, from drugs, alcohol, nicotine, sexual abuse (themselves and others), greed for money…

There are so many people who need to hear and to experience the message of Christmas. And, there are many, alas, for whom Christmas is bad news, a time of misery, depression and loneliness. Let’s change that.

PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION

Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence.  Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me.  May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

OPENING PRAYER

Jesus, your good news of the love and forgiveness of God being poured out on people like me is both a comfort and a challenge. Help me to reflect your care and compassion to all those I meet. Help me to be disciple.

COMPANIONS FOR THE JOURNEY

From “First Impressions” 2023, a service of the Southern Dominican Province

Recently a woman described her work to me and brought this gospel to mind.  She works for a charitable foundation that addresses the needs of homeless families, with special attention to poor children. As a baptized person she takes her vocation as a Christian very seriously. She said, “I never think of religion as something I do once a week at church—with a few prayers thrown in during the week for good measure. I realized years ago that my faith has to be the center of my life and influence everything I do, every decision I make—that I had to look out at the world with the eyes of Jesus.  That’s what my baptism means to me.” My friend said she wanted to look out at the world with the “eyes of Jesus.” I think of her because of what Jesus saw in today’s gospel. It begins: “At the sight of the crowds Jesus was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd.” The woman I described said she became very aware of the needs of the poor. She felt that things were stacked against them. When budget cuts were made they were the first to suffer; they were the bottom of the totem pole—especially the homeless and those who had no political clout.  So, she took a position with a small agency, an advocacy group for homeless families. “Frankly,” she said, “I earn less money than I would have elsewhere; but I believe I have a call.” She works and advocates for homeless families, working to get yearly grants to serve them. She has to raise two million dollars a year. She has a board of 30 volunteers who must work on that project of fund raising with her. “And that’s the rub,” she said, “those 30 people! They are very nice, but some drive me crazy! They are not always efficient and available. This last time, as we got down to the wire finishing off the paper work, I had the hardest time gathering their necessary signatures. A few left for vacation trips and hadn’t signed the proposal. I went chasing after them so we could meet the deadline and raise the crucial two million dollars we needed to serve our clients. We would collapse without the money and people would suffer. Some people could drive you crazy! The only thing that holds us together is our vision of the needs of others—those needy families. We have a project and we think alike on it. Thank God, otherwise there are days when I could strangle some of them!” Jesus sees the “troubled and abandoned” crowds and he has a concern. He must have help to address their needs, so he calls together the Twelve—his first official disciples. He shares his vision with them; he invites them to see what he sees. They accept his invitation to  follow him and to see with his eyes. But that doesn’t mean they would have gotten together socially—joined a bowling club together, or had each other over for a 4th of July barbecue. We know that from the list and brief descriptions Matthew gives of the first disciples. Simon and Andrew were brothers. They probably got along, but what did their families think of their dropping their fishing nets to go off with the itinerant preacher? Not all families share our ideals. The woman I described said that her parents thought she could make more money working for a bank, or a brokerage house: after all, she has the skills necessary to lead a team and raise two million dollars. James and John were also brothers. Mark says Jesus gave them the nickname, “sons of thunder”—Boanerges. It doesn’t take much imagination to deduce how they got that name!  Then there was Matthew himself, a tax-collector, a traitor to the cause of Israel because he collected taxes for the Romans.  Simon was of the Zealot party.  Zealots were super-nationalists, burning with zeal for the liberation of Israel. Some were terrorists against the Romans. I wonder what it would be like to invite the tax collector and the Zealot over for tea! There are moments in the gospel when the apostles’ diverging personalities flared and Jesus had to reign them in. How did he do 
that? By continually keeping their vision clear; reminding them of the purpose for which he invited them and by urging them not to follow their own interests and priorities. He said that if they wanted to follow him they would have to make personal sacrifices, put aside their differences and focus instead on the needs of others.  “Pick up your cross daily.” Jesus brings this unlikely group together, he and his vision are the binding elements that keep them from fragmenting. Little by little he helps them look out at the world around them—with his eyes. He knows who they are; how different they are. And even though he is not finished with them yet; even though they may feel inadequate to the task, without degrees in Philosophy and Theology, not religious experts—he sends them out. They have been learning to see with his eyes and to notice and tend to those who are sick, those considered unclean, the lepers of society; the dead in body or spirit; those possessed of other spirits, who are “not themselves,” because they are crazed and distracted. Those Jesus sends are to invite the very ones Jesus would have invited, so that they too will learn and receive what the disciples learned and received from Jesus. Many of us here in church today probably aren’t part of the same social circles. We certainly aren’t all family members. Probably there are some here we’d wish would just go to another church! We are here, not because we are naturally drawn to each other, but because we were baptized. The same water was poured over us and the same words said, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” We have been called out, named the way the Twelve are named for us today. And like them, we too are sent. We are like that woman who works for the homeless. As she said, “Each of us has to look around us.” In some way, where we live, work, recreate and go to school, we are called to see with Jesus’ eyes, and act accordingly. No one can tell us exactly where and when we are to respond to Jesus’ call. We will just have to look out and see and hear the way Jesus did. And through our baptism, that is what we are being prompted and empowered to do. Today we pray for each of us: “Help us see what you want of us, help us not settle on being just occasional Christians, but “full time Christians.” Give us sensitive sight, your eyes, for the 
world. We pray too for those recently baptized, that our example will help them have vision and sensitivity to those who need them.”

LIVING THE GOOD NEWS

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Because of the failings of  contemporary religious and political leaders locally and globally, who in our times are like “sheep without a shepherd?

Do I ever feel in need of the Lord’s compassion?
Do I truly experience the compassion of Jesus in the difficult events of my life?

Who are the troubled and abandoned in my little corner of the world?
Do I know anyone who is lost, rudderless, like a sheep without a shepherd?

Has there ever been a time when I felt overwhelmed by issues I had to deal with or tasks I had to accomplish?
Did I seek help?
How did I handle it?

Do I trust God?
Do I believe that God really loves and cares for me?

How has God demonstrated “kindness” to me?
What gifts have I received “without cost”?
What gifts have I given to others thus far in my life?
What is left for me to give?

How has God called me, specifically, to be a divine representative?
With whom have I shared God’s love?
Do I ever  unconsciously blame people for the demons they are wrestling with such as addictions, mental health, loneliness, poverty?

Has there ever been a time in my life when it was clear that I was called upon to help another, or others?

What excuses do we commonly give for our inaction on behalf of those who need our care?
In this gospel, Jesus tells his apostles to go out only to the lost people of Israel, not to Samaritans or Gentiles. Does this bother you?

Do I understand the meaning of "the people of God"?
Who belongs?
Why?

Jesus suggests that the way to proclaim the fact that the Kingdom is at hand is to cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. What does this mean for me as a disciple in everyday terms ?

Jesus calls his disciples to “give without cost”. How does this mandate affect my attitudes about money?
What does this tell me about charitable giving and generosity to others?
Do I think of my money/possessions as mine or as God’s?

CLOSING PRAYER

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

(Adapted from Sacred Space 2023, a service of the Irish Jesuits)

Jesus, in this gospel account I see you engaging with vigilant eyes and ears to the cry of the suffering in your world. To them you were the compassionate one, bringing balm to the wounded places in their lives. Lord, the cries of the poor and broken-hearted are evident in the news beamed into my living room daily. Let me not forget that you summon me today, to be your eyes, your ears, and your hands of compassion to all whom I meet.

FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Weekly Memorization
(Taken from the gospel for today's session)
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give.

Meditations

A meditation in the Franciscan style/action: What are we to do with the mandate given to the Apostles, and by inheritance, given to us? A  good place to start is with the corporal works of Mercy:

• to feed the hungry

• to give drink to the thirsty

• to clothe the naked,

• to give shelter to travelers,

• to visit the sick,

• to visit the imprisoned,

• to bury the dead. (This can include being present to those who are grieving)

Spend some time at the end of each day reflecting on when you did more than avoid sin; but reflecting on the positive good you created by reaching out to others.

A meditation in the Ignatian style/imagination: (from Sacred Space) I travel in imagination with Jesus as he make his journeys. I ask him what gives him so much energy to serve the sick, many of whom must have been frightening to look at and to touch. He chats with me about compassion, and I ask that my small heart may to be as compassionate as him. I sense his compassion towards me, and it comforts me.

Literary Reflection

Father Ed Ingebretzen, S.J., captures the spirt of the gospel:

Lonely Christ
Lonely Christ
I pray to you.
You are a puzzle to me
as those I love
always are.

My soul is at odds
with the words.
What mad reach of mine
touches any thread of you?
Or what of mine, arms or eyes,
ever shares with people
where they may lie—
as they always do—
in a hard place!

What of mine shall make good
their taking of a breath,
their rising, caring, feeding
their sleeping in fear—
what shall make good
their slight faith,
their enormous promises
made in iron
for a child, man, a woman—

what of mine shall be with the people
as they caress a special grief
fondled again and again
In bludgeoned love?

What do I bring
with which to clutch
the merest hint of your shadow?

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Three very powerful movies tell the stories of those Jesuits and Trappists who, in times of oppression and danger, risked their lives—gave their lives, even, to help those who needed help and care.

• The Mission

• Silence

• Of Gods and Men

Corpus Christi

June 7, 2026

Christ is with us in the Eucharist; we are the body of Christ.

John 6:51-58

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: "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." The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 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. Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever."

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

First Impressions — Body and Blood of Christ, June 7, 2026 by Jude Siciliano, OP

Today we celebrate Corpus Christi  – The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  It is the third in a series of “big feasts,” preceded by Pentecost and last week’s Trinity Sunday. Next week we return to Ordinary Time, counting, with a few exceptions, the Sundays until Advent. Today’s solemnity developed in the Church during the Middle Ages as a way to focus special attention on Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist. We celebrate the Eucharist at every Mass but today invites us to praise and reflect more deeply on the gift Jesus gave at the Last Supper: his Body and Blood offered for the life of the world. The feast began in the 13th century and was promoted by a Belgian nun, St. Juliana of Liège.  At that time there was growing theological reflection on the Eucharist, as well as debate about how Christ is truly present in the bread and wine consecrated at Mass. The feast helped strengthen the Church’s teaching that Christ is truly and substantially present in the Eucharist  –  not merely symbolically but really present under the appearances of bread and wine. In our Brooklyn parish, today’s feast was an occasion for a Eucharistic procession. The consecrated host was carried through the streets while the congregation followed behind, praying and singing hymns. We had a sense of walking together with Christ, not just within the church walls, but into our everyday lives in the world. We were expressing devotion but also making a public proclamation of faith to our Protestant and Jewish neighbors. What drew some of us kids to the procession  – besides our principal, Sister Albina’s orders  –  were the snacks we had afterward in the church basement. The readings for Corpus Christi emphasize themes of covenant, sacrifice, nourishment, and community. We are reminded today that the Eucharist is not only something to be adored, but also a call to become the Body of Christ for others through lives of charity, reconciliation, and service. Today we celebrate that our God has come close to us and does not leave us. The Eucharist reminds us that Christ continues to feed, strengthen, forgive, and unite us as God’s people. We are called again to gratitude, reverence, and renewed commitment as we endeavor to live what we profess at the altar. In today’s Gospel (John 6:51–58), Jesus speaks words that startled his listeners and continue to challenge us today: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” He does not merely describe himself as a teacher who offers wisdom and guidance. He offers his very self as food for the life of the world. At the heart of today’s feast is this astonishing gift: Christ remains with us, nourishing us through the Eucharist. Many found Jesus’ words hard to understand. They understood only physical hunger and physical bread: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” But Jesus was speaking about a deeper hunger within the human heart –  hunger for meaning, forgiveness, communion, hope, and eternal life. The Eucharist answers that deeper hunger because it is not simply a sacred symbol; it is Christ giving himself completely to us. Every time we come to the altar, we are invited into communion not only with Christ, but also with one another. The Eucharist is never a private devotion alone. We receive the Body of Christ so that we may become the Body of Christ in the world. Bread is broken at the altar, calling us to become people who are broken open in love and service for others. Today’s feast reminds us that God does not remain silent or distant. In Jesus, God chooses closeness. The Eucharist is Christ’s abiding presence among us: strengthening the weary, forgiving sinners, comforting the sorrowful, and drawing the Church together across every boundary. Today we are invited not only to adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, but also to recognize him in daily life: in the poor, the forgotten, the suffering, and those who hunger for compassion and dignity.

