BIG C CATHOLICS

René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) I presume all the adults reading this have made a will, your “last will and testament.” Perhaps you made it a long time ago and it is no longer serves the purpose you had in mind. Nothing prevents you from changing it if you so choose. And if you do, you will then have your very own “old testament” and “new testament.” For many years now, the word formerly translated as “testament” in the Bible is more often given as “covenant.” The meaning, in English at least, is actually quite different. When you write a will, you can do that on your own, with or without the help of a lawyer, but you are not required to involve the persons to whom you will be leaving that jewelry or that moose head or your millions. There is no covenant, no contract with them. A contract or covenant, on the other hand, implies at least two parties who agree to its terms, preferably in writin

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) I wonder how long I will be remembered after I die. I wonder, too, what I will be remembered for. Shakespeare wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” What would you like to be remembered for? What do you think you will actually be remembered for? You might have to write your memoirs to ensure that the answer to both questions is the same. What will guarantee that remembrance? Photos? Mementos? The day will surely come when someone will look at those pictures and say, “They should have written the names on the back.” And the mementos will end up in a box and someone for whom they no longer have meaning will one day discard them. A monument would be nice! The Statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial was sculpted by Daniel Chester French. It’s a “memorial” precisely because it guarantees that Linc

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Last Sunday’s Gospel account was about the disciples who were huddled in the Upper Room behind locked doors out of fear, and Jesus’ appearance among them. Today’s Gospel account is about another appearance of Jesus, this time with other disciples who were dejectedly walking from Jerusalem to a nearby hamlet called Emmaus. St. Augustine along with others of the Fathers of the Church suggest that Jesus didn’t want the disciples to recognize Him right away, that He wanted them to recognize Him in “the breaking of the bread.” Moreover Jesus, they believed, wanted the disciples to see and understand what the Jewish prophets had foretold in Scripture about how the Messiah was to be recognized. Hence Jesus spent some significant time opening up the Scriptures so they might see them in a new light, His light, and then recognize Him. We can easily overlook the importance Jesus placed on Scripture. He re

Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper, April 9, 2020 By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois  Ezekiel 12:1-8, 11-14; Psalm 116:1 Corinthians 11:23-26; John 13:1-15  “I have given you a model to follow, so that  as I have done for you,  you should also do.” (John 13:15) As a child growing up at Sacred Heart Parish in Bennington, Vermont, I remember one particular Holy Thursday Mass in which Holy Cross Father Richard Sullivan, former president of Stonehill College and a longtime friend of Sacred Heart Parish, preached that Holy Thursday was the birthday of the Eucharist. There would be no birthday cake or candles; this birth would be celebrated by going back to the roots of Christianity, to the Lord’s Last Supper, to that night in which Jesus instituted the Eucharist and the priesthood. Indeed, Holy Thursday is sometimes lost among the more popular feasts of Good Friday and of course Easter itself. The Sacred Triduum begins with the Mass of Holy Thursday even

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Blood is life-giving; it is the essential element in sustaining us in life. Babies the womb receive oxygen and nutrients from their mothers’ blood. When natural disasters occur the Red Cross appeals for blood donors. During surgeries it sustains patients in life. In many cultures the bonding of people is sealed in rituals that mingle blood. In all cultures blood has a deeply religious significance. When God brought the Hebrew people out of their slavery in Egypt, the blood of sacrificed lambs marked their homes and they were spared the punishment that fell upon their Egyptian captors. Later, on Mt. Sinai, when God bound Himself to His people, Moses offered animal sacrifices and then took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, “All that the Lord has spoken

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) God our Father has sent His Son to us not to condemn us but to show us that He loves us. He wants to save us, to save us by being joined into His Son and with His Son to return to Him, our Father in heaven. With that in mind, what is God telling us in His word for us today? All of us have had to face moments of departure and loss. Was it when we were desperately in love and then the one we loved left us? Was it when we graduated from school and then suffered separation from our dear friends? Was it when a spouse or a child went off to war somewhere? Was it when we had to take a job in a city far away? For those leaving it is a wrenching experience. For those left behind it is equally wrenching, perhaps even more so. The moments and days approaching departure are filled with terrible anxiety. Our hearts are filled with fear and sorrow. Such a time, experienced by Jesus’ closest friends, i

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) There are times when we tell ourselves that nothing’s new, that human nature doesn’t change, and that history simply repeats itself. The Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes tells us: What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun . [Ecclesiastes 1:9] Yet we also find ourselves seeking what is new. We greet each other with the question “What’s new?” We watch TV news, read newspapers, pay attention advertisements, and look for new models of things we already have. Advertisements are loaded with words telling us of new products, or “new and improved” products that we can’t live without. The world of computers is filled with new gadgets, new programs, new downloads, and so forth. We seem to be obsessed with what’s new. Jesus used the word “new” many, many times in His discourses and teachings, all the time trying to get us to see the new crea

Here is the twelfth and final lesson in the Saint Paul Center for Catholic Biblical Theology 's Lenten Scripture study, Genesis to Jesus. In this Easter Monday instalment we will learn how every one of us is standing in the stream of salvation history right now, and how each of us has an opportunity to become a member of the covenant family of God for all eternity. _____________________________________________ In our study thus far, we have seen how God’s loving plan of salvation has unfolded over the course of human events and across time – finally culminating with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. We can now begin to understand just how deeply God loves us. This is the very essence of salvation history. The story of our salvation is really a love story between God and humanity. Over the past eleven lessons, we’ve seen how that story has shown God’s covenant with humanity progressing from a marriage, to a household, to a tribe, to

