Today is a beautiful, joyous and important day in the liturgical life of the Church. Today we celebrate the gift of the Eucharist itself. Of course, every time we go to Mass we celebrate the reality of the Eucharist, but today the Church turns a very bright light on this awesome gift and urges us to think clearly about the reality before us, to not have our faith blurred by habit, but rather to concentrate on what Jesus did and is doing to his followers.
The theme that runs through the three texts is bread. Bread in one form or another is the most common staple food utilized across the world and throughout history. Bread is the very symbol of sustenance and life. The first reading presents us with that intriguing picture of the King of Salem coming out to meet Abraham and offering bread and wine as a gift to the Most High God. Christian tradition has utilized this text as some type of prefiguring the Christian celebration of the Eucharist and that leads us to the second reading.
The second reading is absolutely one of the most important texts for Christians in the entire Bible. It is from Paul’s letter to the Corinthians where he clearly describes the institution of the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, Corpus Christi. Let’s look at the words again.
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.
Does he love us? Infinitely. Is he with us? Eternally.

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What did you do for her? What did you give to her? A better question is, are each of us conscious of what she has given to us and done for us? I am, of course, referring to that wonderful celebration that took place yesterday in the majority of homes in our country, when children and grandchildren and extended families turned our thoughts and attentions to our mothers. The answer to the first two questions are not too important, but that we have a clear and complete understanding of the second part makes all the difference in the world. She has given us LIFE. Just a four letter word, isn’t it? But it means everything.
Every aspect of your existence is completely meaningless if separated from the fact that you, a distinct individual, have been given the gift of life by that all important woman.
Most of us have received blessings beyond measure as we have lived out our years, but nothing compares to that single blessing: our being, our existence, our presence, our future happiness- all are wrapped up in that gift!
What did she give to us? Well, it has changed over the years. She had an awesome presence in our childhood. She was there when we were most vulnerable, and she guided us through those incredible early chapters of human development. The three year old afraid of the barking dog. The five year old who ultimately walked alone into a strange and threatening world called kindergarten. The exuberance and tension that marked all our lives as we entered puberty. Finally, she did what a wonderful mother has to do ultimately, she let us go! Those of us who are adults have been on our own for awhile. If we had any degree of developing a full, good and generous life, we can thank HER- our mother!
It’s may seem obvious that I have been speaking about our natural mothers, but we have also been so blessed to have within our midst countless mothers who emptied themselves with love for adopted children that they have raised.
May God bless your mother and all mothers across the planet. Happy Mothers Day!

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Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th
Today is one of the great feast days of the Catholic Church. It is the wonderful feast of the Epiphany. Symbolically, Jesus is presented and unveiled to the entire world. That world is symbolized by these mysterious characters coming from the East. In tradition, they have been called “kings”, “magi”, “soothsayers,” and a half dozen other titles. What is important for us is that strangers from afar were mysteriously directed by God to Bethlehem where Mary and Joseph were taking care of a newborn infant. That infant was no one other than our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.I think you can be sure that the kings (let’s call them kings for our purposes) were tired. Not only had they come a long way but they were slowed down a little bit by King Herod who was somewhat nonplussed by the idea that they were looking for a newborn king. Herod always considered that one king, himself, was quite enough.
The important symbol of the story is the adoration that these mysterious men present to the newborn child and the fact that they brought the best that they could of their own possessions to present to him, reflecting adoration and homage. For our secular culture, Christmas is long gone. After all, that was last year, wasn’t it? All of us are trying hard to remember the new resolutions that we made, of our commitment to improve this or that aspect of our temperament and personality, but don’t let me forget the kings. Remember, they are presenting two things – adoration and gifts coming from themselves.
The number of kings viewing this blog is rather limited but anybody reading this today is called to adoration and homage. What do we give our Savior that we honored so completely just two weeks ago? The answer is simple. It is the same things that were given at the first Epiphany. We need to recognize the divinity of the second person of the Blessed Trinity, present and working through the human nature of Jesus of Nazareth. We need to worship him, to remind ourselves that he is Lord of all creation and then to give him something that we value ourselves.
What should that be? A little more patience with the difficult people working with us on the job? An extra large check to the retired sisters funds? (National Religious Retirement Office/CW, 3211 Fourth Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20017-1194) To make a weekly trip to see a friend who is locked up in long-term illness? Whatever the gift you choose it will be appreciated by the Lord. It will be accepted with divine gratitude.

