Corpus Christi – The Noontimes

John 6:51-58: Body of Christ

John 6:51-58: Body of Christ

Monday, June 17, 2024

I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life.

We have explored Trinity as oasis, Trinity as relationship, Trinity as diversity and creation. We have examined the importance of the three-legged triad and how it generates divine energy. Yesterday we reflected on how everything is holy – even our shortcomings and sins – when we bring them to the Trinity of Father, Son and Spirit. In return we find God’s gift of uncreated grace.

“You can’t manufacture [uncreated grace] by any right conduct. You can’t make God love you one ounce more than God already loves you right now. You can’t. You can go to church every day for the rest of your life. God isn’t going to love you any more than God loves you right now. You cannot make God love you any less, either – not an ounce less . . . We can’t diminish God’s love for us. What we can do, however; is learn how to believe it, receive it, trust it, allow it, and celebrate it, accepting Trinity’s whirling invitation to join in the cosmic dance”. (Rohr and Morrell 193)

Today we celebrate the gift of Jesus’ sacrifice of self for us. Christ’s return to and for us as the embodiment of God among us. As we move through our day, let us consider how we bring into expression God’s fierce fidelity, the Spirit’s passion and Christ’s gift of uncreated grace in the elaborate yet simple divine dance of transformation.

I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life.

When we compare varying translation of these verses from THE MESSAGE, we open ourselves to uncreated grace, to the divine energy of transformation.

To more fully understand the eternal dance of love, we might want to spend more time with Rohr’s and Morrell’s description of this dance in THE DIVINE DANCE: THE TRINITY AND YOUR TRANSFORMATION. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2016. Print.

Image from: https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/communion-bread-wine

June 17, 2024

Corpus Christi, divine dance, oasis, transformation

Mark 14:12-16: Preparation of the Dwelling Place

Mark 14:12-16: Preparation of the Dwelling Place

Corpus Christi Sunday, June 19, 2022

The Feast of Corpus Christi is a celebration of Christ’s presence in the world in a very special way. Today we read and reflect on how Jesus – he who is the son of the living God – prepares for and celebrates a day when God has saved us all. We might forget this easily unless we remind ourselves often that we need not struggle with the world. Our only struggle is with our own stubbornness or willfulness when we refuse to hand over our suffering to God.

Some of us think of our meeting with God as taking place in some foggy future just after we die; there are many stories, novels, plays, films and poetry about how we humans shed our mortal skin and meet with our creator to make an accounting of all that we have done – or not done – on earth. We forget that God is with us constantly, seeing all that we do, available for a conversation, able to give advice, loving us into goodness. We ought not hesitate in preparing a chair for God, a bed for Jesus, a meal or conversation to share with the Spirit.

Everything we have heard about the story of our salvation is good news; yet we hesitate to believe.

Everything we have seen about the story of our rescue is about our new freedom; yet we hesitate to hope.

Everything we have known about the living presence of the Christ is immediate and irrefutable; yet we hesitate to join God in this union of love.

We must prepare a place today in which we can find Christ and spend time with him in an honest, authentic dialog about both our worries and joys. If we have a special place where we find God’s presence readily, let us remain a few moments longer than usual . . . and let us thank Christ for the gift of mystery that keeps us close and questioning. Let us thank God for the gift of life that brings us eternal peace. And let us determine more than ever to live as fully as we might in the Spirit. For all of this, let us prepare ourselves to accept this miracle of Corpus Christi, this mysterious, wonderful, singular dwelling place where for each of us in our own time and in our own way . . . body and spirit are one.

Tomorrow we continue our reflections on mystery with The Mystery of Resurrection.

Image from: http://stjohnscathedral.ca/?attachment_id=8817

Adapted from a reflection written on May 10, 2010.

June 19, 2022

Corpus Christi, division and union, mystery, willfulness

Zechariah 14: Apocalypse – Part IV

Zechariah 14: Apocalypse – Part IV

Friday, June 10, 2022

Return from exile is celebrated but the celebration is taking place amid the ruin of former glory because our newness is more important than what was. In our child-like, dual minds we see the world as negative and positive, off or on, with or against, good or evil, black or white, up or down. When we give ourselves over to our Triune God we begin to understand that these opposites exist side by side and even intertwined. We also begin to see that God’s plan, God’s promise and God’s love are capable of turning any harm – natural or human-made – into a force for beauty and goodness. This is the promise of the Easter resurrection, and it is the miracle of Pentecost indwelling.

We are nearing the Feast of the Trinity and later Corpus Christi when we celebrate this gift of Jesus’ presence in gift of Eucharist. I will feed my people with finest wheat and fill them with honey from the rock (Psalm 81:16) We are one with Christ in the gift of bread and wine. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believe this has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. (John 6:47-50)

We have been transformed and made anew, and this miracle of redemption that Zechariah describes already exists today in that each of us is the libation bowl poured out for Christ. We are each a vessel fashioned by God’s hands and brought into existence for God’s purpose. We each are the hope of the Spirit to the world.

Past present, future. Let us remember the holy trinity of our lives: all that God has created and gifted, all that is here with us in the Spirit, and all that is promised by Christ in our lives to come. Then, when apocalypse befalls us, let us offer all that we have and all that we are to the triune God: courageous creator, compassionate savior and blessed comforter.

Tomorrow, transformation.

To read about how different cultures celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, click on the image above or visit: http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/common/corpus-christi

Senior, Donald, ed. THE CATHOLIC STUDY BIBLE. New York, Oxford University Press, 1990. 425. Print.

Adapted from a reflection written on Friday, July 10, 2009.

June 10, 2022

apocalypse, celebration, Corpus Christi, exile, John 6:47-50, prophecy, Psalm 81:16, restoration, return, Trinity

Tag: Corpus Christi

John 6:51-58: Body of Christ

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Mark 14:12-16: Preparation of the Dwelling Place

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Zechariah 14: Apocalypse – Part IV

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