The Ultimate Sacrifice and The Body of Christ

Yesterday was the Feast of Corpus Christi,  the feast day when we celebrate the ultimate sacrifice that our Lord Jesus Christ gave to us, his own body and blood as our food and drink.  He gave us this not just as nourishment, but also as an act of transformation.  As Saint Augustine said when we consume the Eucharist (body and blood of our Lord) we consume it so that we can become it.

When we receive the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist we become the Body of Christ.  We are here to do the work of Christ in order that his kingdom be fulfilled on this earth.  Each one of us is an integral part of that body, and when one of us rejoices we all share in that joy.

At Mass yesterday at Our Lady of The Desert Catholic Community Mass at the Base Chapel at China Lake Navy Base, Fr. James Dowds C.Ss.R. made that very clear by announcing as part of his homily all of the joyful bits of news concerning the members of the small tight knit community.  

A little 6 year old  girl was able to to return to Loma Linda Children's Hospital last week to present a check for $2000 from the parish community as a gift of thanksgiving for all they did for her there while she was recovering from a grave illness in their Pediatric Intensive Care Unit a year ago.

A young newly married Lieutenant just back from Afghanistan and his bride were sitting just in front of us at Mass.  He was welcomed home at Mass with a special blessing and cheerful greetings from the parishioners.

There was a nice recognition of the Base's Rear Admiral who is a member of the parish and has been reassigned and will be leaving to take up a new post soon at another base on the east coast.

There will also be a send off of another kind,  a longstanding member of the community had lost her battle with cancer and would be laid to rest with a Mass of Resurrection next week.  The prayers of the community go with her on her final journey.

All of these little reminders of how interconnected we are, helped me to remember just why it is that I love to attend Mass with this small community when I come to Ridgecrest, CA with my husband.  But there is one other aspect of the Mass that really made the aspect of all of us being one body in Christ very real to me yesterday.

At the end of the Prayers of the Faithful the lector says a special prayer for those men and women of the allied armed services who lost their lives as a part of Operation Enduring Freedom (or in any other capacity around the globe) in the last week.  Then the church bell tolls once  as each name is read along with the age, rank, branch of service and field of deployment.    The names are read slowly and reverently.  It had been two years since the last time I had experienced this, and I had forgotten just how powerful it is.

by the time the final name had been read and the final bell tone was fading away, I was wiping tears from my eyes (as were many in the congregation).  This is not something that was done simply because this is Corpus Christi though,  this intercession happens each and every Sunday so long as their are names to be read.  And I imagine that each Sunday that I am here I will be affected in the same way by the beauty and solemnity of this small tribute to those who have offered the ultimate sacrifice to the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of God.

We are all connected, we are all one,  we share joy and sorrow.

Pax.

Tonight: Sharing Burdens Sharing Joys

Have you ever heard the saying that sharing your burdens cuts them in half and sharing your joys doubles them?  That is the way it has been between my sister and I.

We were both born in March, two years and one day apart so we shared a birthday celebration our entire lives.  Although I went to college and she didn't we both married guys from the same fraternity at the Engineering school in the town where we went to High School, even though she met her husband when she was still in High School and I didn't meet mine until I was nearly out of college.

When our children were growing up we shared the joys and hardships of raising our kids.  When our mom became ill it was together that my sister and I shared the burden of her long term care.  If not for having my sister to help me think through the decisions that had to be made I would probably have been in a lot worse shape.

Last year as my sister and her husband were dealing with the horrible accident that nearly took the life of their son and the ensuing lengthy rehabilitation, it just happened that my sister's and my birthday fell right in the middle of their ordeal.  Mrangelmeg and I took it upon ourselves to drive up to the rehab hospital with our oldest daughter so that she could stay with our nephew while we took my sister and brother-in-law away for a night of celebration and relaxation.  They rarely left the hospital to do things for themselves.

We took them to a wonderful dinner at my favorite steak place where, because it was my birthday, we got an amazing desert called Mile High Chocolate Pie.  It took all four of us to eat one piece.  It was the most wonderful evening and really helped them relieve some of the stress of their long ordeal.    

Our husbands' birthdays are in June,  four days (and one year) apart.  

This year, to repay us for the favor we did them,  they have invited us to join them for another dinner at the same steak house tonight, on my brother-in-law's birthday (to celebrate the men's birthdays).  I think as much as my brother-in-law wants to celebrate sharing the joy of being together again, he is really looking forward to that Mile-high-pie.

At least no one is going through a major trial this year,  but we will share the little sorrows and joys of parenting,  as there are always those.  And we will talk about the memories we have of growing up, and all the years we have known each other, and the upcoming retreat we are all attending at St. Meinrad (my Holy Hill Gradual School), because my brother-in-law has been on retreat there and wants us to join him.  (How funny is that?)

It should be a very enjoyable evening.  I am looking forward to the company, well, that and the pie.

Pax