Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar

“Where two or three are gathered together in my name,” says Jesus, “there am I in their midst” (Mt 18:20) (…) Yet what is this I see? Christians who serve under the same banner and beneath the same head, devour and rend each other: some for a little piece of gold, others for fame, some for no reason at all, others for the pleasure of argument! (…) The title of ‘brothers’ is empty where we are concerned. (…) Have respect for this holy table where all of us are gathered: respect Christ, sacrificed for us; respect the sacrifice offered here. (…) When we have shared in such a table and communicated in such food as this, do we take up arms against each other when we should all be arming ourselves against the devil! (…) Are we forgetting that enemy so as to shoot our arrows against our brethren? – What arrows are those, do you say? – Those shot by tongue and lips. It is not just iron-tipped arrows that cause injury; there are words that cause far deeper wounds than this.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

Those who feed on Christ in the Eucharist need not wait until the hereafter to receive eternal life: they already possess it on earth, as the first-fruits of a future fullness which will embrace man in his totality. For in the Eucharist we also receive the pledge of our bodily resurrection at the end of the world: “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:54). This pledge of the future resurrection comes from the fact that the flesh of the Son of Man, given as food, is his body in its glorious state after the resurrection. With the Eucharist we digest, as it were, the “secret” of the resurrection. For this reason Saint Ignatius of Antioch rightly defined the Eucharistic Bread as “a medicine of immortality, an antidote to death”. The eschatological tension kindled by the Eucharist expresses and reinforces our communion with the Church in heaven. It is not by chance that the Eastern Anaphoras and the Latin Eucharistic Prayers honor Mary, the ever-Virgin Mother of Jesus Christ our Lord and God, the angels, the holy apostles, the glorious martyrs and all the saints. This is an aspect of the Eucharist which merits greater attention: in celebrating the sacrifice of the Lamb, we are united to the heavenly “liturgy” and become part of that great multitude which cries out: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!” (Rev 7:10). The Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth. It is a glorious ray of the heavenly Jerusalem which pierces the clouds of our history and lights up our journey.

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team

      Being admonished by my books to return into myself, I entered into my inward soul, guided by you. This I could do because you were my helper. And I entered, and with the eye of my soul saw above the same eye and above my mind immutable light. It was not the common light which all flesh can see; nor was it simply a greater light of the same sort, as if the light of day were to grow brighter and brighter and flood all space. It was not like that light, but different, indeed very different from all earthly light whatever.       Nor was it above my mind in the same way as oil is above water, or heaven above earth, but it was higher because it made me, and I was below it because I was made by it. Those who know the truth know that light, and those who know it know eternity. Love knows it, O Eternal Truth and True Love and Beloved Eternity! You are my God, to whom I sigh both night and day.       When I first knew you, you lifted me up, that I might see that there was something to be seen, though I was not yet fit to see it. And you revealed the weakness of my sight, shining forth upon me your dazzling beams of light, and I trembled with love and fear. I realized that I was far away from you, in the land of unlikeness, and I heard your voice as if from on high: “I am the food of strong men; grow and you shall feed on me; but you shall not change me, like the food of your flesh, into yourself, but you shall be changed into my likeness.”

Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team