Corpus Christi

Back in the 1970s, when there was a lot of liturgical innovation going on. I remember growing up in my home parish the transition from Vatican II.  The two associate pastors in my parish wanted to start a folk Mass in the gym on Sunday mornings.  Their pastor reluctantly agreed.  I remember it being a very joyful liturgy.  The music was new and upbeat.  Young families were flocking back to Church again. It wasn't without its problems, though.  It caused greater division in the parish, an us against them mentality- those going to Mass in the gym versus the Church. It would take another decade for that to get sorted out and bring people together.

One thing that sticks out at me about that time, though, was the decrease of the sacredness toward the Sacred elements of bread and wine.  More and more, gold and silver chalices and ciboria were replaced with ceramic cups and dishes. I bring that up from my personal experience because I ran across this story about Dorothy Day from the same time period. 

Dorothy Day invited a young priest to celebrate mass at the Catholic Worker. He decided to do something that he thought was relevant and hip. He asked Dorothy if she had a coffee cup he could borrow. She found one in the kitchen and brought it to him. And, he took that cup and used it as the chalice to celebrate mass.

When it was over, Dorothy picked up the cup, found a small gardening tool, and went to the backyard. She knelt down, dug a hole, kissed the coffee cup, and buried it in the earth.

With that simple gesture, Dorothy Day showed that she understood something that so many of us today don’t: she knew that Christ was truly present in something as ordinary as a ceramic cup. And that it could never be just a coffee cup again.

She understood the power and reality of His presence in the blessed sacrament.

Which is really the sum and substance of what we celebrate on this feast, Corpus Christi. The reason for what we will do today – celebrating with the monstrance, the music, the procession – isn’t to glorify an inanimate object, a bit of bread contained in glass.

It is to remind the world that in that bread we have been given Christ.

Not an idea. Not a symbol. Not an abstract bit of mysterious theology. No.

It is wider and deeper and more mysterious than that.

Look at that host — and you look at Christ.

I love his opening story. Dorothy Day (a convert and Benedictine Oblate) founded The Catholic Worker, and lived in voluntary poverty in solidarity with the poor of her day. She is often, and wrongly, dismissed as a “radical” by people who do not realize that Day was, in her own words, “an obedient daughter of the church,” and completely passionate about the grace-imparting sacraments given to us by Christ. Far from being “radical,” Day looked upon the Eucharistic Christ and recognized her King, just as even the earliest Christians knew him, the travelers who “recognized Jesus” in the breaking of the bread

Everything we are, everything we believe, everything we celebrate around this altar comes down to that incredible truth. What began two thousand years ago in an upper room continues here, and now, and at altars around the world. The very source of our salvation is transformed into something you can hold in the palm of your hand.

Sister Camille D’Arienzo tells the story of a priest who was pouring some unconsecrated communion wafers from a bag, to get ready for mass. Some fell on the floor. He bent down and picked up the stray hosts, just ordinary wafers, unconsecrated, to throw them out. And he held one between his thumb and forefinger and showed it to her. “Just think,” he said, “what this could have become.”

Just think what we become when we receive the body of Christ. We become nothing less than living tabernacles. God dwells within us. As the hymn tells us, we become what we receive. And what we receive becomes us. That is the great mystery, and great grace, the great gift of this most blessed sacrament.

My question on this feast: what will we do with that knowledge? Once we have been transformed, by bread that has been transformed, how can we leave this holy place without seeking to transform the world? How can we just go out and head to brunch, or dinner, or out to do yard work or the weekly grocery shopping?

We carry something greater than ourselves. And that makes us instruments of God’s great work in the world.

Trinity Sunday

Last weekend we celebrated the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. It's the central mystery of our faith, yet also the most difficult to comprehend. We often get tied up in the "what" of the Trinity, trying to understand the inner workings of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It may be easier to focus on the "why".