A Brief Look at the Deuteronomy Reading

The reading from Deuteronomy prepares the way for understanding the Eucharist by recalling God’s gift of manna in the desert. Moses reminds the people that during their years of hunger and wandering, God fed them with “food unknown” to them, teaching that “not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Placed alongside the New Testament Eucharistic readings, the faithful learn that just as God fed Israel on the journey through the wilderness, Christ now feeds God’s people on their journey through life with the “living bread come down from heaven” in the Eucharist. Deuteronomy emphasizes memory and gratitude: “Do not forget the Lord.” Corpus Christi is also a feast of remembrance  – not mere recalling but entering again into Christ’s saving gift made present in the Eucharist. Israel survived because God nourished them daily; so too does the Church. Believers are spiritually sustained by Christ’s Body and Blood. Just as God fed Israel in the wilderness, so too our lives can feel like a desert marked by hunger, testing, and uncertainty. The Eucharist is food for pilgrims, strengthening believers just as manna strengthened Israel. The Deuteronomy reading helps us see the Eucharist not simply as a ritual meal, but as God’s faithful provision for God’s people on our journey toward the promised Kingdom.

Quotable

“Carrying the Blessed Sacrament through the streets means bringing Jesus into the daily life of the people.” —Pope Francis, Corpus Christi Homily, 2019

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

 “We, though many, are one body.”—1 Corinthians 10:17

Today’s scripture passage made me think of a term made popular by Saint Pope John Paul II—solidarity. I have an old book of inspirational thoughts called Leaves of Gold (Coslett, 1948) that I like to open on occasion and then reflect upon the words I find written there. One of its little pieces of wisdom seems to be a good definition of the meaning of solidarity. There is an old legend of a general who found his troops disheartened. He believed it was owing to the fact that they did not realize how close they were to the other divisions of the same army on account of a dense growth of small trees and shrubbery, Orders therefore were given to “Burn the underbrush.” It was done and they saw they were not isolated as they had supposed but were part of one great army. . .So let us burn the brushwood. . .of prejudice, mistrust, and separation. We all have far more in common than we think. We are all under the same great Captain. (127). Our U.S. Catholic Bishops have expressed the same sentiment: We are one human family whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences. We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, wherever they may be. Loving our neighbor has global dimensions in a shrinking world. http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/solidarity.cfm Taking our understanding of solidarity a step further, the First Letter to the Corinthians states in 12:26, “If one member of Christ’s body suffers, all suffer.”What is the solution for Catholic Christians? The USCCB document, Economic Justice for All (365) gives us the answer: We have to move from our devotion to independence, through an understanding of interdependence, to a commitment to human solidarity. That challenge must find its realization in the kind of community we build among us. Love implies concern for all - especially the poor - and a continued search for those social and economic structures that permit everyone to share in a community that is a part of a redeemed creation (Rom 8:21-23). How are you practicing solidarity? What steps are you taking to bring down the human walls of prejudice, mistrust, and separation? We are one body.

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Deuteronomy reading:Moses said to the people, “Remember how for forty years now the Lord, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert....”

Reflection: “Remember,” Moses instructs us.  And so, we do. We recall how the bread of life has fed us day by day, often in ways we did not recognize at first.  But now we do and now, at this community meal, we remember and give thanks.

So, we ask ourselves: The last time I went through a difficult period, who or what gave me strength to continue my desert journey? How can I now serve the “bread of life” to another who is finding the daily journey hard?

First Impressions — The Body and Blood of Christ, June 11, 2023 by Jude Siciliano, OP

The author of our Deuteronomy reading today recalls how God helped the enslaved Israelites in the past. God freed them, stayed with them and fed them for 40 years as they traveled the punishing desert to freedom. At first it sounds like the author is merely recording a historical event “way back then,” when God did marvelous deeds for a desperate people. But while the events recalled in Deuteronomy happened long before the author’s writings, the text is not just giving a look-back to a bygone age when God acted powerfully on the people’s behalf. There are two key expressions in the reading that tell us the writer of Deuteronomy was addressing the present, not merely reminiscing. The reading starts, “Remember how…”, to remind the people that God fed them in their wanderings. God stayed with them despite their complaints and infidelities. The suggestion to the readers: just as God did not abandon the people back then; nor will God abandon us now on whatever difficult journey we find ourselves. But, God will strengthen us as we are confronted by present trials and temptations. To make the point Deuteronomy says it again: “Do not forget.” As difficult and life-threatening as their lives became, God guided the people, helped them survive the poisonous snakes and scorpions (how dangerous was that!) and gave them water from the rock. God did the unexpected --  water from rock -- and still is surprising us along the way of our journey. It is a repetitious narrative throughout both Testaments: humans cannot “solve,” or “thrive,” under our own powers 
through life’s stresses and temptations. But, we can count on God not to leave us on our own. Help may not come immediately, as the Jews learned during their difficult, 40-year desert trek, but God was with them each day along the way and promised to stay with them --  and us. Which leads us to today’s gospel, further proof of God’s tender and parental care for those who turn to God in need. John is inviting us, by suggestion, to follow Deuteronomy’s urging to “remember” and “do not forget.” Guided by our Jewish roots, followers of Jesus are invited to also remember what God is doing for us now in Jesus. Prior to today’s passage Jesus had miraculously multiplied bread for the people. His miracles stirred the crowd to see him as the Prophet.  Jesus is going to feed the hungry crowds, with himself, “living bread.” Jesus is invoking in his listeners’ memory what God once did for their ancestors and continues to do for them. The desert wanderers would never have survived without God’s daily and concrete care -- bread and water in the desert, each and every day. They were not self-sufficient and neither are we. By using food to teach us, Jesus is reminding us that we are dependent on God’s constant care. The wilderness described in Deuteronomy is not only past tense, but present tense as well. Our community of believers needs nourishment in this struggling time of disaffection, betrayals, fatigue and loss. At this point we can also name our personal wilderness experiences: our loss and discouragement; our hurts and fragile faith; our questions about ourselves and God. Jesus has not stayed “on high” leaving us to confront the challenges to our faith on our own. We are not self sufficient; he is our “living bread,” who has joined us in our wilderness stumblings, misdirections and missteps. He is the surest sign of God’s love for us and in our hunger for that love we are like infants dependent on our parent God to 
feed us the bread we need at this moment of our sojourn—Jesus Christ. Chapter 6 in John is a long, bread discourse in which Jesus is offering himself as real food. We pause and reflect on where we have gone looking for meaning and nourishment and have come back even hungrier than when we started. Did we think material things and bodily pleasure would satisfy us? And they didn’t. So then, where shall we find a life-giving bread that will not disappoint? We who believe in Jesus find the gift of life in his very person. John is writing in eucharistic language directing us to the flesh and blood of Christ we find in our eucharistic celebration, in the meal we share with one another around this table. It is real food and real drink and in eating and drinking it we will be equipped for the service and witness we are called to make in Jesus’ name.
Here at this Eucharist we experience eternal life. Here we meet the very broken flesh and poured out blood of Jesus that God gives us; the same generous and loving God who fed the hungry and searching Jews in the desert. We the hungry will feed on the “living bread” that is Jesus and then, like him, we will go forth to feed the hungry and be for them the living bread we have become in Christ.

One Good Book for Us All

Donald Senior: Jesus: A Gospel Portrait  (New York: Paulist Press, 1992, paper)
This is a book not only for the preacher, but for the general reader interested in learning the fruits that biblical scholarship can provide to help us better know the person of Jesus and what made him someone people would follow, sacrifice and even die for. The author examines how each gospel developed and expanded the message of Jesus for their times and community’s needs. For a fuller review of this book go to our preaching webpage: https://www.preacherexchange.com/ and click on “Book Reviews.”

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director, Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC

“He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger.” —Deuteronomy 8:3

One thing that I know about Catholics---when we get together, we like to eat! And, I want to add that we like for other, less fortunate, people to eat also. So today, my column salutes the parishioners of ministries at Holy Name of Jesus that strive to make the world a better place by reducing hunger. Catholic Parish Outreach (CPO), the Triangle’s largest food pantry, has 
been in existence for 46 years and currently provides one week’s worth of healthy groceries every 30 days for those who are food deprived. In 2021, CPO distributed over 1.5 million pounds of food to over 58,000 individuals with a small staff and over 600 volunteers to residents of Wake, Franklin, & Johnston Counties. The growing client base has resulted in five moves to larger facilities since 1977. The only thing sad about these statistics is that they indicate that feeding the poor has become a growth industry. For over 20 years, dinners at the Helen Wright Center for Women are served once a month by two alternating teams. Approximately, 60 homeless women are served a nourishing sit-down meal. Again, this represents an increase in need. Oak City Cares Meals Ministry serves on the 2nd & 3rd Saturdays of every month. This ministry began at Moore Square where one of our teams was even serving food when a tornado came through downtown Raleigh on April 16, 2011. Both teams prepare food from home and bring it to a city facility on South Wilmington Street to make sure the homeless will get something to eat on weekends. Then there is the Women’s Center Lunch Ministry that provides nutritious 
lunches for homeless, single women throughout the year. Now, I have run out of space and I haven’t mentioned all of the 
ministries, like Walking with Moms in Need, who host the CPO baby collection in August for formula and food, and Farm Workers summer meal for migrant workers, and the gifts of food to families of those who have died or parishioners who are recovering from surgery (like me, this past January!) What a grace you are, Holy Name of Jesus, to those who hunger.
Let’s also advocate to end hunger and, wink, we can always use more cooks!

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run.  “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

Reflection: In some Christian traditions there is an “altar call,” a moment when those who have heard the Word of God are invited to come forward to “accept Jesus into your life.”  Each time we come forward to receive the eucharistic bread and wine we are expressing our desire to take Jesus into our lives. We are responding to an “altar call” after having heard 
the Word.  We come forward to receive the One whose life can shape our lives. In receiving his body and blood, his life, we are asking that our lives reflect, as his did, our compassionate and forgiving God.

So we ask ourselves: How does my receiving the Eucharist shape how I live my life? If I never again received the Eucharist, what difference would that make?

Transubstantiation/Consubstantiation/Real Presence: A Little Theology Lesson

Reference: Enclycopedia of Cathollicism,  Father Richard McBrien, General Editor

A little prequel: To understand this concept one needs the clarification of what being (ontos) really is.  A little ontological definition from the University of Notre Dame:93. Substance is being existing in itself; accident is being existing in another as its subject. -- Being is known either as something which subsists in itself without needing to be sustained by another, or as something which needs a subject in which and by which it may exist. In the former case, being is called substance; in the latter, it is called accident. Thus "Peter" is a substance, because he exists in himself; "white" is an accident, because it does not exist without a substance in which it inheres. Substance is also defined negatively as that which is not in another as its subject; or descriptively as that which sustains accidents. But from the fact that a substance exists in itself, we are not to infer that it excludes the idea of a cause which produces it, but only that of a subject in which it inheres. To define substance, with Descartes, as "that which exists in such a way as to need nothing else for its existence," is to open the door to pantheism. 

