This Sunday is the Feast of Corpus Christi, or the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. After our 9 AM Mass, we will be holding a Eucharistic Procession.

Why? - The Eucharist is the "source and summit of the Christian life" (CCC 1324). After Corpus Christi was established in the 13th century, It became traditional to hold a procession on this solemnity as a public witness of faith in the True Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

“The procession with the Blessed Sacrament…reminds us that we are called to go out and bring Jesus to others. To go out with enthusiasm, bringing Christ to those we meet in our daily lives.” - Pope Francis

We will process out of church and begin praying the rosary, reflecting on the life of Christ. At each mystery, we will stop at a station on the map for the reading of a short scripture passage. You will want to wear comfortable dress shoes for the procession.

Everyone is encouraged to participate. We plan on having a few quiet golf carts in the back of the procession for those who are unable to make the walk. All servers are invited to assist at the front of the procession.

Once we return to church, the Eucharist will be returned to our new tabernacle on the high altar. The tabernacle will be moving back to the center of the sanctuary, as it is most fitting that if we strive to make Jesus the center of our lives, he should also be in the center of our church. The 1983 Code of Canon Law states that, "The tabernacle in which the blessed sacrament is reserved should be sited in a distinguished place in the Church or Oratory, a place which is conspicuous, suitably adorned and conducive to prayer." There is no place in our church that better fits this description than in our old high altar.

Why was it ever moved? - The tabernacle was located on our high altar when our church was completed in 1869 until around the time of Vatican II. While the documents of Vatican II did not mandate moving the tabernacle, the documents were often misunderstood and poorly implemented.

The Prominence and Placement of Tabernacles Explained by Matt Dunn (Ascension Press)

Why Should the Tabernacle be Located at the Center of the Sanctuary? by Father Robert Aliunzi, AJ (St Andrew the Apostle Parish of Chandler, AZ)

Mass Hymns

At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing

Corpus Christi Sequence - Laud, O Zion

Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All

Godhead Here in Hiding

O Jesus We Adore Thee (O Sacrament Most Holy)

The Church celebrates this sixth Sunday of Lent as both Palm Sunday and Passion Sunday. This is the place in the Liturgical year when the Church stop us, so that we can remember and relive the events which brought about our redemption and salvation. What we commemorate and relive during this week is not just Jesus’ dying and rising, but our own dying to sin and selfishness and rising in Jesus, which will result in our healing, reconciliation, and redemption. Attentive participation in the Holy Week liturgy will deepen our relationship with God, increase our Faith, and strengthen our lives as disciples of Jesus.

Today's celebration can be said to be bittersweet. It is joyful and sorrowful at the same time. We celebrate the Lord’s entrance into Jerusalem to the cries of his disciples who acclaim him as king. Yet we also solemnly proclaim the Gospel account of his Passion. In this touching contrast, our hearts experience in some small measure what Jesus himself must have felt in his own heart that day, as he rejoiced with his friends and wept over Jerusalem.

The Gospel we heard before the procession (cf. Mt 21:1-11) describes Jesus as he comes down from the Mount of Olives on the back of a colt that had never been ridden. It recounts the enthusiasm of the disciples who acclaim the Master with cries of joy, and we can picture in our minds the excitement of the children and young people of the city who joined in the excitement. Jesus himself sees in this joyful welcome willed by God. To the scandalized Pharisees he responds: “I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would shout out”. Yet Jesus who, in fulfilment of the Scriptures, enters the holy city in this way is no new age prophet, no impostor. Rather, he is clearly a Messiah who comes in the guise of a servant, the servant of God and of man, and goes to his passion. He is the great “victim”, who suffers all the pain of humanity. So as we joyfully acclaim our King, let us also think of the sufferings that he will have to endure in this week.

Let us think of the slanders and insults, the snares and betrayals, the abandonment to an unjust judgment, the blows, the lashes and the crown of thorns... And lastly, the way of the cross leading to the crucifixion. He had spoken clearly of this to his disciples: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). Jesus never promised honor and success. The Gospels make this clear. He had always warnedhis friends that this was to be his path, and that the final victory would be achieved through the passion and the cross. All this holds true for us too. Let us ask for the grace to follow Jesus faithfully, not in words but in deeds. Let us also ask for the patience to carry our own cross, not to refuse it or set it aside, but rather, in looking to him, to take it up and to carry it daily.