In it's simplest terms the Trinity is a love story. No doubt the greatest love story ever told. It's about a Father who loves us so much, he created a world for us and created us in his image and likeness, because he wants us to share in divine life. We don't always live our freedom correctly though and reject that life by sin. We are unfaithful, but our Father is ever faithful, even to the point of sending his Son to us to teach us how to love, to turn our hearts back to the Father, and die for us to reopen the offer of divine friendship. Their mutual love for each other generates the Holy Spirit who enlivens us and sets our
hearts on fire for the gospel.

There is a profound intimacy between Father and Son. Read John 17 and you hear Jesus pray lovingly to his Father for US! He asks Him to pray for us and protect us. We hear the Father bless his Son too at his Baptism and Transfiguration.

This is a feast about relationships. We are invited to share in this intimacy of the Trinity. We do this by committing ourselves to prayer and service. Sometimes we take our relationships for granted. It is often easier and a relief to communicate via email or text messages, but we miss opportunities to interact and share ourselves with each other.

May we never miss an opportunity to tell those we love how we feel. May we go the extra mile to bring the love of the Trinity to those we meet.

Pope John Paul II to be Beatified

 

Great news coming from the Vatican today, as Pope Benedict XVI has announced that he will celebrate the beatification of Pope John Paul II on May 1st. 

Our late Holy Father has been fast tracked through the canonization process.  Usually they is a 5 year wait before a person’s cause to sainthood may be introduced.  Pope Benedict dispensed with the wait given the obvious holiness and service to the Church of John Paul II.  It has taken this long because of the due diligence of the committees who have researched the life and writings of our late Holy Father.

After the beatification, he will be regarded as Blessed Pope John Paul II and will be the worthy of veneration. Wonderful news for our Church!  I remember meeting him in Rome, toward the end of his life.  It was and still is the most touching and humbling moment of my life.

Forgiveness

Something jumped out at me at Mass yesterday.  When we read Scripture, so often we take a passage and look at it close up without really seeing it in context of what else is happening.  One great example of this comes from the gospel for Monday of the 32nd week.  The disciples plea to the Lord, "Lord, increase our faith."

We tend to use that line as our own appeal in prayer, as we should, when things are not going well in our lives. But look more deeply at what is happening in that gospel.  If we zoom out just a little we see something very interesting.  "Be on your guard!  If your brother sins, rebuke him; if he repents, forgive him.  And if he wrongs you 7 times in one day and returns to you 7 times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive him."  Then the disciples said, Lord, increase our faith."

In that context you can almost see the humor or at least the exasperation in the voice of the disciples as if the prospect of forgiving someone 7 times in one day is just too much to expect.  We have a hard enough time forgiving someone once, much less 7 times.  How do we muster up the courage to consistently forgive those who are seeking reconciliation with us?  Alone, it is impossible.  Which is why the disciples ask for faith.  But the Lord's response is simple.  It only takes a small amount of faith to move mountains, but we have to be open to that gift that Christ gives to us.  He and only he is the one who can help us to forgive.

When we have been hurt, we are challenged to look upon the cross at Christ as he forgives his persecutors.  He needs, with his divine grace, to forgive those who have hurt us in far lesser ways.  Holding on to pain and hurt only make us feel worst, and those things keep us from moving ahead in our spiritual lives as well.

When you feel yourself lost and frustrated because of the hurt caused to you, it's helpful to know that Christ knows our pain too.  He also knows what it is like to be rejected and betrayed.  In those moments in our lives, he loves us even more.

Welcome

Welcome everyone!  My name is Fr. Joe Dondanville.  I am a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria.  I have been ordained for 15 years.  I am currently a pastor at St. Mary's Church in Kickapoo, Il.  In my years as a priest I have experienced a lot and feel like I have some thoughts to share.

I call this site "Treasures of the Soul" as it reminds me that the only thing that truly satisfies the longing of our hearts is God himself.  He does offer us profound spiritual treasure on a daily basis.  I hope to share some of what He has given to me in hopes it help in your search for Him too.

This is my first attempt at running a blog, so please be patient.

God Bless