Transubstantiation: Teaching of the Church that the substance of bread and wine offered at the Eucharist is changed into the substance of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  The term emerged out of medieval attempts   to resolve the conflict between seeing bread and wine as mere signs or asserting their change into the body and blood of Christ even in their physical components.   In the late eleventh century theologians described the change that occurs at the Eucharist in terms of the change of the substance of bread and wine, which undergoes transformation into the  Lord’s body and blood. The term “transubstantiation” itself is only found in the twelfth century, and was subsequently used at Lateran IV ( 1215).   Under the influence of Aristotelian thought, theologians gradually came to distinguish between the substance of the Eucharist ( the body and blood of Jesus Christ) and the accidents of bread and wine (weight, texture, color. etc).   these remain even as the substance of bread and wine changes into Christ’s body and blood. In response to opposition to transubstantiation from the Reformers of the sixteenth century, the Council of Trent in 1551 affirmed that the  substance of bread and wine is changes onto that of Christ’s, adding that ”this change the holy Catholic Church has fittingly and properly named transubstantiation.  Trent’s use of the word was intended not to explain how the change takes place but to provide a term that describes what takes place.   Theological attempts in the latter part of the twentieth century to define the substance (transignification and transfinalization) led Pope Paul VI to insist in Mysterium Fidei ( 1965) that the new meaning and finality of the consecrated bread and wine are grounded in the new ontological reality of the presence of the body and blood of the Lord.

Real Presence:This is a teaching of the Catholic Church that Jesus Christ is present at and in the ‘eucharist his  body and blood, humanity and divinity, under the form of bread and wine.  The NT attests to the faith of Catholics and other Christians that Christ is present in and tohis church in a variety of ways.   As the risen Lord, he is no longer bound by the constraints of a particular time and place and thus can be present when his disciples gather together to pray, invoke his name for healing, proclaim his gospel, forgive sins, suffer for his sake, and assemble to remember his Last Supper with his disciples.   Fundamental to the recognition of this presence was the church’s experience of the power of the Spirit of the Lord transforming it into the community of his body and empowering it to continue his mission. (See accounts of the Last Supper: Mt 26:26-30; Mark 14 22;26; Luke 22 14-20;John6 6:52-56  1 Corinthians 11:23-25; John, Chapter 6.  There is strong evidence of the belief of the first-century church in the presence of the body and blood of Christ.) Throughout the first millennium, the faith of the Church in Christ’s real Presence went relatively undisturbed.  But some controversy developed in the ninth century and developed further in the eleventh century between extreme positions that saw the bread and wine as merely signs or as totally changed, even in their physical elements.   Out of these controversies came the Church’s teaching on Transubstantiation ( see above).  Contemporary Church teaching and theology has placed the doctrine of the Real Presence within the context of the many ways in which Christ is present in the church.  Paul VI (1965 in Mysterium Fidei). He identifies them as prayer, works of mercy, preaching, governance, the Sacraments, and finally The Eucharist, a way the surpasses all others.  Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy spoke of Christ’s presence not only in the consecrated bread and wine, but also in the proclaimed word, the person of the minister, and the worshipping assembly itself. The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist flows from his total self-gift on the cross and his will to make that gift effective for all people throughout history.

(Adapted from articles by S.T.D. professor of  Systematic Theology, Seminary of the Immaculate Conception)

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Music Meditations for the Week (All are on YouTube)

I am the bread of Life—John Michael Talbot
We Remember—Marty Haugen
Panis Angelicus—Pavarotti--the Duets with Sting
Mozart Ave Verum Corpus—Holy Thursday Catholic Community at Stanford
One bread, One Body—John Michel Talbot
O Salutaris Hostia—Cathedral singers, Richard Proulx, conducting

Opening Prayer

From The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius: A Literal Translation and a Contemporary Reading, by David Fleming, S.J.—Take Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding and my entire will—all that I have and all that I call my own. You have given it all to me. To you Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace. That is enough for me (p.141)

Companions for the Journey

From Father Michael Marsh:  “ Do You Have Life?

A friend of mine called last week. She asked, “How are you?” It’s a common question, one we ask and are asked every day. You and I both know the standard answers and I gave them. I said, “Fine. I’m doing well. Things are really busy right now. I’m good.” She laughed and said, “Are you trying to convince me or yourself?” I suspect I’m not the only one who’s had this type of conversation. Most of us have these kind of conversations several times each day. We offer the usual answers. Sometimes we add something about our family, our health, where we have been, or what we have been doing. More often than not those conversations focus on the circumstances of life. We might be fine and busy, getting our work done, meeting deadlines and commitments, fulfilling obligations, volunteering our time, and loving and caring for our families but there is a difference, a vast difference, between doing life and having life within us. Doing life or having life; that’s the issue Jesus is concerned about. That’s the focus of today’s gospel. It is important enough that it has been the subject of the last several Sundays of gospel readings. Each week has brought us closer to the unspoken question behind today’s gospel: Is there life within you? That’s a hard question and one which many will avoid or ignore. They will turn back and walk away rather than face the question. “Fine,” “busy,” “good,” and “doing well” do not answer the question. They cover it up. The question pushes us to discover the hunger within us and the life Jesus wants to feed us. That’s what Jesus has been after these last few weeks. Three weeks ago 5000 hungry people showed up. They were fed with five loaves and two fish. They didn’t understand. They thought it was about loaves and fish. It was really about life and where life comes from. Two weeks ago Jesus challenged us to consider the bread we eat. Is it perishable bread or does it endure to eternal life? Last week Jesus declared himself to be the bread of life, the living bread they came down from heaven. Today he says, “Eat me. Drink me.” This is the only way we ever have life within us. Jesus is very clear and blunt about it. His flesh is true food and his blood is true drink. Any other diet leaves us empty and hollow, hungry and bereft of life would never end. In that moment we are in the flow, the wonder, and the unity of life, and it tastes good. “Very truly, I tell you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.” Those are ominous words, words that haunt and challenge us to consider whether there is life within us Jesus is talking about more than just physical or biological life. He’s talking about that life that is beyond words, indescribable, and yet we know it when we taste it. We get a taste of it when we love so deeply and profoundly that everything about us dies, passes away, and somehow we are more fully alive than ever before. Sometimes everything seems to fit together perfectly and all is right with the world; not because we got our way but because we knew our self to be a part of something larger, more beautiful, and more holy than anything we could have done. We were tasting life. There are moments when time stands still and we wish the moment Most of us spend a fair amount of time, energy, and prayer trying to create and possess the life we want. In spite of our best efforts sometimes we live less than fully alive. Sometimes the outside and inside of who we are don’t match up. We ask ourselves, “What am I doing with my life?” We wonder if this is all there will ever be. Is this as good as it gets? We lament at what has become of us and our life. Nothing seems to satisfy. We despair at what is and what we think will be. Despite family and friends we find no place in which we really belong. Those questions and feelings are not so much a judgement on us, but a diagnosis of us. They are symptoms that there is no life in us. We are dying from the inside out. There is, however, treatment for our condition and food for our hunger. Life in Christ, not death in the wilderness, is our destiny. The flesh and blood of Christ are the medicine that saves; what St. Ignatius called “the medicine of immortality.” One dose, however, is not enough. We need a steady diet of this sacred medicine, this holy food. Jesus is our medicine and our health. He is our life and the means to the life for which we most deeply hunger. We don’t work for the life we want. We eat the life we want. Wherever human hunger and the flesh and blood of Christ meet, there is life. In the eating and drinking of Christ’s flesh and blood he lives in us and we live in him. We consume his life that he might consume and change ours. We eat and digest his life, his love, his mercy, his forgiveness, his way of being and seeing, his compassion, his presence, and his relationship with the Father. We eat and drink our way to life. So leave nothing behind. Push nothing to the side. Clean your plate! “Whoever eats me will live because of me,” Jesus said.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today's reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions:

Do I see Jesus as the face of God actually near at hand—“God with us”?
What does it mean to live in Jesus?

How easy is it to get snarled up in the theology of the Real Presence on this occasion?
How can this be an intellectual exercise and a distraction?

Some early believers were horrified at this assertion of Jesus.  How do Jesus’ statements about eating his body and drinking his blood challenge me?

Do I spend more time trying to understand this mystery than actually experiencing this mystery?
What message do I take from this gospel that I can use in my everyday life, my everyday relationship with God?

What is the difference for me between doing life and having life?
What do I want from life?
Do I think it is what Jesus wants for me?

This passage follows an earlier and very famous one on the feeding of the five thousand.
How does the motif of God feeding his people enrich my appreciation of Eucharist?

What is the reason for keeping people from this table of life we call Eucharist?
Whose table is it?
Who gets to decide who is welcome at the table and who is not?

When I receive communion, do I think of union with Jesus or union with those around me? Both?

How do I respond to the living presence of Jesus within me?
In what ways do I make the Eucharist truly meaningful for those in my life?

When I receive the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, do I reflect on my identity as a member of the body of Christ?
What is my response to this gift of Jesus?

Who are members of the body of Christ?
What are our obligations to others in the body of Christ?

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

Lord, you have given me everything, my life, my loved ones, my faith; you have given me your very self.  Help me to do the same for all whom I meet.   Help me to be the Body and Blood of Christ for others.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today's session: I have life because of the Father; so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.

For the Week Ahead

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions: (Adapted from “Sacred Space”, a service of the Irish Jesuits) In the Eucharist, we deepen our relationship with Jesus, not mechanically, but by becoming more and more like him over the years. We meet God in this mysterious and dramatic way: God gives himself to us, and we try to shape our lives into a loving gift for God. In heaven there will be no Eucharist as we know it, because our bonding with God will then be complete.

So I ask myself:

• How am I fostering my relationship with Jesus?

• Have I become more like him?  What do I need to let go of or what do I need to do to be more like Jesus?

• Do I consider my life a loving gift for God?   What can I change about my life that makes the gift of this life of mine more truly loving?

A Medidation in the Augustinian Style/Memory: (From Father Paul O”Reilly, S.J.) "I am the living bread that has come down from heaven." I think I know how John the Baptist must have felt when everywhere he went people kept asking him "Are you Elijah – come back from the dead?". Everywhere I went in Guyana, people always used to ask me: "Are you related to Bryan O'Reilly?" To which I had to respond: "only as brothers in the Lord". It seemed to disappoint them hugely. Even so, it was a great joy to be able to report to Bryan the great love and affection that people in Guyana still felt for him after his many years of service to them as a Jesuit missionary priest. Fame may be a passing bubble, but love is not. After he retired from the Missions (at the age of 82) he went to work in our parish of "Corpus Christi", Bournemouth in England. For the patronal feast of his parish he wrote a short poem for his parish newsletter, expressing something of what it means to him to have served the Eucharist all his life. Believing it worthy of a wider audience, his superior sent it  out to our Province Newsletter. And, believing it worthy of a still wider audience I am sharing it with you here.

{For the best effect, take it somewhere quiet on your own and say it slowly and aloud.}

Corpus Christi
All absolutely empty.
Feelings have gone.
I gaze upon the crucifix.
And strive to ponder on the Eucharist.
Thoughts move along to the view
my window of the church of Corpus Christi.
The garden, the bushes and the trees
A strange vision will appear at times
As I hear the chimes, and these
Remind me of so many things.
Our Lady sings in the breeze
That blows across the garden and the trees
And I listen to a voice that speaks most clearly
"This is my Body – This is the cup of my Blood."
A flood of memories pour into my mind.
The very fabric of my being.
And now I am seeing bright clear
The vision that is mine here – at Corpus Christi.
No one will ever understand – why should they?
Contrition – Compassion – Wish-filled yearning – explains it all.
I hear the call "Come Lord Jesus – come".

A meditation in the Ignatian style/Imagination: Read Matthew 14:13-21 (The first story of the feeding of the four thousand).  Imagine the scene in which the people follow Jesus to a "lonely place" and then are stranded without food. Try to place yourself in the story as one of the disciples. At which point do you become concerned enough about all these people that you speak to Jesus? What concerns you? That he crowd will become restless and angry, that it might turn on Jesus and as disciples you might get caught in the middle? Are you afraid that some will fall ill? Are you afraid that some will take food from others? How do you respond when Jesus tells you to handle the problem? What does this story reveal about my attitudes of scarcity vs. abundance? What Eucharistic overtones do you read into this story? What does this say to you about Eucharist and the world?  What does this story say to you about bread (real bread) for the world and our obligation to provide it?

