Dear God, give me courage,
for perhaps I lack it more than anything else.
I need courage before men against their threats
and against their seductions.
I need courage to bear unkindness,
mockery, contradiction.
I need courage to fight against the devil,
against terrors and troubles, temptations,
attractions, darkness and false lights,
against tears, depression, and above all fear.
I need Your help, dear God.
Strengthen me with Your love and Your grace.
Console me with Your blessed Presence
and grant me the courage to persevere
until I am with You forever in heaven. Amen!!!!
Daily Reading & Meditation
Thursday (4/30): "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live for ever"
Scripture: John 6:44-51
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Every one who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46 Not that any one has seen the Father except him who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
Meditation: God offers his people abundant life, but we can miss it. What is the bread of life which Jesus offers? It is first of all the life of God himself – life which sustains us not only now in this age but also in the age to come. The Rabbis said that the generation in the wilderness have no part in the life to come. In the Book of Numbers it is recorded that the people who refused to brave the dangers of the promised land were condemned to wander in the wilderness until they died. The Rabbis believed that the father who missed the promised land also missed the life to come. God sustained the Israelites in the wilderness with manna from heaven. This bread foreshadowed the true heavenly bread which Jesus would offer his followers.
Jesus makes a claim only God can make: He is the true bread of heaven that can satisfy the deepest hunger we experience. The manna from heaven prefigured the superabundance of the unique bread of the Eucharist or Lord’s Supper which Jesus gave to his disciples on the eve of his sacrifice. The manna in the wilderness sustained the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land. It could not produce eternal life for the Israelites. The bread which Jesus offers his disciples sustains us not only on our journey to the heavenly paradise, it gives us the abundant supernatural life of God which sustains us for all eternity. When we receive from the Lord’s table we unite ourselves to Jesus Christ, who makes us sharers in his body and blood and partakers of his divine life. Ignatius of Antioch (35-107 A.D.) calls it the "one bread that provides the medicine of immortality, the antidote for death, and the food that makes us live for ever in Jesus Christ" (Ad Eph. 20,2). This supernatural food is healing for both body and soul and strength for our journey heavenward.
Jesus offers us the abundant supernatural life of heaven itself – but we can miss it or even refuse it. To refuse Jesus is to refuse eternal life, unending life with the Heavenly Father. To accept Jesus as the bread of heaven is not only life and spiritual nourishment for this world but glory in the world to come. When you approach the Table of the Lord, what do you expect to receive? Healing, pardon, comfort, and rest for your soul? The Lord has much more for us, more than we can ask or imagine. The principal fruit of receiving the Eucharist or Lord's Supper is an intimate union with Christ. As bodily nourishment restores lost strength, so the Eucharist strengthens us in charity and enables us to break with disordered attachments to creatures and to be more firmly rooted in the love of Christ. Do you hunger for the "bread of life"?
"Lord Jesus, you are the living bread which sustains me in this life. May I always hunger for the bread which comes from heaven and find in it the nourishment and strength I need to love and serve you wholeheartedly. May I always live in the joy, peace, and unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, both now and in the age to come."
Psalm 66:8-20
8 Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.
10 For thou, O God, hast tested us; thou hast tried us as silver is tried.
11 Thou didst bring us into the net; thou didst lay affliction on our loins;
12 thou didst let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; yet thou hast brought us forth to a spacious place.
13 I will come into thy house with burnt offerings; I will pay thee my vows,
14 that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer to thee burnt offerings of fatlings, with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams; I will make an offering of bulls and goats. [Selah]
16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me.
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(c) 2009 Don Schwager
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Father Leo's Weekly E-Mail Blast!!!!
Instituted and Ordained to Feed!
Before Vatican II, men studying for the priesthood received minor orders, sacramental rites of passages, if you will, before being ordained a priest. While Vatican II changed the rites and ordination procedures, the Church retains the “institutions” of Lector, Acolyte, and the ordination of Transitional Deaconate. These steps are required before a man is ordained a priest.
At Mount St. Mary’s, all of this all happened in just one weekend! Talk about a busy but glorious weekend. The beautiful weather showed God’s favor on us and the joy among the community was heartfelt. On Friday evening, the First Year Theology Students received the Ministry of Lector, which means they are to read the Scriptures in the sacred liturgy with the blessing of the Church. While all Christians are encouraged to read the Scriptures, instituted Lectors have the responsibility to develop a rigorous theological appreciation of it and are commissioned to officially read the Scriptures during liturgies in the name of the Church.
