First Holy Communion

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

This weekend we celebrate the First Holy Communion of our second graders! Let us join together in thanking our good Lord for His True Presence in the Holy Eucharist and all the gifts we receive through the Holy Eucharist! Let us pray for the children in our parishes that they may always remember this day and continue to find True Life only through Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Let us also pray for the parents of these same children that they may always make opportunities for their children to received the mercy of our Lord through Confession, attend Holy Mass on Sundays and Holy Days and teach their children to prefer the way of God for their lives.

This week I offer an inspiring sermon from St. Peter Chrysologus (b.380-d.450). He was a bishop in Ravenna, Italy and has been declared a Doctor of the Church. He was a renowned preacher, especially on the topic of the Incarnation of Jesus.

This sermon is about the priesthood of all the baptized. This priesthood is conferred through the Sacrament of Baptism and grows into perfection in our souls through cooperation with Holy Spirit, especially through the graces given in the Sacrament of Confirmation.

“I appeal to you by the mercy of God. This appeal is made by St. Paul, or rather, it is made by God through St. Paul, because of God’s desire to be loved rather than feared, to be a father rather than a Lord. God appeals to us in his mercy to avoid having to punish us in his severity.

Listen to the Lord’s appeal: In me, I want you to see your own body, your members, your heart, your bones, your blood. You may fear what is divine, but why not love what is human? You may run away from me as the Lord, but why not run to me as your father? Perhaps you are filled with shame for causing my bitter passion. Do not be afraid. This cross inflicts a mortal injury, not on me, but on death. These nails no longer pain me, but only deepen your love for me. I do not cry out because of these wounds, but through them I draw you into my heart. My body was stretched on the cross as a symbol, not of how much I suffered, but of my all-embracing love. I count it no less to shed my blood: it is the price I have paid for your ransom. Come, then, return to me and learn to know me as your father, who repays good for evil, love for injury, and boundless charity for piercing wounds.

Listen now to what the Apostle urges us to do. I appeal to you, he says, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. By this exhortation of his, St. Paul has raised all men to priestly status. How marvelous is the priesthood of the Christian, for he is both the victim that is offered on his own behalf, and the priest who makes the offering. He does not need to go beyond himself to seek what he is to immolate to God: with himself and in himself he brings the sacrifice he is to offer God for himself. The victim remains and the priest remains, always one and the same. Immolated, the victim still lives: the priest who immolates cannot kill. Truly it is an amazing sacrifice in which a body is offered without being slain and blood is offered without being shed.

The Apostle says: I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Brethren, this sacrifice follows the pattern of Christ’s sacrifice by which he gave his body as a living immolation for the life of the world. He really made his body a living sacrifice, because, though slain, he continues to live. In such a victim death receives its ransom, but the victim remains alive. Death itself suffers the punishment. This is why death for the martyrs is actually a birth, and their end a beginning. Their execution is the door to life, and those who were thought to have been blotted out from the earth shine brilliantly in heaven.

St. Paul says: I appeal to you by the mercy of God to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living and holy. The prophet said the same thing: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but you have prepared a body for me. Each of us is called to be both a sacrifice to God and his priest. Do not forfeit what divine authority confers on you. Put on the garment of holiness, gird yourself with the belt of chastity. Let Christ be your helmet, let the cross on your forehead be your unfailing protection. Your breastplate should be the knowledge of God that he himself has given you. Keep burning continually the sweet smelling incense of prayer. Take up the sword of the Spirit. Let your heart be an altar. Then, with full confidence in God, present your body for sacrifice. God desires not death, but faith; God thirsts not for blood, but for self-surrender; God is appeased not by slaughter, but by the offering of your free will.” Through the intercession of Mary, the Lady of Grace, St. Joseph and St. Paul and St. Michael may God bless us with the graces of peace and love for the will of God!

In Christ through Mary,

Fr. Kasel