A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action: (This excerpt is from Justice Notes for Corpus Christi from the Southern Dominican Province in 2007 and is still relevant today) "Whoever eats this bread will live forever." (John 6:51) Each of today's readings speaks of being fed and they lead us to think about the growing crisis of world hunger. "Rising food prices are fueling the global hunger crisis. It is taking an immense toll on the world's poorest people, who typically spend up to 80 percent of their income on food. As many as 100 million more poor people could be made worse off by this burgeoning hunger crisis. After 30 years of progress against hunger and poverty, that is a setback that the United States and the rest of the world cannot afford to let happen." http://www.bread.org/learn/rising-food-prices.html "The prayer which we repeat at every Mass: "Give us this day our daily bread," obliges us to do everything possible, in cooperation with international, state and private institutions to end or at least reduce the scandal of hunger and malnutrition afflicting so many millions of people in our world, especially in developing countries." (Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI, 2007) Did you know:

• 854 million people across the world are hungry, up from 852 million a year ago

• Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes—one child every five seconds.

• 35.1 million people in the US—including 12.4 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger.

• The U.S. Conference of Mayors reports that in 2006 requests for emergency food assistance increased an average of 7 percent. The study also found that 48 percent of those requesting emergency food assistance were members of families with children and that 37 percent of adults requesting such assistance were employed.

What can you do? Pick a concrete action. Do it.

Poetic Reflections

Enjoy this lovely act of faith so movingly expressed by Mary Oliver.

The Vast Ocean Begins Just Outside Our Church: The Eucharist
Something has happened
to the bread
and the wine.

They have been blessed.
What now?
The body leans forward

to receive the gift
from the priest’s hand,
then the chalice.

They are something else now
from what they were
before this began.

I want
to see Jesus
maybe in the clouds

or on the shore,
just walking,
beautiful man

and clearly
someone else
besides.

On the hard days
I ask myself
if I ever will.

Also there are times
my body whispers to me
that I have.

This poem is just as appropriate for Corpus Christi as it is for Pentecost and for Holy Thursday. Enjoy.

Gather the People
What return can we make
for all the Lord has done in our lives?
We bring bread, wine, our clay dishes
and our clay feet
to this altar
and we pray that we may here
make a beginning—
that somehow in our days
we can begin to see the promises
the Lord has made us.

The promises do not always
glow with obvious light, or
overwhelm us by their obvious truth.
No matter what anyone says,
it is difficult to understand an invisible God
and belief is not always
the easy way out.

So we gather the people
and we tell the story again
and we break the bread
and in the memory of the one
who saves us,
we eat and drink
and we pray and we believe.

We gather, we pray, we eat.
These things are for human beings.
God has no need of them.
Yet he himself gathered the people,
prayed, broke bread
and gave it to his friends.

And so the invisible God became
visible
and lives with us.

—by Ed Ingebretzen, Psalms of the Still Country

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

May 31, 2026

Jesus is God’s love made visible.

John 3:16-18

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

REFLECTIONS ON THE GOSPEL

From Thomas Merton, The Hidden Ground of Love, pp157-158

(nb:The brackets [ ] are editorial adjustments for inclusive language)

The contemplative life is then the search for peace no I an abstract exclusion of all outside reality, not in a barren negative closing of the senses upon the world, but in the openness of love. It begins with the acceptance of my own self in my poverty and my nearness to despair in order to recognize that where God is there can be no despair, and God is in me, even if I despair. That nothing can change God’s love for me, since my very existence is the sign that God loves me and the presence of his love creates and sustains me. Nor is there any need to understand how this can be or to explain it or to solve the problems it seems to raise. For there is in our hearts and in the very ground of our being a natural certainty which co-exists with our very existence: a certainty that so insofar as we exist, we are penetrated through and through with the sense and reality of God even though we may be utterly unable to believe or experience this in philosophic or even religious terms. O my [brother/sister], the contemplative is the person not who has fiery visions of the cherubim carrying God on their imagined chariot, by simply [one] who risks one’s mind in the desert beyond language and beyond ideas where God is encountered in the nakedness of pure trust, that is to say the surrender of our poverty and incompleteness in no longer to clench our minds in a cramp upon themselves as if thinking made us exist. The message of hope the contemplative offers you then, [sister/brother], is not that you need to find your way through the jungle of language and problems that today surround God: but that whether you understand or not, God loves you, is present in you, lives in you, calls you, saves you and offers you an understanding and light which are like nothing you have found in books or heard in sermons. The contemplative has nothing to tell you except to reassure you and say that if you dare to penetrate your own silence and risk the sharing of that solitude with the lonely other who seeks God though you, then you will truly recover the light and the capacity to understand what is beyond words and beyond explanations because it is too close to be explained; it is the ultimate union in the depths of your own heart, of God’s spirit and your own secret inmost self, so that you and He are all truth in One Spirit. I love you, In Christ.

Commentary on Exodus 34:4-6, 8-9; 2 Corinthians 13:11-13; John 3:16-18

We have now come to the end of the many weeks which were taken up with the celebration of and reflection on the “Paschal Mystery.” It began with Ash Wednesday, went through Lent, the celebration of Holy Week and Easter, the weeks following Easter and culminating in Pentecost and the handing on of Jesus’ mission to his Church. We return now for the rest of the liturgical year – the ‘Ordinary’ Sundays of the Year – and they will bring us right up to Advent and the beginning of another liturgical cycle. But, traditionally this transition is commemorated each year by our celebration of the Feast of the Holy Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most fundamental in our Christian faith, but it is also a doctrine which many of us have difficulty coming to terms with. We often refer to it as a “mystery” and therefore something which can be affirmed, but is not to be understood and need not be explained. “Just believe it,” is something people may be told. In the New Testament, the word “mystery” (Greek, mysterion) refers primarily to some truth which God has made known to us and which we otherwise would not have discovered. The Trinity, that in God there are three Persons, really is a mystery in this sense. It is also, of course, difficult for us to understand how one being can be three persons just as it is difficult for us to understand how Jesus can be both God and human (the mystery of the Incarnation).

Three possible reactions
We can react to this situation in three ways:
1. by saying it is all rubbish anyway;
2. by not thinking about these things at all;
3. by trying to reduce them to categories which are within our human comprehension.

None of these approaches is very helpful. Rather, we should try to understand as much as we can, and say as much as we can while acknowledging that we can only go a certain distance. However, We can go far enough to satisfy our hunger for truth and to have some understanding of our God. One thing we can say right at the beginning. We are not dealing with outright contradictions or trying to believe the impossible. We are not being asked to believe that 3=1. We are asked to believe that in the one being we call God, there are three Persons, who are, in the words of today’s Preface to the Eucharistic Prayer, …three Persons equal in majesty, undivided in splendour, yet one Lord, one God, ever to be adored.  Rather than getting ourselves tied up in theological knots, we would do far better by reading prayerfully over the beautiful Scripture readings of today’s Mass. Here there are no abstruse theological explanations or speculations. Rather the emphasis is not on what, or how, or why, but in very practical language, on the tangible way the Persons in the Trinity relate to us.

A God who is very close
The message coming loud and clear through these readings is that our God is not far away, that he is not “up there somewhere”, a kind of scary, long-bearded policeman in the sky. The message coming through is that our God is close by and he cares. In the First Reading (from Exodus) Moses is told that God is the: Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness Oh, we really need to hear that and to become utterly convinced of it, especially when we find times rough and painful. In Greek drama of classical times, one could recognize the character being played by the mask that he/she wore. As well, in Chinese opera, there is something similar where the faces of the players are elaborately painted so that one can know which role is being played – a king, a general, a concubine, a soldier, etc. The mask was called a prosopon. In Latin this word was translated as persona. Even today in programs of plays we may still see the actors listed under the heading Dramatis Personae, the characters or the roles in the drama. So, in a certain sense, there are three personae or roles in our one God. With the difference that in a play, the role is assumed for the duration of the drama, while in God, the roles are permanently identified with God himself. It might be helpful to us to look at these three roles of God as they are presented to us in Scripture.

God the Father*
While traditionally Scripture speaks of God as Father, we know that in God there can be no gender differences. We call God Father in the sense of the Parent who gives life and nurture. God as Father is the originator, the source, the conserver of all life, of all that exists. Says the Acts, In him, we live and move and have our being. God as Father is no puppet operator in the clouds, but an indwelling Lord. God is IN all his creation but is not identified with it. The Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins said that “the world is charged with the grandeur of God”. Through the Father, our God is to be sought and found in all things, which he has created and keeps in being. From the simplest minerals which are alive with atomic energy, to the most gifted and creative human being, to the outermost galaxy. And so we have the lovely prayer of Moses in today’s First Reading; Let my Lord come with us.

God the Son*
If we can speak of God as Father/Mother, then the “only begotten” must equally be spoken of as Son/Daughter. The Only Begotten as such, can be neither male nor female even though incarnation de facto took place in a male. However, the Creed which we will soon recite says of the Son/Daughter that homo factus est, which should literally be translated “was made human” or “became human”. The word homo- in Latin, like anthropos in Greek, does not specify gender; both men and women are homo. We know the Son, of course, best through Jesus, born of Mary in Bethlehem. In him, there was the mysterious combination of the divine and the human in one Person. Jesus was totally God and totally human – not half and half. This is a truth as far beyond our comprehension as the Trinity itself. Jesus is the revelation, the unveiling in human form of our God. The message of this revelation is purely and simply to let us know that God, that the Father, loves us with an overwhelming love. John tells us in today’s Gospel passage: God [Father] loves the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. For God [Father] sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but so that through him the world might be saved. God is not concealed behind the humanity of Jesus, but is seen precisely in that humanity. When is Jesus most clearly revealing of the Father? In his miracles? Certainly. But surely Jesus is most clearly revealing the heart of the Father when he is at his most human. We see the Father God most clearly in Jesus in his compassion for the weak, the needy, the sinner; in forgiving the sinner and his enemies; in healing the physically and mentally sick; in integrating the social outcast back into the community; in his unconditional acceptance of all irrespective of class, religion, or gender. Yes, our Father God really loves the world and that has been shown to us by the Only Begotten in Jesus.

God the Spirit
Finally, we see God as indwelling Spirit. The Spirit is described first as the subsisting Love that is generated between the Father and the Son. Again, of course, we cannot speak of either “he” or “she,” still less of this Love as “it.” The meaning of the Spirit in practice means that God is indwelling in all creation and revealing himself through it. Wherever there is Truth or Love or Beauty, there is God. Every act of truth and integrity, every act of love and compassion, every act of human empathy, every act of solidarity, forgiveness, acceptance, justice in people is the Spirit of God working in and through us. When such actions appear in us, they are a sign that we are open to the Spirit and that he is working in us and through us. Let us pray today with Paul in the Second Reading: Try to grow perfect; help one another. Be united; live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you…And Paul concludes with the lovely greeting we often use at the beginning of the Eucharist: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,the love of God [Father] and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” And finally, One last afterword. The two great mysteries of our faith are the Trinity and the Incarnation. They are combined in a marvellous simplicity in the Sign of the Cross with its accompanying words. Let us try to say this simple prayer with ever greater meaning and awareness and form the cross on our bodies with care and dignity. St. Ignatius of Loyola had such a love of the Trinity (as the result of some mystical experiences) that every time he began celebrating the Eucharist with the Sign of the Cross he broke down in tears and could hardly go on. Let us, too, rediscover the Sign of the Cross as a means of getting in touch with the God who loves us so much that he sent his Son and fills us with his Spirit.

*There is no sexual differentiation in God, so we can speak with equal validity of the First Person as Father/Mother and of the Second as Son/Daughter. The Spirit, too, is both male and female. This is the language of the Scripture texts reflecting the times in which they were written. It is not the words that are important, but their meaning.

