Homily, September 24, 2023
From The Pastor
This weekend is our annual Missionary Appeal through the Propagation of the Faith. Our missionary priest comes from the Diocese of Same, in Tanzania, Africa. Most Reverend, Rogath Kimaryo, C.S.Sp. is the Bishop of the Diocese and will be making an appeal for the temporal and pastoral needs of a recently founded Congregation of Religious Sisters in the Same Diocese. The primary work of this Congregation is to serve the physical and spiritual needs of the people in their area. This includes a wide range of peoples with various faiths and traditional religions.
A primary need for both the sisters and the people is clean drinking water. Currently, the young sisters carry 18 liters of water from the river one mile away. The water is used by the sisters, the people, and the animals. The river is not clean, and the water causes serious health problems for those who drink it. Father Mansuetus Setonga is the founder of the community who seeks to transform the lives of the poor, the elderly, and the children through the newly built convent house. The primary focus of this appeal today is to raise funds to dig a well near the convent to serve the needs of the community.
Please give your attention to Bishop Rogath in service to the needs of those who suffer the challenges of poverty. The initial work of evangelization is to first meet the basic needs of health, security, and dignity of life as a groundwork to promote the virtues of the Christian gospel. Please pray for this important work and give as you can to serve our brothers and sisters who reach out to us in support of their basic needs. Thank you for your generosity.
Within a short time, the table that holds the tabernacle will be ready for use. I want to thank Ron Bertollini for his work in preparing the table. I have not yet seen the table, but I am confident of its beauty and appropriate use in our liturgical space. With this work nearing completion, we will soon be ready to bring the tabernacle and the reservation of the Holy Eucharist into the main sanctuary.
This change has wide support across our community. Even by a show of hands, there is strong interest in this significant change. Why is this significant and what is our response?
As previously mentioned, since the time of Vatican II the focus of the sanctuary was the altar. Why? The altar represents and is a symbol of Christ. The altar is made sacred by what takes place upon it. Prior to Vatican II, the priest faced the tabernacle and offered the sacrifice of Mass on a much smaller altar not seen by the people. A new altar, with the priest facing the people, became the focal point. During this period, those churches that could physically accomplish it built a side altar or daily Mass chapel. The reservation of the Holy Eucharist was transferred to the chapel for reservation and more frequent adoration.
More recently, parishes are returning the tabernacle to the main body of the church to enrich the faith of the community through a more conscious and visible evidence of the Lord’s presence. I support this move in this year of renewal of our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. As Catholics, the Eucharist is the most precious gift of how we believe Jesus is alive and fully present to us in the Holy Sacrament.
Why do we need a year of renewal of our faith in the Real Presence? Consider the needs of the Church and the world today. In many parts of the world, particularly the Northern Hemisphere, Christianity is waning. People are falling away, Mass attendance has dropped significantly, and many segments of the population have sought spiritual expression through our contemporary culture.
The Church teaches and I strongly believe in the real and living presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. I have said this many times, yet I am continually moved, and I perceive and ‘feel’ the presence of Jesus on the altar. Simple gifts of bread and wine that represent each of us and the lives we live, are transformed into to the Body and Blood of Jesus. This means that Jesus, in his person and in his self is present and given to us to consume from this holy table. As we use the word body, think person, self, life of Jesus present and giving himself to us. Body is true and right, but body is an idiom that means person or self.
Jesus is giving his whole self that we may consume him into ourselves. Jesus is given to us through his body on the Cross which includes the reality of his person and his life immediately given to us in the form of bread and wine. Countless Eucharistic miracles, through modern scientific testing have proven that this simple bread and wine has been transformed into the Body and Blood, the Person and the life of the Lord Jesus.
Ponder this living mystery. It is real, and it is powerful. The Eucharist is perfectly worthy and deserving of our worshipful and reverent reception and prayerful adoration. Please prepare yourself in a reverent and worthy way to greet the Lord as we enter our worship space in the coming days.
Father John Esper
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