Mass Times

St. Brigid’s Parish

St. Brigids Parish BlanchardstownMass Times

Weekends: Vigil Mass (Saturdays), 6.00 pm.

Sunday Mornings 10.30 am only

Weekdays & Holy Days: 10.00 am. (Tuesday,  Thursday, Friday, On Wednesdays Liturgy of the Word at 10.00am. Rosary each day at 9.30am)

Bank Holidays: 11.00 am.

Evening Mass for Greater Blanchardstown Area now on Mondays at 7.30 pm preceded by Rosary and Novena at 7:00pm.

First Friday & Saturday of Month – Morning Mass 10.00 am.

Family Mass on the last Sunday of the Month at 10.30 a.m.

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June 14, 2020 – Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

Our readings today focus around GOD providing nourishment for us and our need to participate in this nourishment and give thanks to GOD for what we have been privileged to receive.  GOD has provided for those who are divinely chosen.  GOD has taken care of not only the physical needs of a hungry people, but also satisfied the spiritual hunger and thirst as the people chosen by GOD journey along the way back to the land of promise.

Our First Reading are the words of Moses near the end of the forty years during which the Israelites have been sojourning in the desert.  During that time, GOD has provided manna – a substance which could be made into a bread-like food.  This was the mainstay nourishment on which the travellers fed during their journey.  GOD always provided enough of this “bread” for each day.  There was never a shortage, nor was there a waste from over abundance.  Yet this physical provision is not the only way that GOD took care of the chosen people.  GOD also provided the divine Word which also nourished the people’s spiritual and emotional needs.

Our psalm today is a hymn of praise to GOD for providing not only daily nourishment (bread) but the “finest wheat.”  The “finest wheat” refers to the best part of the wheat plant.  It provides the richest taste and the most nutrients.  GOD is to be praised for giving not only what will enable us to survive, but also for giving us the very best of life-sustaining food.  The psalm also praises GOD for giving the divine Word to those whom GOD had chosen.

St. Paul reminds the people of Corinth that when they gather together for meal, they are not only sharing food for the body, but also they are being united with each other as members of the Body of Christ.  Particularly at the end of the meal when they say the prayer of blessing (berakah) over the bread and the cup of wine, they are sharing fully in the Body and Blood of Christ.  They are truly in communion (“joined as one with”) with Christ and, through Christ, with each other.

The sixth chapter of St. John’s Gospel is known as the “Bread of Life” discourse.  In this chapter Jesus equates the eating of the “bread of life” with being nourished by His Body.  As Jesus proclaim the necessity of His followers’ eating His flesh and drinking His blood, many listeners turn away.  They cannot “stomach” these words.  Yet, Jesus does not call them back and say, “I was only speaking figuratively.”  He lets them leave.  He wants His followers to truly digest Him as their means of nourishment as they journey back to the house of His Abba-Father, who happens to be GOD.

As I reflect on today’s feast and the readings, I am reaffirmed in my belief that GOD gives us the very best nourishment for our journey to be with the LORD GOD forever.  We need not only a diet which provides the staple food to give us the strength for the journey.  We also need to feed on the Bread send down from heaven – the very best that GOD can give – the Son, Jesus Christ.  During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have not been able to gather as a community and be fed by the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus.  I realize how blessed we will be able to once again gather each week in the house of GOD.  It is in that place where we are given not only Bread of Life, but the Word that comes from the mouth of GOD.  As we gather as the Body of Christ, we are fed with GOD’s Word.  We then eucharistize (“give thanks”) to our GOD for all we have received, especially the very best gift – the Lord Jesus.  As a way of showing our thanks, we zikkaron (remember and re-enact and re-live) what Jesus did on the night before He died.  We take bread and wine and pronounce Jesus’s words over the gifts: “This is My Body. . .This is My Blood, which is poured out for you. . .Do this in memory of me.”  With the proclamation of Jesus’ words, He is truly present with us.  We are then privileged to feast on His Body and Blood – our food for the journey.

It is our belief that the bread and wine are truly changed, not in external form, but in their very essence into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  In receiving the “blessed bread and wine” we are receiving Jesus – we are in communion (“union with”) with Jesus and, through Jesus, with all others who receive Him.  GOD truly provides the very best.   We are nourished by the Bread come down from heaven, the Bread which gives us eternal life.

I am truly grateful for being able to be united with the Lord Jesus in this sacrament of His Body and Blood.  It is what giving thanks (eucharist) is all about.  Although we give thanks to GOD for all we have received, GOD continues to unite us fully with Jesus.  We are nourished with Word made flesh.  We are given what we need to travel along the Way to our heavenly Abba.  This is what we celebrate today.  Let us give thanks!  Let us long for the time of our receiving the Lord Jesus’ Body and Blood as we come together again as the community of faith.

Taken from https://reflectionsbybob.weebly.com/june-14-2020—body-and-blood-of-christ.html