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

First some background. Today is the feast of “The Most Holy Trinity.” At first glance it may seem like an unusual celebration. We are used to the major feasts of the year celebrating particular events in the life of Christ: e.g. the Nativity, Easter, the Ascension. But today’s feast isn’t originally based on one event in the life of Jesus. Instead, it arose from the Church’s desire to honor the mystery of God revealed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From the earliest centuries Christians were already praying and baptizing in the name of the Trinity, as Jesus taught in Matthew 28:19. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The early creeds of the Church, especially the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, with deeply Trinitarian. Christians believe in one God, yet expressed God as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. In the fourth century major theological controversies forced the Church to clarify its teaching on the Trinity, addressing such questions as the divinity of Christ, or the Holy Spirit. The great teachers of the time, such as, Athanasius, Basil, Augustine, etc. defended the doctrine: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are equal and eternal: three persons in one God. In 325 the Councils of Nicaea and Constantinople (381) helped to define the teaching of the Trinity more clearly. At our liturgical celebrations today, we will recite the Nicene Creed. We celebrate today’s feast on the Sunday after Pentecost. This is meaningful: after celebrating the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost we pause to contemplate the fullness of God’s inner life revealed to us through salvation history. But remember: the feast of the holy Trinity is not simply doctrine to be explained, but a mystery to live out in our daily lives. God is an eternal communion of love, and we are invited into that communion through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Before we move to the Gospel’s teaching let’s look at traces of the Trinity in the Hebrew Scriptures. In our reading from Exodus, Moses encounters God on Mount Sinai, after the tragedy of the golden calf. The people had broken their covenant, yet God doesn’t come forth punishing them but extending mercy. God passes before Moses and proclaims God’s name and character: “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” This passage shows us the Trinity is not simply a doctrine about God’s inner life; it is a revelation of who God is towards us. The Trinity teaches that God is a communion of love: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Exodus is already giving us hints of that divine love. Today we are reminded that God is personal, compassionate, forgiving and faithful. The God of Moses meets is not distant, vengeful or cold, but One who desires covenant and closeness to the chosen people, despite their resistance. We Christians will come to see that this mercy is fully revealed in the Father who sends the Son and in the Holy Spirit who remains with the Church. Note Moses’ response. He bows down in worship and asks God to remain with the people. “If I find favor with you, O Lord, do come along in our company. This is indeed a stiff necked yet pardon our wickedness and sins and receive us as your own.” The Trinity is not simply a teaching to be explained; it is a mystery into which we are invited. We are drawn into the life of our God through forgiveness, covenant and communion. So, our Exodus reading invites us to enter and celebrate the Feast of the Holy Trinity by revealing the deepest and most intimate truth about God: God’s nature is merciful love, faithful presence and saving communion with humanity. The gospel today presents again the central message of the Bible: God loves the world. Instead of coming down on us humans for our sins God loves us, frees us from our guilt and offers us eternal life. The opening verse (3:16) is a summary of the whole gospel message, “God so loved the world….” In a few words we come face-to-face with the mystery of who our God is and how God has acted towards us. If you can tell a tree by its fruit, then you can learn about God by what God has done for us: loved us and demonstrated that love by the concrete sign of Jesus’ life. Love is what moves God to get involved with us. And more, Jesus tells us, God wants to give us eternal life now. Today’s gospel passage is from a conversation Jesus is having with Nicodemus. Jesus tells him that we can put faith in Jesus and what he reveals about God’s love for us – or we can self-judge ourselves by rejecting Jesus. If we do put faith in Jesus we have eternal life. We usually think of “eternal life” as something that will begin for us at the moment of death and go on and on without end. But that’s not what eternal life is in John. Jesus says that believers can “have eternal life.” He is speaking in the present tense and is offering the gift of eternal life to us – beginning right now! What might this gift of “eternal life” look like in our lives? First of all, it is union in the very life of God. We have that intimacy with God through our union with Christ and the Holy Spirit in Baptism. This union frees us from fear of judgment. In Jesus we can see the true nature of our God – who already loves us. Now we are living in a new age and have passed from death to life. For John, Jesus is our saving gift in this present moment and through the Spirit, believers can recognize God’s gifts already present to us. Not on our own human efforts, but through our faith, we can have optimism, peace and gratitude to God. We can also accept the challenge faith puts before us – to be instruments of the peace and reconciliation to others that Jesus has already given us. No image can capture the holiness and greatness of our God. What words can describe God? God is more present to us than we are to ourselves. God is at the very core of our being; the source of all we are and can do. The contradiction we must admit today on this feast of the Trinity is this: the closer we get to God, the more alien we feel from our world and its ways. The closer and more comfortable we feel with our world, the more distinctively alien we are from the God the Scriptures reveal to us.

Quotable
When it is asked three what, then the great poverty from which our language suffers becomes apparent. But the formula three persons was coined not in order to give a complete explanation by means of it, but in order that we might not be obliged to remain silent. —Gregory of Nazianzus, in “Christology of the Later Fathers,” by Ed Hardy

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, Raleigh, NC

“We were all given to drink of one spirit”—1 Corinthians 12: 13

Do you find it hard to believe sometimes that we have one spirit in common? On the surface we seem so different. We come with different life experiences and have such a variety of interests and causes that we feel take priority... the spirit seems to get lost in the weaving of lives and attitudes. Yet, if we keep that one spirit as our guide, our lives will be formed in a transformed way. Pentecost is not just another day. If we had a picture of a person of spirit, what would we notice about them? Looking beyond the superficial, would we discover a person touched by the dove of peace, a person on fire with passion and love for others, a person who is just and life-giving like water? Looking further at that person, would we discover the creative wind of service in their actions? Would we not notice them at all? A person of spirit can appear as ordinary as anyone else and at the same time, full of revealing light. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit empowers the believer to spark the flame of this inner person who is so hidden. Announcing we are loved and anointed in an incomparable peace, we are to spread this love and peace to others, including, and especially, those who are not like us. We begin to see as God sees and act as God acts. God’s priorities for a just world become our priorities. The prophet Joel states that God will one day pour out divine spirit “upon all mankind” (Joel 3:1). Joel envisioned a world in which all people would be enlivened and transformed by the divine life breathing within them. This is a world-altering change in your own thinking and being. Pentecost will have arrived. Imagine, just imagine, a people of spirit creating a world of unity amid diversity; a just world filled with love and peace for all. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created. And you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who, by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy your consolations. Through Christ our Lord, let us drink of the one spirit, the spirit that connects us all. Amen.

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s first reading: (Exodus 34: 4b-6, 8-9) Early in the morning Moses went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him, taking along the two stone tablets. Thus the LORD passed before him and cried out, “The LORD, the LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship.

Reflection: Who is this God who is so revelatory to Moses? Who is this God who is about to take the Israelites, a broken and recalcitrant people and make them new again? This is the God who chooses to be with us, despite our own unworthiness. This is the God who comes in a cloud; who may not be seen but certainly is experienced. And what do Moses and the people experience of this God? How shall they “name” God? Judging from today’s story God is patient and compassionate; takes the initiative to reach out to us; is not dissuaded by our sins; is faithful to us, even when we have built our own idols to worship; can take a broken people and make them whole again.

So, we ask ourselves:

• From my present experience: What name would I give God?

• Has the reality of God changed for me in recent years?

• What events in my life influenced that change?

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS & MEDITATIONS

PREPARATION FOR THE SESSION
Adapted from Sacred Space: The Prayer Book 2025

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

OPENING PRAYER
From St Ignatius of Loyola:

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.

COMPANIONS FOR THE JOURNEY

Barbara Brown Taylor, a scripture scholar and preacher, quotes Robert Farrar Capon, who says that when we humans try to describe God it’s like a bunch of oysters trying to describe a ballerina.

From “First Impressions”, 2023, a service of the Southern Dominican Province: How can God be one and three? How can God be three and one? How can Jesus operate on his own? Who is the Holy Spirit; is it the spirit of God? The spirit of Jesus? How can one come to us, leave and then send another, as Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit after he left? Don’t be discouraged by these questions. Since the beginning the greatest saints and scholars have tried to answer questions like these, and have come up short. We are going to be disappointed if we think the Scripture readings chosen for this feast will help us “explain” the Trinity. The feast  doesn’t pose a problem to be solved;  but a mystery to be celebrated -- the mystery of God’s wonderful ways of interacting with us. Those ways are more numerous than even the Bible can describe, or enumerate. But that hasn’t kept the scriptural authors from trying! We may not be able to explain the Trinity today, but we get  help from the Scriptures so we can be more aware who our God is, how God relates to us and how we are to respond in our daily lives. We earthly creatures build barricades of one kind or another. We put “those people” on one side and ourselves and those like us, on the other. We keep “them” over there and, as evidenced by the local and international news today, we will distance ourselves from them, hate and even kill them. After all, the logic concludes, they deserve to be punished because they are so bad. If it were up to me and I had God’s power, I would wreak vengeance on all the evildoers in the world. “Enough is enough!”  I would come down hard with my divine hammer of justice. Martin Luther had a similar instinct. He said if he were God and knew what God knows about the world, he would just put an end to it all and submit it to hellfire. But he wasn’t God, nor am I. On this feast of the Trinity, we need to relearn who God is and how God operates. We do that by turning a believing ear to the Word of God. Contrary to our way of thinking God  acts differently from us. The Word teaches us that we are made in the image and likeness of God and so, we are called to imitate that God whom the Bible reveals to us. Earlier in the Exodus account Moses had asked God, “Show me your glory, I pray” (33:18). God responded, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim before you the name, ‘the Lord’….But you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live” (3:19-20). God tucks Moses into the cleft of the rock and covers him until God passes by. Moses is allowed to only see God’s back (32:23). Then God speaks and it is necessary for us to hear the description of who our God is, “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.” Thus, along with Moses, we hear an oft-repeated biblical description of God. Is it not also how our gospel reading describes God for us today, “God so loved the world….?” God’s love has been constant and faithful, proven by the gift of the Son for us. This is a good time to ask how does our own image of God and our actions, measure up to the revelation of God the Scriptures present to us today and throughout both the Hebrew texts and the New Testament? In 2 Corinthians Paul encourages the community, “to mend your ways.” He instructs them to live together in love and peace. His concern is for the unity of the church community. He knows well the dissension among those Corinthians, the barricades between rich and poor, old timers and newcomers. On their own they could never reflect the peace and unity he wants for the community of believers. But grace can make it possible and so he prays, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” Our church today has the same human tensions Paul observed among the Christians in Corinth. So, as we hear his prayer, we pray it for ourselves. Who is this God Paul preachers and calls upon to bless the divided Corinthians? Paul clearly believes that our triune God loves us, freely graces us in Jesus and, through the Holy Spirit, is the source of our communion with each other. The gospel today presents again the central message of the Bible: God loves the world. Instead of coming down on us humans for our sins, God loves us, frees us from our guilt and offers us eternal life. The opening verse (3:16) is a summary of the whole gospel message, “God so loved the world….” In a few words we come face-to-face with the mystery of who our God is and how God has acted towards us. If you can tell a tree by its fruit, then you can learn about God by what God has done for us: loved us and demonstrated that love by the concrete sign of Jesus’ life. Love is what moves God to get involved with us. And more, Jesus tells us, God wants to give us eternal life now. Today’s gospel passage is from a conversation Jesus is having with Nicodemus. Jesus tells him that we can put faith in Jesus and what he reveals about God’s love for us—or we can self-judge ourselves by rejecting Jesus. If we do put faith in Jesus we have eternal life. We usually think of “eternal life” as something that will begin for us at the moment of death and go on and on without end. But that’s not what eternal life is in John. Jesus says that believers can “have eternal life.” He is speaking in the present tense and is offering the gift of eternal life to us—beginning right now! What might this gift of “eternal life” look like in our lives? First of all, it is union in the very life of God. We  have that intimacy with God through our union with Christ and the Holy Spirit in Baptism. This union frees us from fear of judgment. In Jesus we can see the true nature of our God—who already loves us. Now we are living in a new age and have passed from death to life. For John, Jesus is our saving gift in this present moment and through the Spirit, believers can recognize God’s gifts already present to us. Not on our own human efforts, but through our faith, we can have optimism, peace and gratitude to God. We can also accept the challenge faith puts before us—to be instruments of the peace and reconciliation to others that Jesus has already given us. Jesus did not wish to see anyone condemned. Today’s reading shows that once we acknowledge Jesus as the one who will determine our life’s orientation, then we judge ourselves by his life and teachings. In his own life he shows what faithfulness to God entails. If we reject him we bring on our own self-condemnation (“Whoever does not believe has already been condemned.”) Sent by God, Jesus unites time and eternity. In him our future is made present. No image can capture the holiness and greatness of our God. What words can describe God? God is more present to us than we are to ourselves. God is at the very core of our being; the source of all we are and can do. The contradiction we must admit today on this feast of the Trinity is this: the closer we get to God, the more alien we feel from our world and its ways. The closer and more comfortable we feel with our world, the more distinctively alien we are from the God the Scriptures reveal to us. —by Jude Siciliano, OP

LIVING THE GOOD NEWS
What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow.