This Jesus, who accepts the hosannas of the crowd, knows full well that they will soon be followed by the cry: “Crucify him!” He does not ask us to contemplate him only in pictures and photographs, or in the videos that circulate on the internet. No. He is present in our many brothers and sisters who today endure sufferings like his own: they suffer from slave labor, from family tragedies, from diseases... They suffer from wars and terrorism, from unrest among the nations. Women and men who are cheated, violated in their dignity, discarded... Jesus is in them, broken voice, suppression, addiction and abuse. He asks to be looked in the eye, to be acknowledged, to be loved. It is not some other Jesus, but the same Jesus who entered Jerusalem amid the waving of palm branches. It is the same Jesus who was nailed to the cross and died between two criminals. We have no other Lord but him: Jesus, the humble King of justice, mercy and peace.

We are beginning the Passover week. How are we going to part of the suffering of Jesus. We are challenged to examine in our own lives in the light of some of the characters in the Passion story — like Peter who denied Jesus, Judas who betrayed Jesus, Herod who ridiculed Jesus, Pilate who acted against his conscience as he condemned Jesus to death on the cross, and the leaders of the people who preserved their position by getting rid of Jesus. You can be like Simon of Cyrene helping or taking up the cross or you can be like the good thief acknowledging and proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah. or you can be like the Joseph of Arimathea or Nicodemus or be the ladies like Mary. Salome, Joanna participating in the
suffering of Chris and being at the service of Jesus.

There is a beautiful poem by the mystic poet of India, Rabindra Nath Tagore, extolling the reward of generous giving. It tells the story of a king who regularly visited his people, passing through the streets in a chariot.

One morning as the king was passing by, a beggar woman who planned to ask him for alms, stood on the road side with her begging bowl. As the king approached her, however, he descended from his chariot and stretched out his hand as though he was expecting a gift from the woman. Excited and surprised, the woman put her hand in the cotton bag on her shoulder, took out a pinch of rice, and with trembling hands gave it to the king.

The king was well pleased; he smiled at her, put her offering in his pocket and gave her back a pinch of grains from his other pocket.When the woman returned to her small hut that evening and examined the grains she got that day, she was surprised to find a few grains of gold in the rice.

You can imagine both her surprise and despair when she realized she should have given all her rice grains to the king.

We are here to offer our gifts to Child Jesus in the manger as his birthday gift. Let us remember that Jesus does not want our material gifts as much as he wants ourselves, with all our weakness and temptations, our merits and demerits. Let our Christmas gift to him be a heart full of love and a strong and sincere resolution to share it generously with others.

Written in the bulletin for The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas).

It is the Christmas season. There are preparations everywhere. In the supermarkets, one section is set apart only for Christmas cakes, toys and decorative items, even from the month of October. Young and old waiting to celebrate Christmas. Advance Christmas gatherings, and parties are already scheduled. There will be new dresses, cards, delicious cakes and cookies ...... all these and more.

Once a little child was asked what is this Christmas all about? The prompt reply was the birthday of Santa Claus. No wonder, the child sees only the Santa Claus everywhere and tends to think it is his birthday. The effect of commercialization of Christmas! Christmas cards are designed without the picture of Jesus Christ and instead of wishing the receiver a “happy Christmas” they use the words “season’s greetings”. Could it be that they are scared of the Holy Name of Jesus or they are deep in the culture of commercialization ?

If Christmas keeps Christ out, it will not be bringing us the full joy it ought to bring. “Jesus came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. (John 1:11). It  will not cause in us any increase of grace, love, goodness and generosity. It won’t transform our lives. The purpose of Christ coming into the world will not be fulfilled in our life. Can you imagine your birthday party in which you are not allowed to be present?  Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ. Can we keep Christ out of our celebration?

A Christ-less Christmas is such a sad thing. That is why we have  the advent season where we make due preparation for Christmas and welcome Christ into our life and into our communities. Listen to the great apostle Paul who tells us how to prepare ourselves for welcoming Christ.  “It is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:11-14).  What an interesting metaphor that Paul likens Jesus to clothing that we can wear. We are to clothe ourselves with Jesus.

Yes, Advent is the time of expectation, longing, waiting and preparations for the coming of the Redeemer, so let our expectations and preparations be filled with deeds of light, deeds of charity, justice, and peace. Let us make our hearts blameless to be ready to receive Jesus, so that we will have a Christ-filled Christmas leading us to the peace and joy of the new born king. Have a wonderful Christ-filled Christmas.