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Confirmation

Several times over the last few weeks, I have talked very briefly about the beauty to be seen in the celebration of the Sacraments. Catholics know that the seven Sacraments are the central structure of our faith since each one of them brings us into closer touch with Jesus of Nazareth. However, we don’t necessarily see them as gifts in our lives that really do reflect beauty. I started at the end by touching on the Last Anointing or Extreme Unction. I have also said the same thing about Baptism. When each of these ceremonies are carried out properly, they not only achieve their purpose, they achieve it in a way that is quite pleasing to the eye. Now let’s talk about Confirmation.

Like the other Sacraments, Confirmation is filled with symbolism. We receive it but one time in our lifetime and ordinarily we receive it, not in isolation, but in a communal context celebrating our position within the community of faith. This is seen first when those being confirmed are put together in sizable groups and secondly, the larger community of the parish really comes out to join the celebration. In baptism, our parents and godparents speak for us because usually infants are baptized. However, in Confirmation, the person being confirmed speaks for himself or herself. She has come of age, she has studied her holy faith and she is prepared to solidify or to confirm the commitment made for her in baptism. Now the young people do it for themselves.

Each person being confirmed is already a member of its own proper family, but with baptism and First Communion that person very visibly joins the larger faith community, the essential organizational component of the Universal Church, namely the Diocese. Dioceses have very specific boundaries and are headed by a single shepherd, the bishop. In Confirmation, those being confirmed come to the parish church to meet their shepherd and, after questioning them about the clarity of their thinking and their determination to walk in the footsteps of Jesus Christ, he confirms their faith by a holy anointing. The holy oil that is used for that anointing is itself a symbol of ties to the Diocese. The oil was blessed by the bishop at the Cathedral Church during Holy Week and then was divided among all the parishes of the Diocese. Once again, it symbolizes our unity through the bishop with the whole local Church; in this instance, the Diocese of Austin, the Church in Central Texas.

And so the spiritual journey continues. The child is born into its natural family, elevated to membership in the spiritual family, the community of faith which is the Church, and after a certain amount of maturing, that faith is confirmed by the chief shepherd of the local Church, the bishop. No one is isolated in the Church. Through the Sacraments, we are united to Jesus and, through those same Sacraments, united to those who share our faith. These are beautiful milestones on our way to our eternal destiny. Happily, none of us go alone.

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Dementia can mean many things, but mainly refers to loss of memory. Do you ever think about the fact that you never hear kids in their twenties complaining about their memory? The reason is easy- their’s works! But get around a group of people in their later decades, and you’ll find a non-stop bemoaning of memory loss, or at least memory weakening. The difference between the two groups is that as long as this gift is working, we take it for granted. Once it ceases to work perfectly, we immediately begin to pay the price.

Oh, I’m sorry, I thought you said Wednesday…

And most of all, where are the car keys?

Memory is an awesome gift that enables us to function day by day with minimum tension and fewer mistakes.        
 Let’s try to remember to thank God for it, and pray for those suffering from memory loss as well as all those who care for them!

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A powerful coalition is trying to undermine both the both the Clean Air Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. Thanks be to God, there are thoughtful leaders who are fighting for our health and future. Last December, Representative Henry Waxman released a list of 191 anti-environmental votes taken by Congress in 2011. Seventy-seven targeted the Clean Air Act and 114 were aimed at the Environmental Protection Agency.

What is driving these destructive forces? Concern for profits, of course, is on the table and obvious to everyone but many of them are in error about the costs. Just look at the benefits from one environmental regulation, the new Mercury and Air Toxic Standards. This Act is estimated to create 100,000 new jobs by 2015 including 80,500 from investments in pollution abatement and control. We should not be discouraged in this struggle. The opposition have extraordinary resources. They have the money and the lawyers but the laws and the facts are on the side of environment and good health.

All of creation is a gift from God and, of course, for us this most especially concerns this battered planet Earth. It is a free gift from God but we have the responsibility to use its resources as effectively and as generously as possible. Tragic damage has been done to the planet over the last century and a half. The tide turned about 25 years ago and things have been improving rather steadily. Let’s not let the profiteers take us backwards!

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When I was a kid in the middle of the last century, Catholics were constantly asking themselves this question: What does the Church say about that? What is the Church’s teaching on that? What does the Church say?

The question might be about a new movie, a best selling book, some unusual conduct or activity present in our society. We had great faith in the Church and looked to her for moral guidance on everything from minute aspects of daily living to profound theological questions.