Reflection Questions:
Do I treat the Trinity as an unsolvable theological puzzle or as a model for personal relationships?

When I pray, to which person of the Blessed Trinity do I most often do so?
Why?

From Daniel J Harrington, S.J.:
Who is God for you?
How do you explain this to someone?
How does your experience of God correlate with the approach found in the Bible?
Do you often invite God to “come along in your company?”
Why or why not?

Through Him and with Him and in Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours Almighty Father. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are each unique. Can there be unity in diversity?
Can I praise the uniqueness of those in my life, or do I want them to think, believe and act as I do?
Can I, upon reflection, share in the rhythm of God’s own life?
How?

Adapted from Sacred Space: a service of the Irish Jesuits:
It has been said that if we lost all of the four gospels except John 3:16, that would be enough for us. Pope Francis put it this way: “When everything is Said and done, we are infinitely loved”.
Do I believe this in my heart?

John’s entire gospel is “God is Love”. What does this passage say to you about God’s love for you?

What is the most common Christian interpretation of Jesus’ death on the cross?
Do you think of The Cross as punishment/reparation or as love/self-donation?

Do you believe that “whoever does not believe has been condemned?”
How do you interpret this sentence?

St Augustine said: “Are you looking for something to give God? Give him yourself.” So to love is to give oneself.
To whom or what do I give myself?
Is there something I am withholding?

What do I give God (obedience, prayer, Mass attendance, good works, personal sacrifice)?

Father William Bausch wrote: We are at our best, most human, most moral, most divine, when we are in loving relationships. I think of some of my relationships: Do I give love or merely receive it?
Do I act lovingly towards even the most annoying people in my lie?
Do I believe my loving relationships are a mirror of the loving relationship that is the Trinity?

CLOSING PRAYER
Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for. (The first sentence is from Thomas Merton.)

How far I have to go to find you in whom I have already arrived! God, You are puzzle to me in so many ways. Keep me from distracting myself with endless theological questions, and keep me from giving up on knowing you better. For you know me, with all my faults, and love me utterly. That is all I need to know.

FOR THE WEEK AHEAD

Weekly Memorization:
Taken from the gospel for today’s session: God so loved the world that He gave His ony son.

Meditations:
A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking questions: How do you explain the sentence: “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life?” One theory, resurrected every now and then is called Divine Retribution, which posits that God’s anger at sinful humanity could only be appeased by God becoming human and dying to assuage that anger. Otherwise, God, in his righteous sense of true justice, would keep all of us from union with himself because we, as heirs of Adam and Eve and sinful people ourselves, do not deserve salvation. Jesus purchased our salvation with His life. Another possibility is that God “gave his only son” to show us how to live. If so, His death was a fully expected outcome of being human; in addition, his kind of death was not wholly unexpected, given what he was preaching. The death of an innocent Son of God proclaims solidarity with all those in the world who have suffered abuse, who have been wrongly accused, who have died violently in their innocence. Which theory do you prefer?

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking questions: Read the following hymn from Philippians 2:5-8. “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Do I see in Jesus a reflection of my own humanity? Do I seek to emulate Jesus in not desiring rank and power for myself? Am I, like Jesus, motivated by love to act as I do? What am I willing to endure for the sake of someone in my life whom I love? What am I willing to endure for the sake of God whom I love?

A Meditation in the Franciscan style/Action: The following was taken from Praying with Julian of Norwich, by Gloria Durka. “I saw and understood that the high might of the Trinity is our Father, and the deep wisdom of the Trinity is our mother, and the great love of the Trinity is our Lord; all these things we have in nature and in our substantial creation. Thus in our Father, God almighty, we have our being, and in our Mother of mercy we have our reforming and restoring, in whom our parts are united and all made perfect man, and through the rewards of Grace of the Holy Spirit we are fulfilled. (excerpted from Julian of Norwich, Showings pp. 293, 295) Reflect for a time on the image of God as our Mother with wisdom and mercy, reforming and restoring us. Does this image offer you a new way of experiencing God’s love? How have you shared your wisdom and mercy lately? Bring to mind some of the ways in which you have been a wise counselor and merciful mother to people in the last week or so. Think about some ways in which you have increased in your own love of God. Compare your love for God with what it was when you were a child. Thank God now for this increasing in your life. Pray for awareness of how you can help someone else think of God’s love as being like a mother’s love—someone in your family, a friend who is distressed, or someone else who is in need of love and loving.

A Meditation on the Franciscan Style/ Action: Read 2 Corinthians 13: 11-13. Imagine God saying these things to you. “Mend your ways, encourage one another, agree with one another, live in peace…” How do you see yourself concretely living out these exhortations? Where do you need some extra help from the Spirit? Pick one circumstance in your life which needs to change, or one relationship which could use improvement and talk to God about ways in which you need to change. Then do it.

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: Think of someone you love. How often does she come to mind? Do you have a pet name for him, or do you have several? Does thinking about her make you smile? What do you do that you know makes him happy? How do you picture God (Do you pick one person of the Blessed Trinity, or do you pick all three symbolized by two men (one old, one young) and a bird?) How often during the day do you think of God? What do you call God? (Anne Lamott says she has a friend who calls God ‘Howard”, as in, “our Father Howard in heaven.) If you don’t have a pet name for God, try to think of one—it tells you something about your relationship to God. What do you think would make God happy? Do you do it? St. Peter, when asked by Jesus if he loved him, responded in the affirmative, but used the Greek word philia instead of the Greek word agape—a more self-rewarding kind of love, which prompted Jesus to tell him that love for Jesus meant feeding Jesus’ sheep—caring for others. How often does your love for God (or for only one of the Trinity) motivate you to care for others?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: (From Sacred Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits) It has been said that if all the Gospels ahd been lost early on except “for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son”, that would be enough for us. Once we know that God loves the world to bits, we have hope. God is hard at work to save us—from evil and faiure and ruin and darkness. God’s plan is to bring all of us imto eternal life. Pope Francis puts it daringly: “When everything is said and done, we are infinitely loved.” (The Joy of the Gospel). Let this be my mantra for today and every day. Relationships are transformed when I catch on to the fact that the other person in infinetely loved. I speak to God ( in whatever personal I imagine) in thanksgiving for being loved so much.

POETIC REFLECTIONS

Thomas Merton, monk and poet, enters a mystical realm as he contemplates the Trinity:

For the sound of my beloved,
The voice of the sound of my Three-Beloved
(One of my Three of my One Beloved)
Comes down out of the heavenly depths
And hits my heart like thunder;
And lo! I am alive and dead
With heart held fast in the Three-Personed love.
And lo! God! My God!
Look! Look! I travel inThy Strength
I swing in the grasp of Thy Love, Thy great Love’s
One strength,
I run Thy swift ways, Thy straightest rails
Until my life becomes Thy Life and sails or rides
Like an express!

—from Collected Poems

——————————————————————————————

How does this poem help us see different “persona” of God as reflected in the Trinity?

From Narrow Places by Ed Ingebretsen, S.J.

From narrow places
the strength of our voice
rises:
our every breath
is prayer,
the great poem of need,
a constant scattering
of praise.
Early
we reach to God
in the claim of our hearts,
while he,
our father,
mothers us
in his

——————————————————————————————

Read the following poem Do you see in this an affirmation of God’s love for us?

Gather the People by Ed Ingebretzen, S.J.
What return can we make
for all the Lord has done in our lives?
We bring bread, wine, our clay dishes
and our clay feet
to this altar
and we pray that we may here
make a beginning--
that somehow in our days
we can begin to see the promises
the Lord has made us.
The promises do not always
glow with obvious light, or
overwhelm us by their obvious truth.
No matter what anyone says,
it is difficult to understand an invisible God
and belief is not always
the easy way out.
So we gather the people
and we tell the story again
and we break the bread
and in the memory of the one
who saves us,
we eat and drink
and we pray and we believe.
We gather, we pray, we eat.
These things are for human beings.
God has no need of them.
Yet he himself gathered the people,
prayed, broke bread
and gave it to his friends.
And so the invisible God became
visible
and lives with us.
—from Psalms from the Still Country

Pentecost Sunday

May 24, 2026

The Spirit of God is upon us.

READINGS

First Reading — Acts 2:1-11

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled, they were all in one place together. And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven
staying in Jerusalem. At this sound, they gathered in a large crowd, but they were confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded, and in amazement they asked, "Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya near Cyrene, as well as travelers from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God."

Second Reading — 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

Brothers and sisters: No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Gospel — John 20:19-23

