The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of
Christ
Tifkira Solenni tal-Ġisem u d-Demm ta’
Kristu
Missalin B 331
Reading 1 Exodus 24:3-8
When Moses
came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the LORD, they
all answered with one voice, "We will do everything that the LORD has told
us." Moses then wrote down all the words of the LORD and, rising early the
next day, he erected at the foot of the mountain an altar and twelve pillars
for the twelve tribes of Israel
L-Ewwel Qari mill-Ktieb tal-Eżodu 24, 3-8
F’dak iz-zmien, Mose’ niżel igħid lill-poplu kulma qallu
l-Mulej u kull ma ordnalu. Il-poplu
wieġeb b'leħen wieħed u qal: "Kull ma qalilna l-Mulej nagħmluh."
Mose' kiteb il-kliem kollu tal-Mulej, u filgħodu qam, bena altar taħt il-muntanja, u waqqaf tnax-il plier
għat-tnax-il tribu' ta' Israel minn ulied Israel
Responsorial Psalm PSALM 116:12-13, 15-16,
17-18
R. (13) I will take the cup of
salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.
How shall I
make a return to the LORD
for all the
good he has done for me?
The cup of
salvation I will take up,
and I will
call upon the name of the LORD. R
Precious in
the eyes of the LORD
is the
death of his faithful ones.
I am your
servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have
loosed my bonds. R
To you will
I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will
call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to
the LORD I will pay
in the
presence of all his people. R.
Salm Responsorjali Salm 115 (116)
R/ Ngħolli l-kalċi tas-salvazzjoni u isem
il-Mulej insejjaħ
Xi
rrodd lill-Mulej
għall-ġid kollu li għamel miegħi?
Ngħolli l-kalċi tas-salvazzjoni
u isem il-Mulej insejjaħ. R/
Għażiża f'għajnejn il-Mulej
hi l-mewt tal-ħbieb tiegħu.
Jien qaddej tiegħek, bin il-qaddejja
tiegħek.
Int ħallejtli l-irbit tiegħi R/
Lilek noffri s-sagrifiċċji ta' radd
il-ħajr,
u isem il-Mulej insejjaħ.
Intemm lill-Mulej il-wegħdiet tiegħi,
quddiem il-poplu tiegħu kollu. R/
Reading 2 Hebrews 9:11-15
Brothers
and sisters: When Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come
to be, passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by
hands, that is, not belonging to this creation, he entered once for all into
the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood,
thus obtaining eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the
sprinkling of a heifer's ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their
flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the
eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from
dead works to worship the living God. For this reason he is mediator of a new
covenant: since a
death has taken place for deliverance from transgressions under the first
covenant, those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.
It-Tieni Qari mill-Ittra lill-Lhud 9, 11-15
Huti, Kristu ġie bħala qassis il-kbir tal-ġid li
diġa ġie. Hu daħal minn minn
Gospel Mark
14:12-16, 22-26
On the
first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,
Jesus' disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for
you to eat the Passover?" He sent two of his disciples and said to them,
"Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow
him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says,
"Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my
disciples?"' Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.
Make the preparations for us there." disciples then went off, entered the city,
and found it just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover. While
they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them,
and said, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave
thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them,
"This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I
say to you, I shall not drink
again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God Mount of Olives .
L-Evangelju Qari skond San Mark 14, 12- 16, 22-26
Fl-ewwel jum ta' l-Ażżmi, meta kienu
jissagrifikaw il-ħaruf tal-Għid, id-dixxipli qalu lil Ġesu':."Fejn tridna mmorru
nħejju biex tiekol l-ikla tal-Għid?" Imbagħad hu bagħat tnejn mid-dixxipli tiegħu u qalilhom:
"Morru l-belt, u tiltaqgħu ma' raġel iġorr ġarra ilma. Morru warajh, u
għidu lil sid id-dar ta' fejn tarawh dieħel: "Qallek l-Imgħallem: Fejn hi l-kamra tiegħi ta' l-ikel li fiha nista' niekol l-ikla tal-Għid
mad-dixxipli tiegħi?" U hu jurikom
kamra kbira fuq, imgħammra u lesta. Ħejjulna hemmhekk." U d-dixxipli marru u daħlu l-belt,u sabu
kollox kif kien qalilhom hu; u ħejjew l-ikla tal-Għid. Huma u jieklu, ħa l-ħobż f'idejh, qal il-barka, qasmu newwilhulhom u qal: "Ħudu dan hu ġismi." Imbagħad
ħa l-kalċi f'idejħ, radd il-ħajr, u
newwilhulhom, u lkoll xorbu minnu.
