Gulf Pine Catholic

Gulf Pine Catholic • June 1, 2018 5 9274 Hwy 49/Airport Gulfport, MS 39503 228-863-5525 1-800-880-2446 FAX: 228-863-9612 www.butchoustalet.com Prices starting at $2,499 ~ with airfare included in this price from anywhere in the USA Many trip destinations: the Holy Land; Italy; France; Portugal; Spain; Poland; Medjugor- je; Lourdes; Fatima; Ireland; Scotland; Eng- land; Austria; Germany; Switzerland; Turkey; Greece; Budapest; Prague; Our Lady of Guadalupe; Colombia; Brazil; Argentina; Domestic Destinations; etc… We also specialize in custom trips for Bishops, Priests, and Deacons (Hablamos Español) 855-842-8001 508-340-9370 www.proximotravel.com anthony@proximotravel.com call us 24/7 In thanksgiving to the Holy Spirit, Blessed Mother and St. Jude, for prayers answered. BAB Thanks to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Jude for prayers answered. LD Thanks to our Blessed Lord Jesus, Holy Mary and St. Jude, for prayers answered. PCD Graduation time at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), Hattiesburg, is always bittersweet. The sweetness of finally graduating, pursuing a career, and moving away is offset by the sadness of separation from friends and parish community to whom the student has been attached for four years. At departure, their well-meaning vows to stay in touch, often gets lost in new ventures and higher priorities. Today’s readings are about vows filled and unfilled, and God’s continuing efforts towards building intimacy with his people. Our Old Testament reading finds Moses and the chosen people gathered and planning to take possession of the Promised Land (Exodus 3:1-24:18). But first, God will proclaim his presence with them for all time, mark them as his own, and seal his desire for their future well-being. Moses delivers the Ten Commandments and memorializes the meeting with a sacrificial ritual that ratifies God’s covenant love. For Moses, this is more than an important speech, it is a liturgical event where word and ritual inseparably unite in a stirring, celebratory experience and sealed by sprinkling the blood of slaughtered bulls on the altar and on the people. God intended this to be a memorable occasion -- could anyone ever forget being splattered with bull’s blood? But, while God kept his part of the covenant, history reveals that rebellion, grumbling and complaining soon took hold and the people forgot, in days to come, what they committed to before. The author of Hebrews compares the greater excellence of Christ’s personal sacrifice (given once for all as the source of salvation) with the Old Covenant instruments of blood from bulls and goats which had to be repeated. He makes three key points. First, sacrifice is necessary to perfect our covenant relationship with God. The people knew of ritual sacrifice with animals and first fruits but God required personal sacrifice of praise, obedience and service to others as the purer offering. In the Old Covenant sacrifice, objects and animals stood in humankind’s place. But, the New Covenant calls each of us to give something of ourselves. Second, our redemption relies on more than lip service. True contrition comes when we embrace Jesus and transform from a defiled conscience and dead works to uninhibited worship of the living God. Such worship is heartfelt and often spontaneous as we are caught up in our love of God and express it in love of neighbor. Third, by initiating the New Covenant, Jesus replaces ritual with reality. Redemption no longer relies on the sacrificial blood of an animal. Jesus willingly offers His own body and blood to give us a chance at salvation. That one-time sacrifice privileges those in the state of grace to receive the whole Christ; body, blood, soul and divinity. Today’s gospel connects in ritual and sacrifice with the Old Testament Passover covenant (Exodus 24) but offers much more. Jesus, celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples, took bread, blessed and broke it and gave it to them saying, “Take it, this is my body.” He then gave them a cup saying, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many…”and they drank it. “At the last supper, Jesus instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his body and blood in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he comes again, and entrusts to the Church a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us” ( Sacrosanctum Concilium, 47 – Vatican II ). While skeptics and critics view Christ’s Last Supper giving of bread and wine as a “memorial,” and his Bread of Life discourse in John 6:22ff as “figurative” speech, Catholic’s, holding to Sacred Scripture and Apostolic Tradition, recognize them as “Christ’s real presence” -- a miracle of God’s love. Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1373-1376), and John 6:22ff and take Jesus’ words literally, his original hearers did. If Jesus didn’t mean his disciples should literally eat his body and drink his blood he would not have let them walk away without providing a different explanation. Twelve times Jesus said he was the bread that came down from heaven; four times he repeated that they must eat his flesh and drink his blood -- his meaning could not have been clearer. It was the compelling truth of John 6 that led Scott Hahn (former Presbyterian seminary professor) to convert to Catholicism. His wife, Kimberly, convinced by the same truth, became Catholic a few years later. Kimberly said, “It’s not fair. All these years we had been reading the menu, and they (Catholics) have been eating the meal.” 1st Reading: Exodus 24:3-8 Psalm Response: Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18 2nd Reading: Hebrews 9:11-15 Gospel: Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 Body and Blood of Christ Miracle or memorial? Deacon Torrell i Sunday Scripture Commentaries SEE SUNDAY SCRIPTURE COMMENTARIES, PAGE 9