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

REFLECITONS ON THE READINGS

Unity is not easy. It is not just similarity. Unity doesn’t mean we all pretend all is well. It’s living with, accepting, even enjoying differences. Some differences are too much for friendship or family but we can still value the other and not fight. The past does not disappear. As unity demands tolerance, at times it will demand forgiveness and a wish for healing and freedom. At other times if we are to get along side by side it means reconciliation, and a new relationship. The Spirit in each of us can help unity. Pray for someone you are at odds with—believe that he or she has the Spirit of God like you. It helps! This is some of the Spirit of Pentecost. A great gift of the risen Lord is the forgiveness of our sins. The claim that he could forgive sins was one of the reasons he was brought to death, for only God could forgive. Forgiveness is given day by day in various ways. Through the community of his followers in the church we are given the forgiveness of our sins. We need this gift and the grace of knowing that God is always the God of another chance, never remembering our sins forever. Jesus repeats his greeting, “Peace be with you.” As Jesus wishes the same blessing for me I consider what might come between me and the blessing Jesus offers. Fear caused the disciples to lock the doors. This security did not, however, bring them peace. Closing people out leads them to be seen as a threat and seems at odds with Jesus’ way. In the Book of Genesis God breathes on human beings to bring them life. Now Jesus breathes his Spirit into his disciples to give them new life. They will have power over sin, which otherwise deadens the human heart. Holy Spirit, I welcome you now into my small heart. Let today be ‘the first day of the week’ for me, which means the first day of my renewed creation. Let us celebrate this together. Jesus passed through the locked doors of the house in which the disciples were. His arrival among them was completely unexpected. Did they dread his reproaches, all but the beloved disciple, having abandoned him in his terrible hour of need? Before they could express any remorse, he simply said to them, ‘Peace be with you’. It is an expression of unconditional love. We are called on to show the same unmerited forgiveness in our own lives. Only when we believe ourselves to be forgiven, can we do the same to others. Is there someone I need to forgive this very day? In a gesture of wonderful intimacy, Jesus ‘breathed’ the Holy Spirit into his disciples. The act evokes God’s promise to Ezekiel centuries earlier, to give us hearts of flesh instead of hearts of stone. If we refuse to believe ourselves forgiven, how can we forgive others? Today we celebrate Pentecost when the Spirit was given to the disciples. It is the birthday of the Church, the day when the timid and uncertain apostles were transformed into bold preachers of Jesus and his resurrection. The same Spirit is still as active in the Church today, transforming it—and us—into better missionaries. I pray in a special way for the Church, spread throughout the world under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I ask for the grace to grow in love for the Church, which is the body of Christ himself, and of which I am a living part. It is through her that I receive the Word, the Eucharist, forgiveness of sins and so much more. It is the holy bride of Christ, but it is also full of sinners, like myself. I pray for the Church to be open to the Spirit, as it carries out Jesus’ command to be his witness in the world of today. Jesus came to the disciples at the time of their great fear. He came to them although the doors were locked. He comes to me too, wherever I am locked in by fear, and he gives me his peace. I think now of those areas in my life where I am afraid. I imagine Jesus coming and standing before me and saying “Peace be with you”. I stay there for a little while, looking at Jesus, hearing his words of peace, feeling calm return to my heart. And Jesus breathes upon me and gives me the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of peace and truth and joy. I can turn to this Spirit for help whenever fear threatens to overwhelm me in my life. Fear of the Jews! What causes me to be afraid? Is faith a source of peace for me? Have I ever found myself in that room with the disciples? and then what happened? He ‘breathed’ on them! Reminiscent of Genesis and God breathing on the chaos. Can I ask him to breathe on my chaos? Can I ask for the gift of his Spirit to fill me with his peace and his light? The disciples recognise Jesus, but he is not the same Jesus they had known; and His first words to them are ‘Peace be with you’. This peace he offers is ultimately a deep and heartfelt awareness of Emmanuel, ‘God with us.’ Have you ever had an experience like the disciples? At a time of crisis and fear have you been made consciously aware of this ‘God with us’? Sit with this memory. Maybe chat with Jesus about that memory and its significance for me in my life. Did an awareness of God with me have any effect on my fear and how I coped with it? Take time today and allow the word ‘Peace’ echo in your mind and heart. Let the word and all it may mean fill your body, and remain within you. It is the constant promise of Jesus to his followers. It is a gift nobody can take from us. Give time each day to receive this gift of God’s Spirit. He gives it without even being asked. As you receive peace form God send this peace in a prayer to those close to you or those who may sorely need prayer today. The disciples are baptised in the Holy Spirit. This is a new birth and a new baptism. The regenerative power of the Spirit makes it possible for us to become children of God. With this new birth, we become a new creation, formed by the same Spirit of God which moved over the world in the opening lines of Genesis, when: “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” What is it that blinds me to the reality of what I read about Pentecost? What makes me refuse to acknowledge that it can happen to me just as it did to the Apostles? That, within my unworthy self, there is a temple in which the Spirit adores without easing? Lord, is it a fear that, by accepting your greatness at the centre of myself, great things will be asked of me? Is it possible that, in my desire to avoid pain, I also deprive myself of experiencing joy? The risen Jesus penetrates the disciples’ defences, overcomes their fears, and brings them joy. I ask him to pass through all my security systems and liberate me from whatever prevents me from “having life and having it in all its fullness”.Jesus always brings peace and reconciliation. Saint Augustine called peace “the tranquillity of order,” meaning order in my relationships with God, with other people and within myself. Where is there lack of peace in my life? Who do I need to make peace with? Do I make space to experience God’s forgiveness and gift of peace? I ask for his peace so that I may bring others peace. Let me take this time to be still, to wait on the Lord, to realise that Jesus approaches me as he did the disciples, wishing me peace. I hear him say, ‘Peace be with you,’ I notice my reactions, my protests. I see, too, where I am able to receive his gift of God’s Spirit and pray that I may pass these gifts freely to others. When things are not going as we think they should, we too cower behind locked doors. Jesus understands this fear and no amount of door locking on our part will keep him from being present to us. Jesus calls his disciples into mission. We too are to be the Good News in our own place and time. Holy Spirit, I welcome you now into my small heart. Let today be ‘the first day of the week’ for me, which means the first day of my renewed creation. Let us celebrate this together. I listen to Jesus speak to me, “Peace be with you.” I bring before him those aspects of my life most in need of peace and hear him say again, “Peace be with you.” Jesus speaks of peace but shows his hand and his feet: he reminds me that there is a cost to being a presence of peace in the world.

First Impressions by Jude Siciliano, OP

Dear Preachers: I have heard people pray out loud to Jesus. We all have at liturgies and prayer gatherings for special needs: peace, the sick, those in need, etc. I don’t mean those times when we pray in community, but rather the prayers people utter at specific moments in their lives; prayers under duress and in times of testing. For example. I had an aunt who died a slow, painful death from emphysema. More than once, she prayed in misery as she gasped for breath, “How long, O Lord?!” A while ago a boat carrying Libyan refugees capsized in the stormy Mediterranean and 600 people drowned. Someone, moved by what they saw on television moaned, “How long, O Lord?!” Another report of sexual abuse and cover-up in the Church surfaced bankrupting another diocese, and I said the prayer out loud as I heard the news over the car radio, “How long, O Lord?!” We pray that prayer because we feel stuck in the in-between time: between Jesus’ departure from his disciples and his promised return. We want him to come back quickly, especially when life presses in on us or those around us. The disciples gathered with Jesus the moments before he was to leave. They put the prayer in another way, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom of Israel?” Who could blame them for the impatience their question reflected? They wanted him to wrap things up. Instead, they wouldn’t have him with them as they had, especially during the 40 days after his resurrection. They and we will have to wait till he returns for the completion of his vision for us. Easier said than done. It’s the waiting during that “in-between time” that will test the faith, hope and love of the disciples and us, their descendants, in the faith. The church, right up to the present age, has prayed during times of stress the all-too-familiar prayer, “How long O Lord?!” How long do we have to endure the times our faith is tested by persecution from without and the sinfulness of our own members – ourselves included? Jesus initiated a new age, but we don’t always feel its presence as we wait, wonder and pray. The disciple isn’t named who asked Jesus that question about whether, “at this time,” he was going to “restore the kingdom of Israel.” It doesn’t seem to have been any particular person. Acts says, “They asked him” – it’s a church question. The community of believers asked the question then and it continues to ask it now, “When will you bring your work to completion? How long must we wait for you to do that?” Jesus didn’t give an answer to the disciples’ pressing concerns about when he would return to fulfill their longings. It would happen someday; meanwhile he was leaving. What a dreadful, sinking feeling they must have had in their stomachs! They were being told to continue his mission in his absence. The sense of responsibility they would have felt must have been pressing on them. I was watching a documentary about a team of climbers preparing to scale Everest. The film showed the elaborate preparations they had to go through before they put even one foot forward to begin their climb. They needed special clothing, oxygen tanks, tents, ropes, a communication system, maps, pinions and, of course, an experienced team of Sherpas to guide, protect and teach them how to get up and then down from Everest. The climbers would have to be prepared, as best they could, for the unexpected – which was sure to happen. I suspect that the most valuable asset they would have on the mountain would be those experienced Sherpas. We all could use the help of those stronger, wiser and more experienced than ourselves to help us navigate through our lives as Christians. Jesus was promising help to those first Christians. He knew the responsibilities he was leaving them. He also knew their past records of failures, internal conflicts and, finally, their betrayal. They would need help facing the mountains of opposition and problems the world would put before them. He also knew them well enough to foresee the conflicts and divisions that would develop among them. So, he promised them the coming of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit would enable, guide, strengthen and renew them in the many ways they would be called upon to witness to Jesus–“in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” The account of Christ’s Ascension in Acts is the way Luke terminates the post-Easter appearances of Jesus to his disciples. Luke depicts the risen Christ instructing his disciples about God’s kingdom. Now, with his departure, they are to be his witnesses–they will speak and act on his and the kingdom’s behalf. But first they have something to do. They must wait – wait for the Spirit Jesus will send them so that then they can go and announce the new age Christ inaugurated. We are living in the “in-between time” – a moment of pause between Jesus’ first coming and his return. It has been a long pause! There’s the danger in each generation that the waiting church will lose its fervor and enthusiasm for Christ, who can seem a long way off in the distant past. We can get nostalgic about the past. Our churches are not supposed to be memorial places for a long-dead leader. It’s clear from the angel’s message to the disciples staring up at the space left by their departed leader, that we are not just to be Jesus’ fan club which meets regularly to bask in nostalgia. Instead, as Jesus promised, we are gifted with the same powerful Spirit that animated Jesus and sustained him, not only through his preaching and healing ministry, but through his long suffering and death. It is that same Spirit that keeps us from stagnating and being just a curious, antiquated relic from the past. Because of the Spirit people should not say of us, “Aren’t they quaint? Aren’t their beliefs and practices so historic and original!” Thanks to the Spirit, we are called and empowered to be modern witnesses to the living Christ still with us, who is reaching out in a new age to do through us, what he did in his lifetime–preach the gospel, heal the sick and bring people back to God. Remember those mountain climbers who took such care to prepare for their climb of Everest? Jesus takes extra care to furnish his disciples with what they will need when challenged by the sometimes-steep mountains in their lives and ministry. When the time is right he will send them his Spirit. How could these disciples and we possibly go out into the world without being equipped by that Spirit? Luke doesn’t show the Spirit’s coming immediately after Jesus’ departure. Instead, the disciples had to trust his word and wait. That’s the first thing Jesus tells them to do - wait. When we disciples wait on God, we do that in prayer. So, they gathered with Mary and men and women disciples in the upper room, where they waited and they prayed. I a little over a week we will celebrate Pentecost when the promised Spirit was poured out on the gathered disciples. We and the whole church are in constant need for renewal in that Spirit. We may not be sent out into “the whole world” to witness to Jesus; but to places closer to home – to our family, school, job, etc. Still, we are called to bring to those people and places our faith, energized by the Spirit. During the week ahead of us we do again what Jesus instructed his disciples to do – we wait. While we wait we bring to prayer our personal needs for a renewal of faith in the risen Christ. We also pray for those we know who have lost their commitment to our church community, as well as for those whose spirits are battered in any way because of loneliness, poverty, violence, sickness etc. We pray this week, “How long, O Lord?!” And we hear Christ, ever ready to pour out his Spirit on us, respond, “Soon, very soon.”

Justice Bulletin Board by Barbara Molinari Quinby, MPS, Director Office of Human Life, Dignity, and Justice Ministries Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral Raleigh, NC

May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened.”—Ephesians 1:18

I find myself wondering if American Christians understand that Palestinian Christians, numbering about 134,000 people in the Holy Land (45,000 in the West Bank), are being robbed of their land (by an illegal occupation that has gone on for years), their religious liberties, their freedom to travel, and their freedom to build lives of dignity. Here is a little history lesson from: http://www.ifamericansknew.org/history/maps.htmlHistorically, the land of Palestine was populated by a people known as the Palestinians. Palestinians have always been religiously diverse with the Muslim majority maintaining friendly relations with their Christian, Jewish, and Druze brethren. At the turn of the 20th Century, a new Jewish nationalist ideology called Zionism was developing to create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. During this time, increasing numbers of Jewish Europeans immigrated to Palestine, causing the Jewish population to grow from a tiny minority to 35% of the population. In 1947, the United Nations partitioned Historic Palestine, giving 55% to the Jewish population and 45% to the Palestinian population. The indigenous Palestinians rejected the division of the land on which they had lived and farmed for centuries. At the time of partition, the Jewish population owned less than 6% of Palestine. In 1948 Israel declared its “independence,” but chose not to name its borders. Between the time of partition and the declaration of Israel, the newly formed Jewish state had depopulated (through massacres, expulsion orders, and fear tactics) over 400 villages and made refugees of at least 726,000 Palestinians. In 1967, Israel occupied the remaining 22% of historic Palestine: the West Bank and Gaza. Since then, Israel has transferred many of its citizens to Jewish “settlements,” (colonies, which are illegal according to the fourth Geneva Convention). Today 40% of the West Bank is off-limits to Palestinians, as they are not allowed to live in Israeli settlements, drive on Israeli-only roads connecting these settlements, or even live or travel through “security zones,” surrounding the settlements. Catholics and people of other faiths are praying and working for a just peace where dignity, reconciliation, and peace prevail. Join us for an educational event Wednesday, May 20 at 7PM in the Parish Center on the situation in the Holy Land and its impact on Christians and learn how we must frame it within our Catholic social teaching framework and the context of the kerygma. This will be facilitated by Deacon Joshua Klickman, Sherry Kilgus-Kramer, and Deacon Dave Wulff.

Faith Book

Mini-reflections on the Sunday scripture readings designed for persons on the run. “Faith Book” is also brief enough to be posted in the Sunday parish bulletins people take home.

From today’s Gospel reading: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’

Reflection: Pentecost is not simply the celebration of a past event; it is an identity to be lived. The risen Christ still enters our guarded spaces, still speaks peace, still breathes his Spirit upon us, and still sends his Church into the world. We may not be perfect, but through the gift of the Holy Spirit we are empowered so that fear does not leave us locked away as frightened disciples.

