Father Tom's Corner

Thomas Acquinas and The Eucharist

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:09:00 GMT

Greetings Family,

March 7th is my 61st birthday. It is also the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor.

He was also known as the "Dumb Ox" when he was in the seminary because his teachers assumed that he did not understand the material. In reality, he was too humble to speak and answer questions. When he finally did speak, his professors discovered his genius.

Thomas wrote the most brilliant treatise in the Catholic Church, the Summa Theologica, which attempted to prove the existence of God using reason and faith. This work influenced Catholic thought for hundreds of years up until our day.

Thomas also gave what was considered the best explanation of Jesus' Real Presence in the Eucharist (Holy Communion). The technical word for this, according to Thomas, is transubstantiation. When the priest celebrates Mass, he is at that time, "Alter Christus", an image of Christ. When he says the words that Jesus said at the Last Supper; "This is My Body, this is My Blood", the bread and wine actually become the Body and Blood of Christ.. The church from the time of Christ has always believed this.

We worship Jesus' Real Presence in the Eucharist reserved in the tabernacle. We don't reserve the Eucharist primarily for worship. The Eucharist is reserved so that it is available to the priest when he has a sick call. We know that Jesus is everywhere. None the less, we should be conscious of the Real Presence of the Lord when we come into our churches. We should acknowledge His Presence with a prayer, a bow, or a genuflection (right knee please).

What is important is Jesus' tremendous love for all of us. The Eucharist is His greatest Gift to us. Like the Manna God gave His people in the desert, it is food for our souls. Let us not take this beautiful Gift for granted.

God Bless All !!

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"Community"

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 04:33:00 GMT

Greetings family!

I was reading a book by C.S. Lewis entitled Mere Christianity. The book is an exposition of the teachings of the Christian faith. In one section of the book, CS Lewis speaks of the importance of community. He teaches us that a community is the best place to come to know God. This should seem obvious to people who worship together in a church community.

We all view our community in different ways. Some of us see our community at St. Joseph's as a group of people who come together to worship God, to feed on His Word, to strive to live a better life and to love one another as Jesus loved us. We rejoice, as Jesus our Lord says, because "our names are written in the Book of Life,". Some of us come to church and are in this community because we always were part of the church, kind of like a habit. Then there are those who were hurting or alone and found a home here.

It is impossible to find Jesus by yourself. To find Him you have to hear the Word proclaimed and you have to see someone who has a living relationship with Jesus and lives by the principles Jesus taught. And when you do, you find yourself in the midst of a community of believers like St. Joseph's. We draw strength from one another. We pray for one another. We support one another spiritually and materially (at times). In this community, we can forge friendships that can last a lifetime and forever (in heaven)

You notice that I did not mention anything about money. Our community leaders, at this time, seem to be concentrating on money and the parish budget. When we do this, we are taking our eyes off the Lord and the blessings He wants to pour out on St. Joseph's. Regarding money, God only asks us to do our part. He suggests ten percent of not only our treasure, but also our time and our talent. But the ninety percent of our attention should be on loving one another and meeting each other's needs. This is called "ministry". If our attention is only on the money, we are not doing what God wants us to do. When we are obeying God and doing what He want us to do, the money will come, because God always pays for what He orders.

Let us turn our attention to Our Lord, who is the inexhaustible source of all of our blessings.

God bless all!

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Ministry

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:16:00 GMT

2012 is the beginning of my twelfth year writing Father Tom's Corner. It has been a special time that I have been able to spend with you. I hope that I have been able to minister to some of your needs during these years. I hope to continue for many years to come.

2012 is going to be an exciting time for our parish. St. Joseph's has a new pastor, Father Kris, and we are all looking forward to building up our community for Jesus Christ. The key to all this is "working together". This is the meaning of ministry: working together, seeking God's will, listening to Him and,then, doing what He tells us to do. If we are doing anything else, we are just spinning our wheels. We don't have anymore time to just spin our wheels. I believe that Jesus is coming soon. He seems to be shaking things up.

Join us in ministering in God's kingdom this year. What gifts and talents have gone unused that could be used to help someone else? Have you tried to help out in a soup kitchen? Or volunteered for Habitat for Humanity? Or written letters to the shut ins? What about that elderly next door neighbor who has trouble bringing in the garbage cans or needs a ride to the store? Ministry is not about raising money, it's about filling people's spiritual and corporal needs.

With all of us working together, 2012 will be a great year for our pairsh, for our church and for God.

God bless all!

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