Gospel
John 1:35-42
35 The next day again John stood, and two of his disciples.
36 And beholding Jesus walking, he saith: Behold the Lamb of God. 37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 And Jesus turning, and seeing them following him, saith to them: What seek you? Who said to him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? 39 He saith to them: Come and see. They came, and saw where he abode, and they stayed with him that day: now it was about the tenth hour. 40 And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard of John, and followed him.
41 He findeth first his brother Simon, and saith to him: We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. 42 And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looking upon him, said: Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is interpreted Peter.
As I have already written on today’s Gospel, I decided to focus on the second reading:
Reading II
1st Corinthians 6:13-20
13 Meat for the belly, and the belly for the meats; but God shall destroy both it and them: but the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 Now God hath both raised up the Lord, and will raise us up also by his power. 15 Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. 16 Or know you not, that he who is joined to a harlot, is made one body? For they shall be, saith he, two in one flesh. 17 But he who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit. 18 Fly fornication. Every sin that a man doth, is without the body; but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body. 19 Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own? 20 For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.
While this is an exhortation to morality, it is important to note the question, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?” This is a very important concept. Through Baptism and Confirmation, we are brought into the Body of Christ. Through the Eucharist, our physical bodies and souls are filled with the divinizing power of God. As the old saying goes, “You are what you eat.” But, consider that for a moment. Through the Sacraments of the Church, we literally become a part of Jesus Christ and He literally becomes part of us. The more He becomes alive in us, the more we become alive in Him. The less attached to the things of this world we become and the less separated from God we are due to sin, the more we become holy, as He is holy, perfect as He is perfect and pure enough to enter Heaven, where nothing impure can enter. This is the greatest miracle in which we can ever participate!
Elsewhere, Saint Paul urges that there be no schisms, no division or disagreement within the Church. Just as our Lord prayed when He asked the Father that all Christians be one in unity, so Saint Paul warns that such disagreements and disunity divide the Body of Christ, in essence, crucifying Him again. Imagine how much our Lord is grieved that the One, Holy Catholic Church has been so divided that millions of people who call themselves Christian no longer belong to the one Church He founded, which is His living body. Only in communion with the Catholic Church can one receive the Eucharist. Our Lord warned us that unless we eat His body and Drink His blood, we have no life in us. How sad it is that millions of people who believe that Jesus is God are not members of His Body, but belong to some 50,000 Protestant denominations, in which they cannot receive the life of Jesus through the Eucharist, because the denial of the Real Presence in the Eucharist is a founding tenant of Protestantism! No Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, etc., etc can receive the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the way He designed and mandated for all who believe in Him.
Truly, this is the greatest tragedy of our time. This must grieve our Lord more than all, sins, wars and human error. We know how He grieved over Jerusalem and the Temple knowing the gift that had been given to God’s chosen people had been refused. Now, He grieves over millions of Christians who have rejected a gift that was not merely a promise and a covenant, but provided through His own suffering, crucifixion and death! As horrible as this is though, imagine how much He must grieve over Catholics who doubt the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and who even take it for granted, just going through the motions of Communion without considering the miracle they receive under the form of bread and wine.
The saints have written at length about how Heaven and earth come together on the altar during Holy Mass… how all the angels and saints are with us, in true communion, celebrating the Eucharist with us. They say that if we could only once perceive this “great cloud of witnesses” as Saint Paul wrote, and the true spiritual reality of what was before us that we would be so struck with awe and reverence that we would all become saints. Meanwhile, too often, we are sitting there distracted by interpersonal problems, planning lunch or even… God Forbid, texting on our phones! If only once we could perceive reality, we would prostrate ourselves, face down on the floor of the Church, weeping and begging forgiveness. In each Holy Mass, we are truly present at our Lord’s sacrifice at Calvary. The more we realize that, the more we will truly be in Him and He will be in us and we will never wish to offend Him or take Him for granted. We will say with true humility, “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed!”
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.
John had a double portion of the Priestley line Elizabeth n Zacharias we're both from the line of Aaron the priest job was to identify the spotless lamb John said behold the Lamb of GOD