Let the Procession Begin!

Dear Friend, 

Last Sunday, concluding the 9 o’clock Mass, the Corpus Christi procession formed behind Father Joe, as he solemnly walked out of the Mission Church. He held up the monstrance with the consecrated host at the center of its silver beams. In his homily, Father Joe had echoed the words of Pope Leo in Spain. “We process with the Eucharist on Corpus Christi Sunday to proclaim that the body of Christ is not meant to be confined by the walls of the church building, but to be carried out into the world.”  

Here God’s desire and our worship come to life through us as missionary disciples: to touch and bring life to every spot and crevice of creation, to every creature, as Saint Francis would emphasize. It is also a sign of our openness to be met by and receive with love every person and place where Christ is dwelling and where we have yet to recognize Him. When did we see you hungry? 

All this with the shocking words of last Sunday’s Gospel still ringing in my ears: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” I wake up to the fact that Christ is flowing through my blood. The healing and strength of divine life which I’ve received is meant to be shared. As Matthew puts it: Without cost you have received, without cost you are to give. 

Matthew has Jesus begin by sending his followers to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” By the end of his story, though (as we heard on Ascension Sunday), Jesus is instructing his disciples to “make disciples of all nations.” Can we dare to glorify the Lord by our lives? Let the Procession begin!

Gratefully,

Father Dan