Written in the bulletin of the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

"In all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Thesselonians 5:18

Perhaps Daniel Defoe gave us some good advice through his fictitious character Robinson Crusoe. The first thing that Crusoe did when he found himself on a deserted island was to make out a list. On one side of the list he wrote down all his problems. On the other side of the list he wrote down all of his blessings. On one side he wrote: I do not have any clothes. On the other side he wrote: But it is warm and I don’t really need any. On one side he wrote: All of the provisions were lost. On the other side he wrote: But there is plenty of fresh fruit and water on the island. And on down the list he went. In this fashion he discovered that for every negative aspect about his situation, there was a positive aspect, something to be thankful for. It is easy to find ourselves on an island of despair. Perhaps it is time that we sit down and take an inventory of our blessings.

"Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?" - Luke 17:17-18

Thanksgiving is the dominant theme of the readings today. We are taught from an early age to say “thank you” whenever we are given something, but as we go through life, sometimes we forget to say it or even to feel grateful. Today,however, we hear of two people who are truly thankful and take the time and effort to express their gratitude.When Naaman is healed of leprosy, he immediately returns to Elisha with a gift and a sincere desire to worship the God of Israel.

In the Gospel, the unnamed Samaritan immediately returned to thank Jesus and glorify God. He and Naaman are models for us today as we gather for the Eucharist, since the word eucharistia means “thanksgiving.”As we listen to these accounts of two foreigners who return to give thanks and then together we celebrate the Eucharist, let us resolve to live with thankful hearts, finding joy in all the good things that have been done for us, and taking the time to thank God and each other for these blessings.

A grateful heart is all God wishes for continuing to heal us from whatever isolates us from God or others. Have you given thanks for all the Lord has done? To whom do you need to give thanks today? How can you live with a more thankful heart?

Written in the bulletin of the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

The Holy Rosary has been a major influence in Roman Catholic thought for over 500 years while paving the way for a greater understanding of the mystery of Christ celebrated within family prayer.

The Rosary is the tradition-distilled essence of Christian devotion in which vocal and mental prayer unite the whole person in effective and purposeful meditation on the central mysteries of Christian belief. The Rosary thus joins the human race to God through Mary whom God chose from all time for the specific purposes of mother and intercessor.

The month of October is dedicated to the Holy Rosary. According to an account by fifteenth-century Dominican, Alan de la Roch, Mary appeared to St. Dominic in 1206 after he had been praying and doing severe penances because of his lack of success in combating the Albigensian heresy. Mary praised him for his valiant fight against the heretics and then gave him the Rosary as a mighty weapon, explained its uses and efficacy, and told him to preach it to others.

The Rosary is Christocentric setting forth the entire life of Jesus Christ, the passion, death, resurrection and glory. When reciting the Rosary, the important and meaningful moments of salvation history are relived. The various steps of Christ's mission are traced. Of course, the Rosary honors and contemplates Mary too, and rightly so, for the same reason that the Liturgical Year does likewise: "Because of the mission she received from God, her life is most closely linked with the mysteries of Jesus Christ, and there is no one who has followed in the footsteps of the Incarnate Word more closely and with more merit than she"142 (Mediator Dei). Meditation on this cycle of Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Luminous Mysteries makes the Rosary not only "summary of the Gospel and of Christian life."

Our Holy Father is highlighting the importance and the significance of what he calls this "simple yet profound" form of prayer for all the world. We believe, as the Holy Father does that the Rosary is an important form of prayer for individuals, for families, for communities, for the world.

Despite all the additions and changes, the important core of the rosary has always remained the same. It is a way for God’s people to make holy the day, and to remember the life of Jesus and his mother. May these humble origins always be with us each time we pray the rosary.

“The Rosary is a prayer that always accompanies me; it is also the prayer of the ordinary people and the saints ... and a prayer from my heart.” - Pope Francis

As a prayer for peace, the Rosary is also, and always has been, a prayer of and for the family. At one time this prayer was particularly dear to Christian families, and it certainly brought them closer together. It is important not to lose this precious inheritance. We need to return to the practice of family prayer and prayer for families...

The family that prays together stays together. The Holy Rosary, by age-old tradition, has shown itself particularly effective as a prayer which brings the family together. Individual family members, in turning their eyes towards Jesus, also regain the ability to look one another in the eye, to communicate, to show solidarity, to forgive one another and to see their covenant of love renewed in the Spirit of God. (Rosarium Virginis Mariae Para 41)

Written in the bulletin of the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.

There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at the table, he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilled the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they brought him a wooden bowl costing few-pence, out of which he had to eat.

