CORPUS CHRISTI - GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Sunday - June 19, 2022

 

Sunday - June 19, 2022

During painful times, when you feel a terrible void, think how the capacity of your soul is being enlarged so that it can receive God-- becoming as it were, infinite as God is infinite.

~~St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

June 19, 2022

THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

Lectionary: 169

 

Reading I     

                                                                                    Gn 14:18-20

 

In those days, Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine,

and being a priest of God Most High,

he blessed Abram with these words:

            "Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

                        the creator of heaven and earth;

            and blessed be God Most High,

                        who delivered your foes into your hand."

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  Ps 110:1, 2, 3, 4

 

R (4b)  You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

 

The LORD said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand

            till I make your enemies your footstool."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The scepter of your power the LORD will stretch forth from Zion:

            "Rule in the midst of your enemies."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

"Yours is princely power in the day of your birth, in holy splendor;

            before the daystar, like the dew, I have begotten you."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

The LORD has sworn, and he will not repent:

            "You are a priest forever, according to the order of  Melchizedek."

R You are a priest for ever, in the line of Melchizedek.

 

Reading II    

                                                                                    1 Cor 11:23-26

 

Brothers and sisters:

I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,

that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,

took bread, and, after he had given thanks,

broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you.

Do this in remembrance of me."

In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,

"This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me."

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup,

you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Sequence    

                                                                                    Lauda Sion

 

Laud, O Zion, your salvation,

Laud with hymns of exultation,

            Christ, your king and shepherd true:

 

Bring him all the praise you know,

He is more than you bestow.

            Never can you reach his due.

 

Special theme for glad thanksgiving

Is the quick’ning and the living

            Bread today before you set:

 

From his hands of old partaken,

As we know, by faith unshaken,

            Where the Twelve at supper met.

 

Full and clear ring out your chanting,

Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,

            From your heart let praises burst:

 

For today the feast is holden,

When the institution olden

            Of that supper was rehearsed.

 

Here the new law’s new oblation,

By the new king’s revelation,

            Ends the form of ancient rite:

 

Now the new the old effaces,

Truth away the shadow chases,

            Light dispels the gloom of night.

 

What he did at supper seated,

Christ ordained to be repeated,

            His memorial ne’er to cease:

 

And his rule for guidance taking,

Bread and wine we hallow, making

            Thus our sacrifice of peace.

 

This the truth each Christian learns,

Bread into his flesh he turns,

            To his precious blood the wine:

 

Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,

But a dauntless faith believes,

            Resting on a pow’r divine.

 

Here beneath these signs are hidden

Priceless things to sense forbidden;

            Signs, not things are all we see:

 

Blood is poured and flesh is broken,

Yet in either wondrous token

            Christ entire we know to be.

 

Whoso of this food partakes,

Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;

            Christ is whole to all that taste:

 

Thousands are, as one, receivers,

One, as thousands of believers,

            Eats of him who cannot waste.

 

Bad and good the feast are sharing,

Of what divers dooms preparing,

            Endless death, or endless life.

 

Life to these, to those damnation,

See how like participation

            Is with unlike issues rife.

 

When the sacrament is broken,

Doubt not, but believe ‘tis spoken,

            That each sever’d outward token

            doth the very whole contain.

 

Nought the precious gift divides,

Breaking but the sign betides

            Jesus still the same abides,

            still unbroken does remain.

 

The shorter form of the sequence begins here.

 

Lo! the angel’s food is given

To the pilgrim who has striven;

            see the children’s bread from heaven,

            which on dogs may not be spent.

 

Truth the ancient types fulfilling,

Isaac bound, a victim willing,

            Paschal lamb, its lifeblood spilling,

            manna to the fathers sent.

 

Very bread, good shepherd, tend us,

Jesu, of your love befriend us,

            You refresh us, you defend us,

            Your eternal goodness send us

In the land of life to see.

 

You who all things can and know,

Who on earth such food bestow,

            Grant us with your saints, though lowest,

            Where the heav’nly feast you show,

Fellow heirs and guests to be. Amen. Alleluia.

 

 

Alleluia                                              Phil 2:8 Jn 6:51       

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord;

whoever eats this bread will live forever.

R. Alleluia

 

Gospel                                                           Lk 9:11b-17

 

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,

and he healed those who needed to be cured.

As the day was drawing to a close,

the Twelve approached him and said,

"Dismiss the crowd

so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms

and find lodging and provisions;

for we are in a deserted place here."

He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves."

They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have,

unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."

Now the men there numbered about five thousand.

Then he said to his disciples,

"Have them sit down in groups of about fifty."

They did so and made them all sit down.

Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,

and looking up to heaven,

he said the blessing over them, broke them,

and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.

They all ate and were satisfied.

And when the leftover fragments were picked up,

they filled twelve wicker baskets.

 

**********************************

THE FIFTH BREAD

 

"Love is like five loaves and two fish, always too little until you start giving it away." This is the message inscribed at a shrine near the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, built where Jesus multiplied a small amount of food to provide for the needs of everyone in the large crowd who had come to see him.

 

In front of the altar is a Byzantine mosaic of the loaves and fish, dating about 480 A.D. It's next to the rock upon which Jesus blessed the food. However, in the mosaic you can see only four loaves, not five. Why?

 

The fifth loaf is the bread of the Eucharist in which Jesus comes to us in Holy Communion at every Mass.

 

The Eucharist is more than the True Presence of Jesus. It's more than a communion with the Body of Christ that's become the whole Church community. It's a miracle of multiplication. Whatever we lack from God, it comes to us in Jesus through the Holy Spirit, and when we participate in the Eucharistic celebration of Mass, we can (and should!) ask Jesus to multiply our insufficiencies into an abundance.

 

We can trust that he will give us all that we need, at the perfect time in whatever way we're able to receive it, albeit often through a growth process.

 

Do you have enough love in your life? Most of us would say no, because there is no one -- except God -- who is capable of giving us all the love that we need: No one, regardless of how close to us they are, regardless of how loyal and trustworthy, regardless of how close to Christ they are.

 

The Eucharist is our earthly, direct connection to all the perfect love of God. The reason we don't feel the fullness of that love is because we don't fully understand how to unite ourselves to the Eucharist. To receive the life-changing impact of the Eucharist fully, be the Eucharist fully. The Eucharist is love given in sacrifice for the sake of others. If you're not receiving enough love, give more love -- be the love you want to receive. Be Eucharist for others.

 

Is God's love sufficiently filling in the gaps where others don't love you enough? Take your needs to the Eucharist; ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to give more love instead of focusing on getting more, then ask Jesus to multiply the love that you give so that it's more than enough for your needs as well as the needs of others.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Your presence in our lives, Lord, makes the difference. Your work, together with ours, poor and insufficient, works miraculous wonders. Amen.

 

 

God Bless You.....

The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”