When saying Mass a few days ago I paused to reflect on a phrase from the psalms in the Communion Antiphon: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”
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We are here, consummati in unum! united in prayer and intention, and ready to begin this period of conversation with Our Lord, having renewed our desires to be effective instruments in his hands.
I was deeply moved by the Epistle in today’s Mass, and I imagine the same will have happened to you. I realized that God was helping us, through the words of the Apostle, to contemplate the divine interlacing of the three theological virtues.
“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). The reader of this verse from St John’s Gospel is brought to understand that a great event is about to take place.
Today, on the feast of Corpus Christi, we come together to consider the depths of our Lord’s love for us, which has led him to stay with us, hidden under the appearances of the blessed Sacrament.
The Church is rooted in this fundamental mystery of our Catholic faith: the mystery of God who is one in essence and three in persons.
Having just read in the Acts of the Apostles about Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit came down on the Lord’s disciples, we are conscious of being present at the great display of God’s power with which the Church’s life began to spread among all nations.
Once more the liturgy reminds us of the final moment in Jesus’ life among men, his ascension into heaven.
If we look at the world, at the People of God, during this month of May, we will see devotion to Our Lady taking the form of many old and new customs practiced with great love.
Like every Christian celebration, today’s is one of peace. The palm branches, with their ancient symbolism, recall a scene of the book of Genesis.
During this week which Christians traditionally call holy week, we are given another chance to reflect on and to re-live the last hours of Jesus’ life.
The whole Church recognizes St Joseph as a patron and guardian. For centuries many different features of his life have caught the attention of believers. He was a man ever faithful to the mission God gave him.
We are at the beginning of Lent: a time of penance, purification and conversion. It is not an easy program, but then Christianity is not an easy way of life.
Let us not be afraid. The Church, which is the Body of Christ must indefectibly be the path and the sheepfold of the Good Shepherd, the strong foundation and the way open to all men.
Not too long ago I saw a marble bas-relief representing the adoration of the child Jesus by the Magi. The central figures were surrounded by four angels, each one bearing a symbol: a crown, an orb surmounted by the cross, a sword and a scepter.
“This day shall light shine upon us; for the Lord is born to us.” This is the great announcement which moves Christians today.
The liturgical year is beginning, and the introit of the Mass invites us to consider something closely related to the beginning of our christian life: the vocation we have all received.
The liturgical year is coming to a close and in the holy sacrifice of the altar we renew the offering of the victim to the Father — the offering of Christ, the king of justice, love and peace.
We should not forget that he came on earth to redeem everyone, because ‘he wishes all men to be saved’. There is not a single soul in whom Christ is not interested. Each soul has cost him the price of his Blood.
You hear people saying sometimes that there are fewer miracles nowadays. Might it not rather be that there are fewer people living a life of faith?