St Timothy Catholic Church
 
 

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ  (Corpus Christi)

Reflection after Communion  -  May 25, 2008

You are with me, Lord. You…how amazing that I can use that pronoun. You…how wonderful that I can address you directly. You…Jesus Christ are with me. Jesus Christ: born in Bethlehem, raised in Nazareth, son of Mary and Joseph, baptized by John in the Jordan, miracle worker, healer of the sick, preacher of the Good News, teacher of a more excellent way: Love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you, turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give to everyone who asks. Love one another as I have loved you. You…Jesus Christ, courageous prophet, defender of the poor against the mighty, putting down the proud and exalting the humble, worshipper of God in spirit and truth, so wonderfully human, always putting people ahead of laws. You… who spoke the hard sayings we need to hear: You cannot be my disciple unless you take up your cross daily and follow me. But always thinking of us, not wanting us to lose heart, you were transfigured on the mountain to assure us that the cross leads to glory. You…so touchingly human, bursting into tears at the grave of Lazarus, your friend and then giving his life back to him. You…in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood, begging your Father to let this cup pass from you, but then going forward---for us. You…deserted by your friends, betrayed by an apostle, mocked, scourged, beaten. You…crucified on Calvary, suffering, dying…”My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”…”Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing” You…dead and buried, finished. And then, the morning of the third day and the slow dawning in minds and hearts that the impossible, the unthinkable had happened: “Don’t be afraid. He is not here. He is risen.”

 

But you are here, here with me. You who promised, “Whoever eat my flesh and drink my blood will have life. And I will raise them on the last day. You who fed the multitudes in the wilderness.  You, who on the night before you died took bread and said, “This is my body, given for you.” And over the cup of wine: “This is the cup of my blood, shed for you.” You are the bread from heaven, the bread of life. You are the light of the world. You don’t seem to know how to hold back. You gave your life. Now you give yourself.

 

You are with me, Lord. With me…to think that you are with me, in me. Elizabeth said to Mary, “Who am I, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Who am I, that my Lord should come to me? I am a sinner. The lowest deed I have ever done, the vilest thought I have ever had are well known to you. You have no illusions about me, just as I have no secrets from you. Yet, you are here, loving me even in my sinfulness. Your very presence in me is an act of forgiveness. How strange that you forgive and sometimes I do not. You came, you said, not to condemn the world but to save it. I am so quick to condemn, so slow to forgive. I am so uncanny at spotting the speck in my brothers’ and sisters’ eyes, so blind to the planks in mine. I who expect pardon from you my master, and refuse to give it to my fellow servants.

 

Enlarge my heart, Lord. Make it like yours, open to all. You said, “Come to me, all you who are heavily burdened, and I will refresh you. “All,”…help me to make no exceptions to my love. Help me to see the good you see in everyone. I need such strength to do that, and you are my food, my nourishment, my sustenance, my rock, my fortress, my salvation, my Lord, my God, my brother, my friend.

 



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