On Saturday morning, our Second Theology Students received the Ministry of Acolyte, meaning they are charged to serve at Holy Mass and assist with the distribution of Holy Communion.
Finally, one of our Third Year Theologians was ordained a Transitional Deacon for one year, until he is ordained a priest for his Diocese.
Bishop Seratelli, from the Diocese of Trenton, officiated these rites. We sure kept him busy! His homily at the Lector Institution particularly resonated me. He told a beautiful story of a Jewish Rabbi Akiba (2nd century) who effectively encouraged the Jewish people to read the Torah, even when they were threatened with death if they were caught reading it. When asked if he was afraid of reading the Torah lest he be caught, he replied with a parable, which I will try to paraphrase:
A fox looked at the stream and saw all of the fish swimming frantically and agitated. He asked, “what was wrong?” “A fisherman comes this time each day and always catches one of our numbers,” replied the fish. The fox then said, “why do you not then leave these waters and hide in my den?” The fish responded, “Of fox, you are not as cunning as you think. Why would we leave the waters, which gives us life, only to go to your den where we would certainly die?”
I could never tell that story with the talent or the authority of the Bishop (or the Rabbi), but the point he made was crystal clear: the Sacred Scriptures is our source of life, and it is the soul of theology.
Reading the Holy Book for believers is like water for believers. If we are not fully immersed in it, we will die and put ourselves in even greater harm.
The Bishop also mentioned how the Scripture is the food for our souls – like water is necessary for the Fish. As the Word became Flesh to dwell among us, we are called to take in that word, make it take flesh in our being, and serve that word as food for the soul! He then reminded the seminarians, “People are hungry for the word of God!” These men who were instituted Lector, Acolyte and ordained a Deacon are now called to officially “feed” the people with God’s word and to serve at His Table.
A few seminarians remarked how his homily was a perfect tie in to our Grace Before Meals movement! It was a proud moment for so many people – parents and faculty included!
Perhaps your family can take a cue from what we celebrated here in our seminary family by “instituting” more time devoted to reading the Scriptures. Does your family spend time reading God’s word? Here are a few ideas to help develop more appreciation for it. Use the dinner time to ask questions about one of the readings proclaimed at Church last Sunday? Discuss what the priest or minister preached about (and remember to be nice). Perhaps, each Grace Before Meal at your family table can begin with a very brief antiphon, one or two line reading of the Scripture.
Our Grace Before Meals movement to bring people around the table cannot only be about food for the Body. It requires food for the mind and soul. These seminarians taking steps to becoming shepherds, i.e., ministers who feed God’s sheep, truly inspire all of us to make sure that God’s Word is the Food that gives us life!
The Lamb of God & Television Interview Information
Please tune in to Franciscan University Presents on EWTN on either EST Sunday, May 3, at 10:00 p.m.; Tuesday, May 5, at 2:00 p.m.; and again Friday, May 8, at 4:00 a.m.
In that show we discussed the relationship of food to our faith. I’ll admit, after doing those interviews I always get a little hungry. And, since we’re in the Easter Season, if there is one other food that characterizes Easter better than a chocolate Easter bunny or a colored egg, it’s Lamb!
In the past two weeks I had the great fortune of having Lamb served at various venues: First was at the Metropolitan Club in NYC (hosted by good friend, Msgr. Nalty and his family). They served baby lamb chops with a mint relish as a finger food appetizer. Delicious!
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The other time was at a priest celebration dinner where the lamb was crusted in pecans and served over a sweet potato puree. I could have eaten a full rack!
I used a special recipe that has also pleased many a palates in my time, which is so easy and flavorful.
But, if there’s one lamb that satisfies the hunger that sin creates, it is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world (i.e., the empty hungry feeling of the world) – Jesus Christ! So go ahead and try a lamb chop recipe and be sure to talk with your children about how their hungers are fed when we feast on the Word of God and the Lamb of God!
Click Here for Recipe.
Be Immersed in the Food, the Word of Life
Bishop Seratelli was right: as fish need to be completely immersed in water, lest they die, we too must be immersed by the truth of God’s living word – made flesh for us. Believers long to live deeply in God’s love. At the same time, the Lord longs to live deeply within us!
Let us Pray: Jesus, may we fall deeper in love with you by our careful reading of the Holy Words of the Sacred Scriptures. May we recognize the truth that comes from your teaching, and more importantly, may these words become incarnate in us so that we can be loving examples who feed the hungry in our world. Amen.
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