Corpus Christi Blog

Our Vision Statement: The Body of Christ – Becoming Disciples Part 2

08-25-2019Weekly ReflectionFr. Chad King

I continue my reflection on our Vision Statement: The Body of Christ — Becoming Disciples. Last week, I talked about the many ways we are striving to become a closer “family of families” of Corpus Christi through the various casual, fun activities we have throughout the year and I even forgot to mention our annual Parish Picnic, which is our primary, fun, community-building activity! Today, though, I want to focus on the unifying agent of our Corpus Christi family and how we become the Body of Christ we are meant to be.

To be a welcoming community is one of the challenges in all parishes the size of Corpus Christi, and thankfully we need to grow in our hospitality because we continue to attract many new parishioners each month! As I said, it takes the whole family; it takes all of us to be welcoming and intentionally having a family-like mentality to see each other as brothers and sisters. It starts with every one of us doing our part to be friendly, hospitable, and welcoming. Perhaps a closer look at what it means to be part of “the Body” will be helpful. We, the Church, are the Body, and Christ is the Head (Col 1:18). He directs us, just as every movement of our arm, leg, or any part of our bodies, every decision we make, indeed, everything we do, first comes from our head. Our brain tells our muscles and every part of our bodies what to do. So, let us ask ourselves, does Christ our Head tell us what to do? Likewise, as we learn from 1 Cor 12, we are all members of the Body, we all have a function in the Body, and we all have to do our part. Anyone who has had surgery on a body part — say a leg, arm, or back — knows how hard it is for the other body parts to compensate. That being said, the body also has to work together to accomplish most tasks. It is not someone else’s job to be friendly, welcoming, and helping to serve others — it is all of ours, as that is what Christ our head calls us to do.

Building community is one of the important aspects of our Discovering Christ series. It is another opportunity to make our large parish feel a little smaller. Of course, Discovering Christ is not like the other community forming opportunities like Coffee & Donuts and the Parish Game Nights, because in Discovering Christ, we are not just forming a smaller community, we are doing so in Christ. After all, Jesus Christ is the reason why all of us are a part of this family of God here at Corpus Christi. He unites us. When we are all seeking Christ with all our hearts, then we are united and help each other in that mission. Certainly, our Mission given to us by Christ is to make disciples (Matt 28:19), and I will talk more on discipleship next week. For now, let me just say, that Discovering Christ is one of the first steps we have to unite in our vision: The Body of Christ—Becoming Disciples, since we discover, seek, and draw closer to God there through and with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Have you noticed that it is pretty much impossible for one person to grow closer to God, and not affect others? Just as every sin we commit affects others negatively, growing closer to our Lord affects others positively. Indeed, we are all called to inspire and be inspired by each other in our journey of faith. Think about who has inspired you in your faith? Think about who you might be trying to inspire. How well are you doing that? I know that many of you inspire me in so many ways — your heartfelt desire for conversion in the confessional, the many ways you support other people, particularly those in need, seeing so many of you in the Adoration chapel — just to name a few. I know I try to inspire you, too. For example, I try my best to enter into every Mass I celebrate, not only as my expression of love to God, but to inspire you as well. After all, if I am not entering in fully, how can I encourage you to enter in fully to the most important thing we could ever do — participate in the Most Holy Sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross for our salvation and our perfect unification into the family of God?!

It is Jesus Christ who is the source of our unity as family and He needs to be the center of our community. That is true for every Christian community, but especially true for every Church. To conclude this reflection on this part of our Vision Statement, I want to tie in the second meaning of the phrase “Body of Christ.” In the Catholic Church, Jesus Christ is not just a spiritual presence, He also makes Himself really, truly, and physically present. Since Jesus is the Head, and unifying source of the Church, how much more so must it be for us who have the name and identity of Corpus Christi! Therefore, in particular for us, it is the Body of Christ (the Eucharist) who will make us into the Body of Christ (Corpus Christi) we are meant to be! Therefore, we all need to treat Jesus as a family member, as a brother, who is always here waiting for His siblings to visit Him. I give thanks for Fr. Sigman, our founding Pastor, who established a Perpetual Adoration chapel, and Fr. Hoorman for fostering its growth. Truly, the Real Presence of Jesus in that chapel is the magnet attracting family members to Him and needs to be the unifying source of our parish. But yet, how many individuals or families make time to be with Jesus in His Real Presence? How many of you would not stop by and see a loved one on your way home from work, for example? I go and pray my Holy Hour in the Adoration chapel most every day, and it is such a joy in my heart to see so many parishioners there throughout the week. However, I often see the same people and there are many other families of Corpus Christi who might hardly ever visit Jesus in that chapel. It is for this reason that I would like every family to become a committed Adorer of at least one hour a week. It is necessary for every one of us to orient our lives around Jesus. Becoming a committed Adorer helps us to do that. Even in busy families, it can be possible to find or make time that is set-aside for prayer. I know some families who sign up for an hour each week, and alternate which parent and children go at that week. Other families with children split their holy hours and switch after 30 minutes as a way to go as a family but still help keep the children’s focus. I hope you know that we cannot leave Jesus by Himself in the chapel and we need to have at least one Committed Adorer every hour. We still have some hours in which no one is scheduled, and so someone else fills in each week. If we had most every family as Committed Adorers, then we would hardly have to worry if Jesus is left alone at any hour of the day. Not only that, but can you imagine how much closer and more united our parish would be! And can you imagine how much more in love with our Lord we would all be — indeed we would become the Corpus Christi we are meant to be!

Adoration: The Heart of the Church

“Make it your first care to find the kingdom of God.”
- Matthew 6:33

“The kingdom of God is present in all its fullness, though in a hidden a manner, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. He who seeks out My Eucharistic presence is seeking the kingdom of God. He who approaches Me in the Sacrament of My love will find the kingdom and therein all that he desires according to My Spirit.

Come first to Me in the Sacrament of My Love. Let this become the supernatural instinct of your soul: always to come to Me, always to seek My Eucharistic Face.

Adoration must become a need of your soul, just as food and drink and rest are needs of your body. Come to Me often and remain in the light of My Eucharistic Face, that I may sanctify you and do in you all that I desire to find in you.”

— An excerpt from the book In Sinu Jesu, which is an account of what Our Lord, as well as the Blessed Mother, spoke to the heart of a Benedictine monk while in the silence of adoration Dated Monday, August 25, 2008.

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