So, we ask ourselves:

• For us modern disciples:

  • What gift of the Spirit have I received?

  • How am I using that gift to strengthen the Church and serve others?

  • Do our communities reflect unity amid diversity, or division and rivalry?

Postcards to Death Row Inmates

“The use of the death penalty cannot really be mended. It should be ended.”—Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick

Inmates on death row are the most forgotten people in the prison system. Each week I post in this space several inmates’ names and addresses. I invite you to write a postcard to one or more of them to let them know we have not forgotten them. If you like, tell them you heard about them through North Carolina’s, “People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.” If the inmate responds you might consider becoming pen pals.

Please write to:

• Randy L. Atkins #0012311 (On death row since 12/8/93)

• Terry L. Ball #0017060 (2/3/94)

• Frank J. Chambers #0071799 (3/10/94)

Central Prison, 1300 Western Blvd., Raleigh, NC 27606

For more information on the Catholic position on the death penalty go to the webpage of the Catholic Mobilizing Network: http://www.catholicsmobilizing.org/

ENCOUNTER CHRIST REFLECTIONS AND MEDITATIONS

Preparation for the Session

Presence of God: Jesus, As I come to you today, fill my heart, my whole being, with the wonder of your sacred presence. Help me to become more aware of your presence in my life, and more receptive to that presence. I desire to love you as you love me. May nothing ever separate me from you. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Freedom: Jesus, Grant me the grace to have freedom of spirit. Keep me from being bound by desires and actions that are not good for me or others. Cleanse my heart and soul that I may live joyously in your love. (1-2 minutes of silence)

Consciousness: Where am I with God? With others in my life? What am I grateful for? Is there something I am sorry for, words or actions that have hurt others, and which I now regret? I take a moment to ask forgiveness of God and of those whom I have hurt. God, I give you thanks for your constant love and care for me. Keep me always aware of your presence in my life. (2-3 minutes of silence)

Opening Prayer

Give me, O God, stillness and attentiveness so that I may be receptive to the movement of Your Spirit within me. Keep me from fear; reassure me when I falter. Look into my small heart and make it bigger so as to encompass all that you love--the earth itself in all its beauty and those who dwell in it, in all their beauty. Help me, inspired by Your Spirit, to radiate the joy of Your gospel to all those I meet along life’s way.

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from Living Space, a service of the Irish Jesuits:

Today we round off more than seven weeks of celebrating the Paschal Mystery: Passion and Death – Resurrection – Ascension, Exaltation – Coming of the Holy Spirit. Although in the liturgy it is spread over seven weeks, all the elements are actually there on the cross on Good Friday. At the moment of death Jesus passes to life, is exalted to the Father and breathes forth his Spirit. Today is also the birthday of the Church. What is the Church? The Church is basically that community and complex of communities spread all over the world which is continuing the visible presence of God and his work by living openly in the Spirit of Jesus and offering its experience of knowing Christ to the world. “The Word was made flesh and lived among us”.These words apply not only to Jesus but to all those who are now the visible Body of the Risen Jesus. It is for each of us, individually and in community, to incarnate the Word of God in our world.

Pentecost day—Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles gives us one account, perhaps the most familiar one, of how the mission of Christ was transferred to his followers. The scene is full of biblical imagery. There was a sound “like the rush of a violent wind”. In Greek the words used here for “wind” and “Spirit” are very similar. The whole house was filled with the very Spirit of God. Then “divided tongues, as of fire” were seen resting on each person present. Fire, again, speaks of the presence of God himself. God spoke to Moses from out of a burning bush. As the Israelites wandered through the desert on their way to the Promised Land, a pillar of cloud accompanied them by day, and a pillar of fire by night. God was with his people. The fire here was in the form of tongues, as if to say that each one present was being given the gift and power to speak in the name of God. And in fact:…all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Amazement—Because it was the Jewish feast of Pentecost, the city of Jerusalem was filled with pilgrim Jews from all over the Mediterranean area. They were amazed to hear the disciples speaking to them in their own languages. How is it that we hear, each of us, in our own language? In our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power. In the Book of Genesis, men tried to build a tower to reach right up to heaven. For such arrogance, they were punished by being made to speak in different languages. No longer able to communicate, they could not finish their project. Now the time of the Tower of Babel is reversed. The disciples have a message which is offered to and can be understood by people everywhere. People are being called to be united again as brothers and sisters under one common Father, revealed to them by his Son Jesus Christ.

A different account—The Gospel from John presents us with a different account of the coming of the Spirit. It is Easter Sunday. The disciples are locked into the house, terrified of the authorities coming to take them away as collaborators with the recently executed Jesus. Suddenly the same Jesus is there among them and greets them: Peace with you… It is both a wish and a statement. Where Jesus is there is peace. The presence of Jesus in our lives always brings peace and removes our anxieties and fears. He shows them his hands and side to prove it is himself: the one who died on the cross and the one who is now alive. Then he gives them their mission: ”As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” Their mission and his are exactly the same. Our mission and his are exactly the same. He then breathes on them. As God breathed on the earth and created the first human being. In Christ, we become a new creation. The breathing also symbolizes the Spirit of God and of Jesus. So he says,  Receive the Holy Spirit. With the giving of the Spirit comes also the authority to speak and act in the name of Jesus. If you forgive sins, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. This is not just a reference to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the power to forgive sin. Forgiving sin, reconciling people with God is the very core of the work of Christ and the Christian mission. The disciples are now the Body of Christ, the ongoing visible presence of Christ in the world. This Body will experience injuries and wounds and disease. It will wander at times far from God. It will need healing and forgiveness and reconciliation. It will also try to bring the same healing and reconciliation to a broken world.

A body with many parts—Finally, the Second Reading speaks of the effect of the Spirit on the Christian community. The Church and each community within it reflects unity and diversity. We are not called to uniformity. We are not clones of Christ or each other. Unity presumes diversity and a variety of gifts and talents and responsibilities. So, on the one hand, we are called to be deeply united in our faith in Christ and in our love for each other. At the same time, each one of us has a unique gift. It is through this gift or gifts that we serve and build up the community. They are not just for ourselves, or for our families and friends.To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. We are like a body. Each body has many members, each with its own particular function, yet they all are ordered to one purpose – the good functioning of the body as a whole. So it is with the Christian community, which is the Body of Christ. Each member is to be aware of his or her particular gift. This gift indicates the role the member has to play in building up the whole Body, the whole community. Today let us ask God to send his Spirit into our hearts. Filled with that Spirit, may we each individually make our contribution to the community to which we belong. And, as a community, may we give clear and unmistakable witness to the Truth and Love of God, revealed to us in Jesus our Lord. Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion? Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions which follow:

Reflection Questions:

Check the page which says EC Scripture for Pentecost A (the First Reading and the Gospel for Pentecost A.) Which reading for today’s Pentecost liturgy do I prefer? Why?

The disciples were in a locked room because of fear. In what ways has fear kept me locked off from others?

Jesus repeated his greeting:”Peace be with you”. Peace demands tolerance and forgiveness. Which is harder for me?

Fr. William Bausch said that Jesus Imposed the “Spirit of Second Chances” on them, sending them out to impart to others the spirit of God’s love and forgiveness. Do I look on the Spirit that way?
To whom am I called to go out and extend love and forgiveness?

What if this passage is less about the clerical notion of the priest’s ability to forgive sins, but instead is about our own ability to work with the Holy Spirit in forgiving others?
Whose sins do I need to forgive?
What sort of sins would I consider “unforgivable” and thus, retained?
Do I think Jesus would refuse to free anyone of his or her sins?

How does my church extend peace to sinners or to those who disagree with our teachings?

What is the difference between seeing and recognizing?
What is the difference between hearing and understanding?
Where can I do better in each?

What might it mean to “renew the face of the earth” today?

Do I ever pray to the Holy Spirit?
Where does the Spirit figure in my spiritual life?

Have there been experiences in my life through which the Spirit was speaking to me?
Did I listen?

How do I expect to hear the Lord’s voice?

What do I regard as my spiritual gifts?
How do I use them?

What gifts of the Spirit do I see in this community?

How might the church be more effective in the process of enculturation?
What dangers might enculturation pose?

Has some person in my life been a source of inspiration and/or courage for me?

What do I see as my mission to the world at large right this moment?
In the future?

Closing Prayer

Don’t forget to provide some prayer time at the beginning and at the end of the session (or both), allowing time to offer prayers for anyone you wish to pray for.

Adapted from Sacred Space 2023, a service of the Irish Jesuits: I pray, Lord, in a special way for the church spread throughout the world under the guidance of Your Holy Spirit. I ask for the grace to grow in love for the Church of which I am a living part. I ask Your Spirit for patience and understanding when I think the Church is changing too swiftly or not changing fast enough. Please guide the Church in being open to the Spirit as it moves through the process of synodality, in order that we all may be witnesses to Your love, Jesus, in the world.

For the Week Ahead

Weekly Memorization: Taken from the gospel for today’s session…Receive the Holy Spirit

Meditations:
A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Relationship: Read today’s responsorial psalm which is Psalm 104. Using Lectio Divina, pray this scripture hymn. Which words or phrases speak out to you? Sit with them and savor the meaning for you. Is God speaking to you these beautiful words? What works can you do to reflect the role of the Spirit in your life? How can you help the glory of the Lord endure forever? Then speak to God, using your own words and from your heart, about how you want to respond to the gift of the Spirit in your life.

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking questions: (Adapted from The Holy Longing: The Search for a Christian Spirituality, by Father Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I)

We need to be on fire again,
for our hope is no longer an easy hope.
We live in a culture of despair
within which Pentecost can no longer be taken for granted.
Hence we must take upon ourselves the burden of the times and refuse to make the Holy Spirit a piece of private property
but a spirit that matters. —Mary Jo Leddy

Rolheiser asks us to examine the following questions and relate them to the presence of the Spirit in our lives:

• What should I be doing?

• To whom should I be listening?

• Must I get involved in this or can I choose to ignore it?

• What is important?

• What are the pillars upon which I build my spiritual life?

A Meditation in the Augustinian Style/Memory: Someone who had been through hardship and endured, sought forgiveness and it was granted said: “There are moments in life when God lifts you up and gives you moments of ecstatic clarity… there are moments that give all of our crosses meaning and revealed their goodness. The Spirit has ruled again.” (Fr. William Bausch in From No to YES) Think back on instances in your life when you have been given a second chance; think of a time when you have given someone else the gift of forgiveness. Try to look at your present circumstances be thankful for the chances to start anew, try to forgive yourself for mistakes you have made, and extend a non-judgmental hand to another.

A Meditation in the Ignatian Style/Imagination:

Read Acts 2: 1-6. Imagine that you are one of the twelve apostles whom Jesus left behind. What have you been doing since Jesus’ death? What are you feeling about keeping the group of believers together? Has a natural leader emerged? What are your immediate plans for spreading the Good News? Suddenly you hear a sudden wind growing stronger and stronger in volume until it seems there is only noise in the house you are in, and then you see the fire (fire!) hovering over the room, appearing to split into individual tongues of flame and seeming to come to rest over the heads of your companions. Has anything like this ever happened to you before? Were you expecting this? Are you afraid? How does it feel to speak in tongues? Do you feel any different now that you have been filled with the Spirit of God? Return to the present and reflect on any times in your life in which you have felt extraordinary strength from the Spirit to do God’s will. Talk to God about your response to this outpouring of love from the Spirit.

Poetic Reflection

Read the following poem by Denise Levertov. Does it capture for you how we are protected by the Spirit, the Sustainer of Life?

The Avowal

As swimmers dare
to lie face to the sky
and water bears them;
as hawks rest upon air
and air sustains them,
so would I learn to attain
freefall, and float
into Creator Spirit’s deep embrace,
knowing no effort earns
that all-surrounding grace.

Music Reflection

Listen to “Veni Sancti Spiritus” from the Taize community. Let it lift you up.