We want to wish everyone a happy and safe 4th of July. As we celebrate our country's moment of historical freedom, let us remember that there are those who are still oppressed. Let us always remember our Gospel call to act on behalf of the poor and marginalized.
4th of July Prayer Dear God in Heaven, we humbly offer this prayer for peace and unity in the country. Today is a day we celebrate with pride and honor. However, we must not forget that it is also a day that is celebrated peacefully and harmoniously with others. We pray that our Fourth of July celebrations remain peaceful and joyful. Engaging in conflict would only dishonor our ancestors – and, more importantly, You. As our celebrations remain peaceful, we pray for other nations all over the world as well. May they, too, find the peace that they so passionately fight for. We are all deserving of peace, so this prayer is lifted up to You, as everything rests in Your blessed hands. Amen. In today's Gospel, Jesus gives His body and blood to His disciples at the Passover meal. Like anyone who serves as a Eucharistic Minister, I find myself deeply connecting with today's solemnity because I think of this every time I proclaim, "The Body of Christ" and raise the host in front of someone, looking them in the eyes, and entering into this moment, which is not even seconds long, but that forever binds the two of us in the Eucharist. It is powerful and something I take very seriously.
Today is a reminder to us all of the importance of not only the entirety of Jesus' Passion, Death, and Resurrection, but of all of those things being given to us in every moment that we receive the Eucharist and our belief in it as we respond "Amen." The Eucharist, like any sacrament, is a living presence. I was blown away once when a priest, before receiving himself after saying "Behold the Lamb of God..." kept the host and cup raised and added, "See what you believe. Become what you receive." It struck me so much that when the priest offered me the Body of Christ, I was almost not able to fully realize what I was doing. I was simply "thrown off." I will forever remember that moment and will forever say those words in my head and in my heart when I see the Body of Christ raised. "See what you believe. Become what you receive." Every time we receive the Eucharist, we see what we believe in the host and in the wine. We realize in seeing how precious this gift is that is given to us by Jesus. So, we are left with the question of how we become what we receive. How do we become the Body of Christ? Aren't we intrinsically the Body of Christ as part of the faithful? Yes, but the question is deeper. Just being is not always enough. How do we become the Body of Christ for others: for the marginalized, the poor, our enemy, our loved ones? We must think of this in terms of being a living presence of the Body of Christ and not just a passive part of it. We must enter into the Mystery, into the joy and the sacrifice. My friends, as we receive the Eucharist this weekend, let us ask ourselves: how do you want to become the Body of Christ for others? UCYM takes pride in its roots, which are in the Gospel and the two Great Commandments of Jesus Christ, which are to love God and love our neighbor. During PRIDE Month, UCYM affirms the dignity of each human person who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ Community. You are always welcome in our community and we celebrate you and who you are, which is, first, a person made in the likeness and image of our God, who is love. Happy PRIDE Month!
Loving God,
We thank you for the freedom you have given to us, and for the price that was paid by Christ so that we could live free. We remember today. The cost of it all. The great sacrifice for freedom. We thank you for the brave people who have fought, and continue to fight, so courageously for our nation. We ask for your covering and blessing over them and their families. We pray that you would be gracious and encircle them with your peace. We pray for your great favor and goodness to be evident in their lives. Please be with all those who wear the uniform, who serve our communities and nation every single day. We ask that you provide your protection, that you would be their guiding force who leads the way, and their rear guard who keeps them safe from behind. We ask that you would draw them to yourself amidst the dangers they face in a dark world, for you are the Truth, you are the Way, you are the Light. Amen. Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity
Patricia Tomich Senior Director, Mission Integration Among the feasts and solemnities celebrated throughout the Church's liturgical year, the Most Holy Trinity reverberates through the ages with mystery. The Trinity structures our entire belief system. We mark ourselves with the sign of the cross and teach our children and grandchildren the sign of our faith. The Catholic catechism instructs that the Trinity is a dynamic communion of persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—united in perfect love. Though the doctrine of the Trinity is often depicted through symbols and doctrinal formulations, its essence transcends mere abstraction, resonating deeply within the realm of love and relationships. The Trinity moves us to the most profound mystery of LOVE animated in a dynamic relationship. This is where my mind and heart resonate on this Solemnity of the Holy Trinity. This solemnity invites us to reflect upon the role we play in the dynamic relationship entangled within the Trinity. This is God’s very nature, a gift given freely to all. We are created in the image and likeness of God, and it’s in this relationship that we discover that we too are relational creatures with the desire to be in communion with others and the entire created order. In our loving relationship with God the Creator, we become co-creators with the freedom to reimagine and fashion a world anew. Through the incarnation of the Son, God probes the depths of our human experience, bridging the divide between the divine and the human. In Christ, we witness love incarnate—a love boundless in its reach, descending to the lowest depths to raise each of us to divine heights. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit empowers us to live a divine life, fostering communion with God, one another and all creation and reaching beyond the cosmos. On Trinity Sunday, we reflect upon this dynamic relationship calling us into communion with all that is ONE. O Triune God, breathe within and through us your Divine Love; may our relationships radiate your Light and Truth to the ends of the earth and beyond. Pentecost Sunday
Dr. Molly Cinnamon, Ed.D. Board of Directors I grew up in the Episcopal church. I also became a Catholic in my 40’s so that I could serve as principal of a Catholic school. I’m an interesting combination of faith practices, but Episcopalians are not too far away from Catholics and I treasure both. Last Sunday, I sat with my mom, my daughter and my niece for Mother’s Day at our Episcopal Church. Father Chris, my mom’s spiritual guide, gave the homily that day. It was remarkable—and it also shed light for me on what Pentecost is really all about. Advent and Easter are beautiful seasons of the church. There is so much to think about and so many liturgical stories from these celebrations. While Easter is all about the resurrection, Pentecost is when we experience the resurrection on a more personal level. The Holy Spirit is poured out over us, and we are then entrusted with the charge of going out into the world and sharing that love and light with everyone we encounter. Right now, our world is going through so much turmoil and angst, and there is fear and hatred everywhere, it seems. Some days I feel like around every corner we might encounter something that we might not recover from and that can feel overwhelming. This is when we need to remember Pentecost. From the Acts of the Apostles 2:2, “Sound… from heaven, like the rush of a mighty wind” is the image I think of when I imagine what having the Holy Spirit poured out on all of Jesus‘s followers might sound and feel like, especially during times of fear and turmoil. We might feel as if we don’t have what we need to protect us, but nothing could be further from the truth. All we have to do is go out into the world and love unconditionally. Choose love, choose compassion, choose curiosity, choose peace. We are a week away from ending this Easter time. The liturgical season of celebration of rejoicing in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This Sunday in the readings we again get to hear who Jesus is, who Jesus came to be, and why he came. On this Ascension Sunday we celebrate Jesus, the one who defeated, the one who was victorious over sin and death. His time has come to return to his Father, to rule from the right-hand side of God the Father. This leaving us does not mean he is leaving us forever. It means as he ascends is that his body in this world is leaving to join His Father, to join our Father. Leave this world physically, but for forever be in each and every one of us.
