May 29, 2016

 The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Genesis 14: 18-20; 1 Corinthians 11: 23-26; Luke 9: 11-17 I’m thinking back on different celebratory meals that I have shared and been pleased to witness. As a family, the seven of us ate dinner each evening in what we called the breakfast room; dad on one end and mom on the other. We all had jobs before and after associated with the preparation and the clean-up. On Sunday’s we ate in the large dining room. It was special and mom always baked two of her fantastic pies. The largeness of the room and the day added to the specialness. What did I learn…how did I feel? Each meal took a lot of preparation and each person was involved. Being the youngest I got to take out the ‘garbage’ and to do the silverware (the safest for me to clean). I never felt that my role wasn’t important or that I wasn’t important. This time was sacred: we came together as a family. We could never miss a meal, it just wasn’t allowed and we learned not only to be sociable but to be caring and respectful. I was ordained on Saturday, May 20, 1967, and the following day I celebrated my ‘first mass’ at my parish church in Syracuse, Our Lady of Solace. After this mass, we assembled at Drumlins Country Club for a brunch. It was very crowded. I have no idea how many people came, nor could I remember all their names, but it was a celebration of priesthood. Relatives came from near and far and a vast number of neighbors and friends. I was the ‘center of attention’. I had never witnessed this before and it was uncomfortable. They came out of friendship, they came out of respect for not really who I was but for what I was, a priest of Jesus Christ. It was quite a thrill and honor, but most especially it was the feeling of ‘being Christ’ that was totally humbling and at the same time joyous. What did I learn…how did I feel? I felt that I had arrived….All my years of training , learning, and praying had fulfilled a dream that I had from my early years…to be a priest and to celebrate the sacraments, especially the Eucharist that I have always loved. This time the family was extended to people who had touched me, prayed for me and encouraged me. They were honored and proud, I was humbled and not exactly proud, just realizing that this was the beginning of giving and caring. In the Seminary, I read Bishop Sheen’s monumental book,The Priest is Not His Own and I realized that my life would be a continued series of ‘yes’s’. It wasn’t a burden, it was more a ‘finally the time has come’ moment. But again, I knew that it revolved around a meal, THE MEAL, the Eucharist. This sacrament continued to be a very important part of my ministry and my life since the time I tried to attend daily mass during my high school years. I remember numerous school wide celebrations of liturgies at the different High Schools I was assigned. In each school, I was asked to plan the liturgies with the students. It was so rewarding to hear their ideas and to encourage them and to temper some of their wild ideas. The special time I remember that during my time in Rome, NY, the bishop allowed students who had been confirmed to be Eucharistic Ministers. I so enjoyed training them and sharing my love for the Eucharist. They were so excited and felt so close to the Lord. Their faces were the pure love of God. What did I learn…how did I feel? Vatican II repeatedly said that the Church is the People of God. Church is all people from all walks of life. God is reaching out to each one to bring them closer to Himself. I learned that I can be an instrument of this or I could also be an obstacle if I stayed within myself. In 2000, I was invited by Food for the Poor to go to Haiti and to see the work they did. Two incidents I will never forget…they are totally ingrained in my heart. The first was I was invited to celebrate a mass at a complex that had ‘retirement homes’, little two room wood ‘homes’ each with a porch AND also the complex had an orphanage that housed a few hundred boys and girls from 4-14. I had taken two years of French in High School and barely understood their Creole. At Mass, I had a translator, who repeated what I said in to the people in their language. It was just an unbelievable holy sight. The people seemed to hang on to each word I said and we hugged and there were tears. Everyone received the Eucharist and they cried…I found out they only were able to have mass when a visiting priest came and their last mass was three weeks earlier. What did I learn…how did I feel? I felt that I was a part of something so important and special that I was the one God was touching. They were so respectful and appreciative and so kind. How did they show this, they all wanted to kiss my hand, kiss the hands of a priest who brought Jesus to them. It just cemented in my mind that priesthood isn’t about me, it’s about God and His love and His bringing Himself through me to these beautiful people. Later in the week, Food for the Poor asked if I would help distribute food at their center in the City of Sole. This is in a tidal area and is the poorest place I have ever witnessed. Two hundred thousand people are ‘housed’ in cardboard ‘homes’. They come every day to receive food. I was assigned to pass out cooked rice with an enormous ladle that I think must have held 4-5 cups. The people came with ANYTHING that they could put the rice in. It was like there was a garbage dump next door and they took anything they could that would hold the rice. Their faces, their pain, the urgency that they had to get food is indelibly stamped in my heart. What did I learn…how did I feel? People are hungry for God and what God can provide them. They know He cares and whatever He gives and whomever He sends is a Gift directly from God to them. I was that gift. God gifts me and I am called to be gift. Eucharist means thanksgiving. I am thankful for priesthood and God and His love. Alice Camille in Exploring the Sunday Readings comments on todays gospel of the feeding of the five thousand. “Loaves and fishes. Bread and wine. The elements are different, and yet the events are deliberately parallel. In each scene, a little bit of peasant food becomes a never-ending banquet of plenty. No king at his royal table was ever happier to sit down to his supper as that hungry crowd out in a lonely place who expected no supper at all that night. Through the generosity of Jesus and by the will of God, all are provided for. We live in a world where that is less true. All are not provided for. Tens of thousands die of hunger every day, many of them children. Millions more survive in a terrible gnawing need that never goes away. The lives of the majority of people throughout history have been defined by hunger Our meal of plenty demands that we take the hunger of the world seriously.” Sacred Space 2016 says, “This miracle reveals the heart of God, who cares about our every need God also expects us to come to the aid of one another and to share what little we have. Lord, the hunger of the world screams for my attention. But what can I do? Give me a willingness to go beyond myself, to share my little resources toward building a community where people love and care for one another.”