They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. ‘What are you doing there?’ asked the father. ‘I am making a little trough,’ answered the child, ‘for father and mother to eat out of when I’m grown up.”

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.

What goes around comes around. The way we treat other people is the way we will be treated. That is especially true within the family. The boy saw how his father treated his grandfather and assumed that it was an acceptable way to treat someone who was old. In today’s parable Jesus warns us that we will reap in the next world what we sow in this world.

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’" - Matthew 25:31-36

We need to remember that sharing is the criterion of the Last Judgment: Matthew (25:31ff), tells us that all six questions to be asked of each one of us by Jesus when He comes in glory as our judge are based on how we have shared our blessings from Him (food, drink, home, clothing, mercy, and compassion) with our brothers and sisters, anyone in need, in whom He is found. Here is the message given by Pope St. John Paul II in Yankee Stadium, New York during his first visit to the U.S., October 2, 1979. “The parable of the rich man and Lazarus must always be present in our memory; it must form our conscience. Christ demands openness to our brothers and sisters in need –openness from the rich, the affluent, the economically advanced; openness to the poor, the underdeveloped, and the disadvantaged. Christ demands an openness that is more than benign attention, more than token actions or halfhearted efforts that leave the poor as destitute as before or even more so. ...We cannot stand idly by, enjoying our own riches and freedom, if, in any place, the Lazarus of the 20th century stands at our doors.”

Again, we are invited through the Scriptures, to consider our use of money and where it can take us.  The wealthy from the world of the prophet Amos, those lying-in luxury eating lamb chops for lunch, sipping Beaujolais from bowls, and humming along with the harp---their wealth has made them sluggish, indifferent, and insulated.  “Off into exile,” shouts Amos. “The love of money,” St. Paul wrote to Timothy, “is the root of all evils” (1 Timothy 6:10).  Though this line falls just outside the passage we hear today, it resonates powerfully with both the first reading and the Gospel.  Perhaps Paul had this in mind when he advised Timothy, “Tell (the rich) to do good . . . . to be generous, ready to share” (1 Timothy 6:18).  Jesus taught love of God and love of neighbor.  Love of money is a chasm that separates us from those ideals. Have I created a chasm between myself and poor, filthy Lazarus?  How can I bridge it before it’s too late?

Written in the bulletin of the Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Today's Gospel sounds puzzling to contemporary readers, but it can be made less so by considering the economic system which stands behind the parable. A steward is dismissed because he is squandering his master's property. He is called dishonest because he is not serving the interests of the rich man, his employer. In response the steward, in an attempt to ensure favor for himself among the rich man's debtors, brokers repayment of the rich man's loans by foregoing the interest and fees that had been levied to line the steward's pockets. It is this action, in which the steward puts aside his greed and takes the longer perspective in order to enhance his security, which is commended by the rich man. The passage concludes with three morals for the listeners. The first exhorts the listener to be prudent about the use of wealth. Like the steward in the parable, those who would follow Jesus must put transitory affairs in proper perspective. Christians should handle the affairs of temporal life with an eye toward eternal life.

The second concerns trustworthiness. Those who can be trusted in small things can also be trusted in great things. If Christians handle money and other passing things responsibly, then they can also be trusted with the affairs of the Kingdom of God.

Finally, Jesus tells his listeners that no one can serve two masters simultaneously. One cannot be devoted to both heavenly and worldly wealth. God must be put ahead of money.

No servant can serve two masters.
He will either hate one and love the other,
or be devoted to one and despise the other.
You cannot serve both God and mammon. - Luke 16:13

It is not that the wealth is bad in itself – because all of our material blessings and wealth come from God. But they can never take the place of God! We must use all these things as God’s servants. We must share them with others –because that is the reason God gave them to us in the first place. Amen.

Written in the bulletin of the Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

A divorced woman found herself struggling with an increasingly rebellious teenage daughter. It all came to a head late one night when the police called her to pick up her daughter who had been arrested for drunk driving. The two of them didn’t speak on the way home or next day either, until at last the mother broke the tension by giving her daughter a small, gift-wrapped package. The girl opened it with an air of indifference and found inside a small rock. “Well, that’s cute, Mom. What is it?” “Read the card, dear,” the mother replied. As the girl did so, tears began to trickle down her cheeks, and she gave her mom a hug as the card fell to the floor. On the card her mother had written: “This rock is more than 200 million years old. That’s how long it’ll take before I give up on you.” - That’s what Jesus is telling us about God’s love, His mercy, His forgiveness, through the readings of today. He never gives up on us.