The past couple of weeks of Easter have been a reminder of who Jesus is, why he came, and how we are to believe now that we have gotten to know him in this world. Today in the second reading we are told how Jesus will stay alive with and in us. How we as believers are called to believe. Not just in words, but through our actions. Doing so through the way we live. In Love, to maintain that love Jesus Christ leaves us with all the tools, blessings, and graces to be able to do so. The sacraments like reconciliation to care for our relationship with God and knowing that in this world we will fall, but God is there with open arms for us to reunite with him. The Eucharist as nourishment of that same sacrificial lamb to fill us with love and grace to continue the Christian mission. Coming to Mass knowing we are one in communion and uniting with our brothers and sisters around the altar to be nourished. We are also reminded of our relationship with God himself and with one another to be able to live out as faithful people. To be able to love the way God who created us loves us. To love sacrificially the way Jesus did when on earth to forgive our sins and free us from death. To one day all be able to rejoice in the heavens because of our free will, the grace of God, and his continuous never-ending love for us. We will one day be reunited with the ascended Christ and all those who believe in words and actions. Sixth Sunday of Easter
Oblate James Holzhauer-Chuckas, ObSB Executive Director This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. This Sunday's Gospel makes it simple for us. Jesus gave us two Great Commandments: to love God and love one another. In His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, Jesus showed us the love of God. How do we repay God for the immense gift given to us? Simple. We love God by loving one another. We love God when we pray for one another, when we serve one another, when we accompany one another, and return all of the ways God loves us to others. Unfortunately, you don't have to look far to see the hate that exists around us. The things that are not of God: war, cancel and throwaway culture, racism, sexist, hatred towards the LGBTQ+ community, and more. Is any of that how God shows us love? Is any of that what Jesus sacrificed Himself for? If you even have to think about it, you need to think about why your answer isn't "of course not." No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. In this Gospel, Jesus reminds His followers that He calls them friends. He reminds us how important it is to be willing to die for one another. As extreme as this may seem and is, it is part of our call. Are we willing to follow Jesus and give of ourselves to the extent He was willing to give of Himself, which was His own life? It is powerful. How much are we willing to give of ourselves for not only our friends, but for all? As we begin to think about the close of another Easter Season, what have we learned? What will we hold on to that will help send us forth at Pentecost? I think starting with realizing the immense love of Jesus and how we are called to live in that love is a good start. If we remain in Him, we remain in His love and are intended to show that love to others. Fifth Sunday of Easter
Most Rev. Bishop Mark Bartosic Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, Episcopal Vicar of Vicariate II Remain in me, as I remain in you. The objective of Genesis 1 & 2 is to propose the human person as the absolute masterpiece of God's creative genius. It was no stretch for the ancients to conclude that if this is so, then man must be at the center of God's affectionate gaze. Even scientists thought Galileo was crazy when he espoused the Copernican view that Earth is not at the center of the celestial dance going on over our heads. The Church reacted violently, but I don't think science had much to do with that reaction. The Church reacted out of fear for us. Most of us were still illiterate: would we forget who we are once we could no longer picture ourselves at the physical center of it all? Would we become disoriented in a larger, more complex universe? Would God still be able to find us, lost in space? The tempter in Genesis 3 suggested to our first parents that their situation in paradise was intolerable. You actually trust that guy? Adam and Eve decided to take matters into their own hands: they sinned, and subsequently hid from God, who had to ask, Where are you? How will God find us, once we have moved? He'll do this: he'll send his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh - something we recognize, something that resonates. From then on, we'll call God's only Son, Brother. That the vine and its branches form a whole; that they are essentially one thing, is the point of today's Gospel. The only-begotten Son of God can come no closer to us than he already has, in the Incarnation: in subjecting his own flesh to our death, for his brothers' sake. It's because we believe in Christ's oneness with us that we can call ourselves children of God, and be telling the truth. For we believe that God has only one Son: we profess that every Sunday. And yet, though Jesus, with Jesus, and in Jesus, we too can claim divine filiation. That means that when the Father gazes at his Beloved (which he eternally does), he sees us. |
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