ALL SET FOR SUNDAY
Please check out the post below for the readings. As you will see, last week we celebrated our Patron, and so this week we have a bit of catching up to do with some very rich readings on the Eucharist.
Jesus tells us quite plainly that He is the Living Bread. His flesh is true food; His Blood is true drink. "This is My Body.” “This is My Blood.” We hear these words at every Mass. It can be too easy to think He is saying something to the effect of “think of me when you eat this bread.” He is literally telling us to believe Him, to trust Him and know that the bread is changed at the very core of what it is into His Body. The wine is changed at the very core of what it is into His Blood. This is hard because our senses tell us differently—but our senses do not always perceive all of reality—they are limited and perceive only what they are capable of. They do not perceive everything—just think about what your dog can hear that you cannot. This weekend pray for the gift to trust and believe even when it is difficult.
CENTERED ON THE EUCHARIST
This year we are taking up the invitation from our Bishop and the Bishops throughout the United States to center our parish on Jesus in the Eucharist. The National Eucharistic Congress held in July in Indianapolis was a monumental moment in the life of the Church as Christians gathered from all over the US to focus entirely on Jesus in the gift of the Eucharist.
This year at Saint Pius we are working on cultivating a connection with Christ through our invitation to spend time with Him during a period of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. This time, called Adoration, is as structured as you need it to be. The point of Adoration is for you to reconnect with the Lord whom you love. Some people bring a Bible to this time and read the Word of God in front of the Word made Flesh. Others will sit in silence and just allow Him to speak to their heart and soul. Others will bring devotional books or prayers to pray. Others will bring headphones to listen to music that lifts their souls to Him. Others will bring a journal and write, allowing Him to lead and guide the conversation. Still others will cry. Still others will create a to-do list. And others will do a combination of these things and more. What is most important is spending time with Jesus, worshiping, praising and adoring Him in the gift of the Blessed Sacrament.
Starting on Tuesday, September 3, we will begin our new schedule with more opportunities throughout the week to come and spend time with Jesus. Our goal is not to offer 24 hour a day Exposition, but to allow more times of Exposition so that you can spend time with Him. We will also start our 5:15 PM Mass on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays the day after Labor Day.
NEWS FROM THE PEWS
Father Daniel returns from his well-deserved and much needed time of vacation and visit with his family this week. While he touches down in the great State of Iowa on Tuesday, he will need a few days to re-acclimate to Iowa time. Please be gentle with him. I know I have a list that is really long for him to do!
School began on Friday, August 23. It is great to have our young people back in the building and to see them so eager to be here. I really love having a Catholic school—as a former teacher, there is an excitement that I still feel at the beginning of each academic year. Please pray not just for our SPX students, but all students as they begin this new season of learning, so that they might be filled with the Holy Spirit in their search for wisdom.
Our Year Centered on Christ in the Eucharist will also bring several changes in how we live together and celebrate the Sacraments. Our families with young people who will prepare to receive First Reconciliation and First Communion this year will be meeting monthly in small groups to prepare the young people as the first teachers of their children in the way of faith. I know many are nervous about this change—but it is an important one. We want our young people to fall in love with Jesus, and this first requires that they see us model being in love with Jesus—starting with parents but including the whole community. We live in a new age which requires us to be bold and be different.
This Sunday we will also have our first Information Session for our Fiat Lux Small Groups. “Fiat Lux” means “let there be light!”, the first words God speaks in the Bible. God wants to shine His Light in our lives, but we must create spaces for this happen. When we gather in small groups, we invite His Light to shine on the ordinary parts of our lives. These groups are meant to be invitational—places where you can invite someone to join knowing that he or she will experience His Light. When you think about it, we often think that we should first bring someone to Mass; this is actually the last place the early Christians would bring someone. Our forebears in the faith knew that we should first let them encounter God through us, then allow them to have a personal experience of Him, then begin to teach them about Him and finally bring the person into Communion with the Church by joining the community at Mass. Come to learn more about these life sharing groups either Sunday, August 25 at 5 or Tuesday, September 3 at 6:30.
Have a great week! Please pray for each other on this journey.