Every Sunday we listen to the Word of God. The purpose of the Word of God is to help us to know God better. It is not so much to tell us what God is, something which no human mind can ever grasp, but to discover God’s love for us. Reading, reflecting and prayerful meditation of the Word of God will lead us encounter him and experience him better. Yes, one of the proofs of God’s love is His readiness to forgive our sin. Time and again, throughout the year of worship, the church keeps on stressing the message of God’s mercy.

Yes, we all stand in need of God’s mercy at all times. The letter to the Hebrews 12:1 says ‘sin cling to man’. Yes, there is not a single day in which we do not fail God in one way or another. And God forgives every time we turn to him and implore his mercy. Even our whole life-time won’t suffice to understand how great God’s mercy [is].

"Amazing Grace" is always listed among the favorite hymns. It is an old one. It goes back to the 18th century. It was written by John Newton, who was on the sea from the time he was a little boy. When he was a young man, he became the captain of his own ship, a ship that brought African slaves to the colonies to work the plantations. Back in England, between voyages, he went to hear George Whitefield preach and was converted. He realized the evil of his occupation, left it, and became a priest in the Church of England and served the rest of his life as the rector of a little church in a town called Olney. He wrote a number of hymns which were printed in a collection called the "Olney Hymns," (a classic collection of hymns in the Church), and "Amazing Grace" was one of them. Even people who are not members of churches, and those who do not profess Faith, find something about this hymn touching them. It is over two hundred years old. It is uncompromisingly Christian in its language. It is evangelical in its message, reflecting John Newton's experience of being found. "I once was lost, but now am found. Amazing grace (mercy of God) that saved a wretch like me.” 1 Timothy 1:15 “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Yes, Christ came into the world to invite everyone to avail himself/herself of God’s mercy. There is nothing that should make us doubt of God’s readiness to forgive, nothing should refrain us from approaching him asking for pardon. The sinner who truly experience the joy of being forgiven, readily forgives the offences of those who offend him/her. Wherever forgiving others’ offences, we resemble our Father in heaven, whose children we are. Let us be his true children and be channels of God’s forgiving love and heal the world.

Written in the bulletin of the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

If our great ancestors were to come back to life and witness the achievement of modern man over the last one hundred twenty years, they would remain speechless. With supersonic means of travel, we can cover great distances that would have taken them months to cover in their own time. The telephone, television, mobile phones with video facilities which makes into a global village, that help us to instantly see any events taking place anywhere in the world. Not to speak of other modern technologies that have made great leaps in the life of the modern man.

Yet for all his achievements modern man is convinced that his knowledge will always be limited. We cannot even exactly explain how a tiny seed turn into a mighty tree. The more knowledge we acquire it becomes clearer to us that there will be endless secrets yet to be discovered.

The first reading taken from the Book of Wisdom is a beautiful prayer of King Solomon who realizes this fact. He realizes that nothings is hidden from God, rather the creator God is in possession of all these secrets and truths. The King Solomon asks the creator to give him wisdom to rule with holiness and righteousness and to judge people wisely. He begs God to send her (wisdom) forth from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne that she (wisdom) may be with him and work with him that he may know what is pleasing to God. Solomon realizes that man is mortal, short lived, timid, and unsure are our plans.

To make the right choices requires ‘wisdom,’ the light that comes from God, because the reading says that following one’s impulses and insights, man does not get to find out what is good. He is not able to know the will of the Lord because his reasonings are uncertain. He is too conditioned by the corruptible body that weighs down the mind. The things of the earth are already hard to understand; how will man discover God's thoughts? (vv. 13-16)

The book of Proverb 9:10 says ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom’. Reading the Word brings the knowledge of God, and meditating upon that knowledge brings wisdom as we allow the Holy Spirit to bring revelation and show us how to apply it in our lives. Walking in wisdom is seeing things from God’s perspective and obeying Him. It leads to abundant life. God’s Word promises that wisdom brings us joy, health, long life, promotion, peace, honor, and riches.

Are you walking on Godly wisdom? We need God’s wisdom to navigate the days in which we live, i.e., complicated relationships, how to handle our money, how to face adversity with faith, where to go and what to do, etc. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Ephesians 5:15 – 17). God’s mind is Infinite, so we finite creatures, His children, must constantly, and deliberately, pray for Heavenly wisdom.

Written in the bulletin of the Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time.