Fr. Charles Irvin Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for Sunday’s readings ) Why was this church building built? If everyone who is here wrote down their answer and I read them all back to you, you might be surprised at some of the answers. The answer that is obvious to me might not be so obvious to some of you. Well, why then was this building built? My answer is that it was built to be a temple. It was not built just to be a meeting place, or an auditorium, or a theater where we go to experience a drama. A temple is a building that is purpose-built. Our church building here has one chief purpose, namely to immerse us in the drama of our relationship with God. Note that I said “our” relationship with God, not “my relationship with God.” While we may come here for private prayer, the main reason is because this where we as God’s family play out our roles in the great drama of God coming to us and our going back to God our Father. A temple is certainly a building dedicated

Feast Day - December 27th  Saint John the Apostle, the son of Zebedee and Salome, was one of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. John was called by our Lord in the first year of His ministry. He is also known as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos and the Beloved Disciple. John's older brother and fellow Apostle was Saint James the Great. Jesus referred to the brothers as "Boanerges," meaning "sons of thunder." John was the longest living Apostle and the only one that did not receive the crown of martyrdom. Together with Peter and James, John witnessed the raising Jairus’ Daughter, the Transfiguration of Christ, the Olivet Discourse and the Agony of our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane. John was the disciple who reported to Jesus that they had "'forbidden' a non-disciple from casting out demons in Jesus' name." Jesus stated in reply, "There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. He

If our flesh is not saved, then the Lord has not redeemed us with his blood; the Eucharistic chalice does not make us sharers in his blood; and the bread we break does not make us sharers in his body. — St. Irenaeus "Do This in Memory of Me" The memorial Jesus left us is unique, because it doesn’t point only to the past. It is much more than a reminder. In it we believe that he is actually present among us. We believe that he gives himself to us, truly, as food and drink. As St. Paul reminds us, “The cup of blessing that we bless is a participation in the blood of Christ, and the bread that we break is a participation in the body of Christ.” In the Eucharist, however, the concept of “memorial” is turned upside down. Listen again to Jesus’ words: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.” Instead of just keeping someone’s memory alive, this memorial actually gives life — and eternal life, at that — to those who engage in the act of remembering.

Fr. René J. Butler, M.S. La Salette Missionaries of North America Hartford, Connecticut ( Click here for today’s readings ) I wonder how long I will be remembered after I die. I wonder, too, what I will be remembered for. Shakespeare wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” What would you like to be remembered for? What do you think you will actually be remembered for? You might have to write your memoirs to ensure that the answer to both questions is the same. What will guarantee that remembrance? Photos? Mementos? The day will surely come when someone will look at those pictures and say, “They should have written the names on the back.” And the mementos will end up in a box and someone for whom they no longer have meaning will one day discard them. A monument would be nice! The Statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Memorial was sculpted by Daniel Chester French. It’s a “memorial” precisely because it guarantees that

June 18th While they were eating, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and giving it to his disciples said, "Take and eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins." — Matthew 26:26-28 O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption. Who live and reign with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, one God, forever. Amen. ______________________________________________________ Today's celebration of the Body and Blood of the Lord originated in the Diocese of Liege in 1246 as the feast of Corpus Christi. In the reforms of Vatican II, Corpus Christi was joined with the feast of the Preciou

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ  (Corpus Christi Sunday)  June 18, 2017 By Msgr. Bernard Bourgeois Dt 8:2-3; 14b-16a; Ps 147; 1 Cor 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58 "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Cor 10:16) This is an incredibly important weekend for us as Catholics. On this day, we remember that the Eucharist is the most important prayer of our faith. We celebrate what God has done for us in giving us the Eucharist over and over on altars throughout the world. We dedicate ourselves to our faith and to receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in our lives. We remember. We celebrate. We dedicate ourselves. It’s the journey of faith. In remembering the Eucharist as the most important prayer of the Catholic tradition, we are recommitting ourselves to believing that this bread and wine become the Body and

Fr. Charles Irvin Senior Priest Diocese of Lansing ( Click here for today’s readings ) Last Sunday’s Gospel account was about the disciples who were huddled in the Upper Room behind locked doors out of fear, and Jesus’ appearance among them. Today’s Gospel account is about another appearance of Jesus, this time with other disciples who were dejectedly walking from Jerusalem to a nearby hamlet called Emmaus. St. Augustine along with others of the Fathers of the Church suggest that Jesus didn’t want the disciples to recognize Him right away, that He wanted them to recognize Him in “the breaking of the bread.” Moreover Jesus, they believed, wanted the disciples to see and understand what the Jewish prophets had foretold in Scripture about how the Messiah was to be recognized. Hence Jesus spent some significant time opening up the Scriptures so they might see them in a new light, His light, and then recognize Him. We can easily overlook the importance Jesus placed on S

Christ’s assurance to the apostles is from the Last Supper discourses in John . If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.  — John 14: 15-20  ___________________________________________________ Pentecost Collect Prayer Almighty ever-living God, who willed the Paschal Mystery to be encompassed as a sign in fifty days, grant that from out of the scattered nations the confusion of many tongues may be gathered by heavenly grace into one great confession of your name, with the Holy Spirit. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever. Amen.