U qalilhom: "Dan huwa demmi, id-demm tal-patt, li jixxerred għall-ħafna. Tassew,
ngħidilkom, li ma nixrobx iżjed mill-frott
tad-dielja sa dak in-nhar li nixrob inbid ġdid fis-Saltna ta'Alla."
Imbagħad kantaw is-salmi u ħarġu lejn l-Għolja taż-Żebbuġ. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
//////////////////////////////
Food and Drink for the
Journey
A reflection by Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB
Sunday's
Gospel [Mark 14.12-16,22-26] links Jesus' death with Israel
Our
Eucharistic liturgy proclaims the one bond of life between God and his people.
Just as blood that flows outward from the heart unites all the bodily members
in one flow of life, so too are we united intimately with God through the
precious body and blood of Jesus. The very nature of the Eucharist implies a
bond with God and with the community. Our destinies are intertwined with God's own
life. We cannot be loners, for blood is a common bond.
As we
celebrate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord this year, we realize
two things: this feast is a daily one. Yet we set aside one day in the year to
celebrate a feast of those feasts which
we celebrate every day. Not only do we celebrate the bread and wine which
become the body and blood of the Lord, we celebrate the new identity given to
those who share among them Jesus' body and blood and then become what they eat
and drink.
Faith in
Jesus' resurrection can itself be an unproductive or dangerous ideology if it
does not stimulate us actually to share bread with our brothers and sisters who
are hungry. We are not engaging in social and political action but in
sacramental celebration, a memorial or commemoration: the recollection of
Jesus' life and death, in the conviction of faith of his
resurrection
as Lord, sitting in God's place of honour as the advocate of poor and oppressed
people who have no bread. When we receive the Eucharist, we partake of the one
who becomes food and drink for others. Each time we celebrate the Eucharist, do
we realize that the Eucharistic Christ is really present as bread for the poor?
Christianity,
Catholicism, the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, are not theological
concepts, courses, things, ideas, passing fancies, symbols -- they are a living
person, and his name is Jesus.
At many
moments of crisis and turbulence in Christian history, the Lord has confirmed
his real presence in the Blessed Sacrament in some rather miraculous ways. Most
of these Eucharistic miracles involved incidences in which the Host has
"turned into human flesh and blood." The miracles in Bolsena and
Orvieto in Italy quickly
come to mind, and there is, of course, the well known Eucharistic miracle story
from Lanciano , Italy Canada
For one
week from June 15th to 22nd, 2008, I rediscovered what extraordinary
Eucharistic miracles are all about, only this time it wasn't in churches of old
Europe. Along with 15,000 other people from throughout Canada and 75 other countries of the world, I
saw the Eucharist come alive in a very powerful way in a hockey arena in Quebec City
In his
homily for the opening of the congress, the 84-year-old Slovakian Cardinal
Jozef Tomko, papal legate to the event, said that "Jesus is the gift of
God, he is the food that feeds us and fulfills us and allows us life in
eternity. The Eucharist is a person, not an object, not a dead gift. Maybe we
should ask not what is the Eucharist, but who is the Eucharist?" The
answer to this question, Tomko said, is Jesus in the sacramental form of bread
and wine "to indicate he wanted to become our food and sustain our
life."
One of the
very memorable and profound catechesis sessions of the Quebec
congress was on the theme "The Eucharist, the life of Christ in our Lives,"
given by Bishop Luis Tagle of Imus in the Philippines ,
now Cardinal-Archbishop of Manila
"Beholding
Jesus, we receive and are transformed by the mystery we adore. Eucharistic
adoration is similar to standing at the foot of the cross of Jesus, being a
witness to his sacrifice of life and being renewed by it."
Cardinal
Tagle pointed to the example of the Roman centurion who guarded Jesus on the
cross as a "model of adoration": "We learn from the centurion to
face Jesus, to keep watch over him, to behold him, to contemplate him. At first
the centurion spent hours watching over Jesus out of duty but ended up
contemplating him in truth. What did the centurion see? We can assume that he
saw the horror of suffering that preceded Jesus' death. But I also believe that
in Jesus the centurion saw incredible love, love for the God who had failed to
remove this cup of suffering from him, and love for neighbours." The
prelate concluded his powerful catechesis: "I wish that Eucharistic
adoration would lead us to
know Jesus
more as the compassionate companion of many crucified peoples of today. Let us
adore Jesus who offered his life as a gift to the Father for us sinners. Let us
adore him for ourselves, for the poor, for the earth, for the Church and for
the life of the world."
In his 2003
encyclical letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia, Pope John Paul II wrote: "The
Eucharist builds the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist."
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