Corpus Christi Blog

Gathering as One at Mass

07-29-2018HomiliesFr. Chad King

Our Gospel today is taken from John chapter 6, which every Catholic should know well, as it is the great chapter explaining the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist, and its explanation in John 6, is so important that the Church asks us to reflect and learn from it over the next 5 weeks. Today, we begin with the miracle of the feeding of 5000. Have you known that the great Eucharistic teaching of John 6 begins with this miracle? Let me reveal how. First, though let’s recall last week’s Gospel from Mark because it leads directly into Mark’s version of this miracle of feeding the 5000; and it will help us more fully understand the context of this story.

READ MORE

Happy 25th Anniversary of Your Ordination, Fr. Rey!

07-29-2018Weekly ReflectionFr. Reynaldo Clutario

Fr. Rey was ordained on July 16, 1993. His 25th anniversary celebration took place in the Parish Center on July 21 where he shared the following story of his vocation journey.

"Why did you become a priest, Fr. Rey?" I always encounter this question. For me, priesthood is a gift and a mystery. It is a mystery because it is only God who knows the answer to why I became a priest in spite of my weaknesses. It is a gift given, and once it is a gift it is always embedded with mystery. The receiver doesn't know the inner motive of the giver.

READ MORE

Rest, the Beatles, and the Good Shepherd

07-22-2018HomiliesDeacon Dennis Lambert

Let me start today with a question, what does a well-deserved Rest, Beatlemania, and The Good Shepard all have in common?? Bet you never thought you’d hear those three things lumped together, especially in a homily! What these three seemingly divergent items have in common is that an element of each of these things is found within in our Gospel reading today. The real question however, is what actions, if any, do these three things potentially call us to do? And on that note, let’s dig in…

While I know you’re most likely dying to hear how in the world I’m pulling Beatlemania out of the Gospel, you’ll have to hold tight just a bit on that one. Let’s first unpack the aforementioned Well Deserved Rest…

READ MORE

Celebrating 50 Years of Humanae Vitae

07-22-2018HomiliesDeacon Chris Kellogg

As the twelve Apostles return from their first missionary journey in today’s Gospel our readings continue to reflect on the authority and mission of the Church. Our Divine Shepherd (Jesus) appointed new shepherds (the Apostles) to help lead all people to the truth. Flowing from this we have our current hierarchy with the Pope, Bishops and Priests carrying on this mission of evangelization, and safeguarding the truths of the Catholic faith as they work to gather all people into His body the Church.

READ MORE

Natural Family Planning - Celebrate God's gift of married love

07-22-2018Weekly ReflectionPope John Paul II

This week is Natural Family Planning Awareness Week. It corresponds with the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love and responsible parenthood. In 1998 Pope John Paul II wrote a letter to Dr. Anna Cappella, director of the Center for Research and Study on the Natural Regulation of Fertility at Rome's Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. The occasion was a convention commemorating Humanae Vitae. Excerpts are reprinted below.

I hope that everyone will benefit from a closer study of the Church's teaching on the truth of the act of love in which spouses become sharers in God's creative action.

READ MORE

Brant Pitre explains the so-called “brothers” of Christ mentioned in last Sunday’s Gospel

07-15-2018Weekly ReflectionBrant Pitre

(The following comes from a transcript of a video in which Brant Pitre explains the Mass readings from last week.)

Let's look for a few moments at an issue that is really, frankly, rather a big issue for a lot of Catholics, and that is the whole reference to the brothers of Jesus. I don't know about you, but I remember being a young Catholic and hearing this particular passage, Mark’s gospel in particular, read at Sunday Mass and wondering, “well wait, I thought Mary was perpetually virgin, who are these so-called brothers of Jesus?” What is the gospel referring to here? And it doesn't just mention his brothers, it even mentions his sisters as well. So who are all these brothers and sisters of Jesus, are they the children of Mary?

READ MORE

St. Benedict

07-08-2018Weekly Reflection

This Wednesday, July 11, is the feast of St. Benedict, who is considered the founder of Western monasticism. The only authentic record of his life comes from the second book of Pope St. Gregory I's "Dialogues." It consists mostly of accounts of the various miracles attributed to St. Benedict during his life.

Benedict was born in Nursia, Italy (now known as Norcia) around the year 480. He was the son of a Roman noble and had a twin sister, St. Scholastica. He went to school in Rome, but once he reached the higher level of studies, he left school, tired of the immorality and corruption that was endemic of the city at the time.

READ MORE

Who is Jesus Christ?

07-08-2018HomiliesFr. Chad King

My brothers and sisters, the people of Nazareth in our Gospel are having to answer the most important question of their lives. In fact, it is the most important question that each and every person down the centuries, including that you and I, today, must answer for ourselves. And how we answer this one question with our lives has important ramifications and eternal consequences. So, what is the all-important question? Who is Jesus Christ?

READ MORE

The Popes Perspectives During Visits to the U.S.

07-01-2018Weekly Reflection

Excerpts from Pope St. John Paul II’s Homily on Sunday, October 8, 1985 during his Apostolic Journey to the United States:

“America has always wanted to be a land of the free. Today, the challenge facing America is to find freedom’s fulfillment in the truth: the truth that is intrinsic to human life created in God’s image and likeness, the truth that is written on the human heart, the truth that can be known by reason and can therefore form the basis of a profound and universal dialogue among people about the direction they must give to their lives and their activities.”

“...President Abraham Lincoln asked whether a nation ‘conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal’ could ‘long endure.’ President Lincoln’s question is no less a question for the present generation of Americans. Democracy cannot be sustained without a shared commitment to certain moral truths about the human person and human community. The basic question before a democratic society is: ‘how ought we to live together?’ In seeking an answer to this question, can society exclude moral truth and moral reasoning?
Can the Biblical wisdom which played such a formative part in the very founding of your country be excluded from that debate?”

READ MORE