This week's readings Week of June 2 - 8 Sunday, June 2, 2002 The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Reading I: Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a Reading II: 1 Cor 10:16-17 Gospel: Jn 6:51-58 Monday, June 3, 2002 Reading I: 2 Pt 1:2-7 Gospel: Mk 12:1-12 Tuesday, June 4, 2002 Reading I: 2 Pt 3:12-15a, 17-18 Gospel: Mk 12:13-17 Wednesday, June 5, 2002 Reading I: 2 Tm 1:1-3, 6-12 Gospel: Mk 12:18-27 Thursday, June 6, 2002 Reading I: 2 Tm 2:8-15 Gospel: Mk 12:28-34 Friday, June 7, 2002 Reading I: Dt 7:6-11 Gospel: 1 Jn 4:7-16 Saturday, June 8, 2002 Reading I: 2 Tm 4:1-8 Gospel: Lk 2:41-51 Week of June 9 - 15 Sunday, June 9, 2002 Reading I: Hos 6:3-6 Reading II: Rom 4:18-25 Gospel: Mt 9:9-13 Monday, June 10, 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 17:1-6 Gospel: Mt 5:1-12 Tuesday, June 11, 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 17:7-16 Gospel: Mt 5:13-16 Wednesday, June 12, 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 18:20-39 Gospel: Mt 5:17-19 Thursday, June 13, 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 18:41-46 Gospel: Mt 5:20-26 Friday, June 14 , 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-16 Gospel: Mt 5:27-32 Saturday, June 15, 2002 Reading I: 1 Kgs 19:19-21 Gospel: Mt 5:33-37 Pope's Prayer Intentions June General Intention Cooperation among all religions for world peace: That both leaders and members of the world's religions may together seek world peace through conversion of hearts and brotherly dialogue. June Mission Intention To live out our Baptism in thought, word, and deed: That we the Baptized may use all that Baptism imparts to us to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world in the whole circuit of our daily lives.

The cup we bless:
And the bread we break

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

The Second Vatican Council has often been referred to as a pastoral council, not a dogmatic one. It more directly addressed the pastoral issues of the Church in the modern age, rather than emphasizing a dogmatic approach to those issues. The distinction is an important one.

"We who celebrate the death of the Lord Jesus eat his body and drink his blood, which he gave us as an everlasting memorial."

In its Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, the Council emphasized that the Eucharist is "the source" and "the summit" of our lives as Christians. We who celebrate the death of the Lord Jesus eat his body and drink his blood, which he gave us as an everlasting memorial.

As the source, the Eucharist is the very life of Jesus given to the Church's members in a real and profound way. His body which he broke for us gives us life. His blood which he poured out for us is the means of our salvation. All that we are as Christians flows from the grace of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross, which is one with the Eucharistic sacrifice he established at the Last Supper.

Readings for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (June 2) Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a Psalm 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 John 6:51-58

As the summit, the Eucharist is the most sublime prayer we can offer to God. It is the giving of our very lives to the Father who created us, who sent his Son to suffer and die for us, and who, together with the Son, sent the Holy Spirit to inspire and guide the Church. All that we are as Church moves toward the Eucharist, which prefigures the heavenly banquet.

Believing in the truth of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is crucial to our self-understanding as Catholic Christians, as the Church. In this sense what we teach and believe about the Eucharist has a dogmatic focus. (As a reminder, the Catechism of the Catholic Church defines dogma as those truths, contained in divine Revelation and defined by the Magisterium, which the faithful are obliged to believe.)

The pastoral problem or issue for today's Church is that it is clear that many Catholics do not understand or believe what the Church teaches as divinely revealed and calling for faith about the Eucharist.

A survey from a few years ago found that perhaps only 30 percent of Catholics in the United States understand (are able to articulate) and believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ. The others might think of it in terms of being "merely symbolic," meaning that they do not believe Jesus is really present "body, blood, soul, and divinity" in the Eucharistic species.

The pastoral problem, then, becomes this: how can something in which a majority of Catholics do not appear to believe be the source and the summit of their lives?

Saint Paul teaches this about the meal we celebrate in the memory of Jesus: "the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" Clearly the earliest Christians believed that the cup blessed and the bread broken were at the center of their lives.

Jesus told us that we must eat his flesh, which is real food, and drink his blood, which is real drink, in order to have eternal life. All our life on earth flows from God's creative power, is filled with his love, and flows toward the kingdom of the Father. This is what the Eucharist teaches us, since it is the source and summit of our lives.

It is up to us, then, who believe what Jesus teaches and what is taught by the Church, to teach it to others, to help them believe that Jesus has given us this precious gift, and to allow the Church of the modern age to become peopled by disciples who really believe - and who allow Jesus working in them to transform a broken world.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.

Follow me: Jesus' call to sinners, to all of us

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

Jesus often remarked that he came to call, not the righteous, but sinners. Among his closest associates were Peter, a fisherman who later denied Jesus three times; a tax collector; a thief; and others who struggled to believe what he was teaching them. Peter's remark, "Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man" is one each of us could easily make.

The woman caught in adultery, a man named Zacchaeus, publicans, prostitutes, "those known as sinners," Samaritans and Gentiles were among those Jesus related to in ways that were unacceptable to many in Israel.

"This is his call to all sinners, to all of us. Follow me, and I will make you who are sinners into people on their way to being saints."

The Pharisees and others who were self-righteous frequently condemned Jesus for eating with sinners, entering their homes, permitting them to be among his followers. They used this as part of their claim that Jesus could not be a holy, righteous person - just look at the company he kept!

As he did with the crowd which was prepared to stone the woman caught in adultery, Jesus disarms those who would make such claims. Remember what he told them? "Whoever among you who is without sin may cast the first stone at her."

No one did. They all left. They knew the point Jesus was making - everyone is a sinner.

Readings for 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time (June 9) Hosea 6:3-6 Psalm 50:1, 8, 12-13, 14-15 Romans 4:18-25 Matthew 9:9-13

Jesus taught his followers that he "did not come to call the righteous but sinners." Jesus wants his Church to do the same: to reach out to sinners, to those who need to hear the words of the Gospel, to those who find it hard to seek forgiveness or who find it impossible to forgive. In short, Jesus wants his Church to be loving and forgiving as he is.

Difficult? Maybe. The hard part comes when we realize that it is not only the Church as a collective body which needs to hold the forgiveness of God in its heart, but each and every member. "I desire mercy, not sacrifice," Jesus reminded them. That goes for all of us.

Our sacrifice of mercy cuts two ways: we must be willing to reach out and forgive, and we must be willing to draw in and teach. Reaching out to those Jesus came to save is still the call of the Church, to forgive their sins and to be the face, the hands, and the heart of Jesus to them.

Drawing in those same people to teach them about Jesus, to offer them his love, to help them see that he came specifically for them - this too is what the Church must do.

"Follow me," Jesus said to Matthew, a tax collector. This is his call to all sinners, to all of us. Follow me, and I will make you who are sinners into people on their way to being saints.

Jesus never related to people and then left them as he found them. He sought out sinners, the wounded, the sick, the angry, the depressed, those in trouble, those in need, and he invited them to follow him out of their sin, their woundedness and sickness, their anger, depression, and fear. He invited them to follow him to holiness, dignity, and righteousness.

"Follow me," he says to us all. Are we willing to follow? We should be. Are we ready to go? He is calling.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.