Because the Church’s moral standing has been so badly damaged by recent scandals, her members, still faithful to the basic teachings, such as about Jesus Christ and the sacramental life of the Church, are, however, somewhat more hesitant to accept the Church’s answer on every aspect of daily living, especially when new situations develop that have not existed in the past.

One example of this would be organ transplants. Remember when that South African doctor, for the first time, successfully transplanted a human heart? Since then, medical science has gone forward at a terrific rate of speed, and awesome things are being accomplished and the donation of organs presents a major aspect on the medical scene. For the most part, organs are donated in one of two ways. When a person dies suddenly one or another of his organs, if removed quickly, can be salvaged to be given to a person who is alive but in need of such a transplant. Another is that friends and family occasionally give one of their own healthy organs to someone they love or care about. For example, this often happens in the case with kidneys.

What does the Church say about that? In this case, it is a positive answer. This development in modern medical science is to be commended and the donors, especially those making a gift from their own body, should be praised for their extraordinary generosity and concern for others. In all of these cases, the intention is not to deform the human body but to stretch its possible accomplishments to a greater extent. Such cases are almost always examples of heroism of generous friends and relatives.

What does the Church say about that? May God bless those who make this possible.

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On the weekend blog, I touched very briefly on Sunday’s excerpt from the book of Jonah and I began an all too brief introduction on a complicated issue – how to read the bible intelligently in order to get the maximum benefit from it. My point the other day was that while everyone knows about Jonah and the whale, very few of us know what really the purpose of the message is and what its meaning is.

We know nothing about the prophet Jonah but the majority of Scripture scholars date the book between the fourth and second centuries BC. It was written at a time in the post-exilic period; namely, after the Jews had returned from their enslavement in Babylon. It was an age when the Israelites were tempted to hope more for the destruction of their enemies than for their salvation. The author of this book conveys a message about the extent of the Lord’s mercy not just for the Jews, but for the whole human family. It is a message that God’s people needed at the time that it was written and it is a message that all of us need today. Jonah is a tremendous gift to us not just as a teaching tool, but as conveying an extraordinarily important component of the Christian message.

God loves the human family!

More later about Jonah.

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What a wonderful thing it is to be a human being. Some of us live in very difficult circumstances. All of us suffer to one degree or another in this life. Every one of us has a degree of hope that things will get better and that ultimately we will achieve happiness. That is an innate desire and it is placed within us by our Creator.

As we journey towards our goals, we need to endeavor to be conscious of the wonderful gifts that we have today, each one of us in our own individual lives. They vary from person to person but the gifts are there. Those gifts do not blot out or eliminate the suffering we experience, especially unjust suffering. They do point the way forward and upward. One of the greatest gifts that each human being has is the gift of imagination. With our minds, we can probe the future. Based on past experiences, we can surmise what might happen and what we have to do to make it happen or if it is a negative reality, to avoid it happening. It is our imagination, functioning through our intellect, that enables us to, in a very real sense, move ourselves into the future. No one has complete control over the future but to the extent that we are conscious of this gift, this special power that is in each one of us, to that extent we move forward into the future with confidence, hope and endurance.

Keep thinking, keep hoping, keep moving and, of course, let’s keep praying.

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As Christmas approaches, is anyone in your family thinking about a turkey? A rib roast? Will you be blessed to have a wonderful family gathering with all the trimmings that go with the great feast, which is the Christmas dinner? Not everyone will be so fortunate.

I want to remind you of an extremely important program that operates in this city and all across our country, namely Meals on Wheels. I am writing this in the Christmas rush. I don’t have exact figures for everything that our local group is doing, but it involves thousands of people and vast quantities of food delivered to front doors of elderly people who are often sick and alone.

While we have always had hunger in our midst, it has become much more widespread in urban America. Sixty or seventy years ago, our families lived close together, not only in the same city but often in the same neighborhood. Today, families are scattered across the country. Meals on Wheels is a wonderful and generous response to that difficult situation. It lessens not only the pain of hunger, but isolation as well. These warm meals, delivered directly to the recipients, make a tremendous difference in the lives of these people for whom life is sometimes quite dreary.

The director of Meals on Wheels is Dan Pruett and his telephone number is (512) 476-6325. Could you:

a) Send a check today to Meals on Wheels
b) Volunteer to help Meals on Wheels
c) Send a check AND volunteer

Now there is the spirit of Christ! May God bless you all.

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