Gospel: The Bread and Wine is the best offering we as humans have to offer God. Please see the Homily and Readings below.
Fr. Nelson's Visit: Father Nelson visited Bristol Bay for the first time this last week. He will be leaving June 27 to go on vacation back to the Philippines and will return to Bristol Bay in August to start ministry here.
The picture below was taken Friday June 17 at Clarks Point. In the picture are Julian (far left), Shay (far right), Mariano (bottom), and Fr. Nelson (top).
Around the Bush: Fr. Nelson and I flew our Cherokee Warrior II to Clarks Point and King Salmon for Mass. Also, I flew to Ekwok to help a person prepare for Baptism on June 15. This week Fr. Nelson and I plan to fly to Ekuk to bless a fishing camp.
Father's Day Blessing: All the Fathers received a special Father's day blessing during the Mass last Sunday. Thank you to all our Fathers!
Thank you: Thank you to Lotus who altar served for the first time at Mass Sunday June 19th. You did an excellent job Lotus!
Snow Plow: Fr. Nelson had a crash course in snowplowing this week. Although there was no snow, we back-plowed the parking lot gravel and got rid of some chuck holes.
Thank you: Thank you all who prepared food for our potluck last Sunday. It was a great success. Our parishioners were able to welcome Father Nelson and get to talk with him about his time in Alaska.
Sunday Collection of June 19th: Holy Rosary Catholic Church was $170.00.
Have a fantastic week and see you Sunday...Fr. Scott
Homily and Readings:
Body and Blood of Christ A DLG 2011, Deuteronomy 8:2-3&14-16; 1Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6: 51-58
Today we celebrate Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. What we receive during the Eucharist is about sacramental nourishment, spiritual strength, and eternal life. To understand this, let us take a closer look at the bread and wine.
Dieing and Rising: Wheat and grapes grow and “die” only to “rise” again as flour and grape juice. They die and rise again as bread and wine. Bread and wine die as food and rise as nutrition for us giving us life. Jesus died and rose to give us eternal life.
The Best We Have to Offer: When we offer up the gifts at mass, we bring the best that we as human beings have to offer to God. We give bread and wine, which represents communal human effort at it best.
For example, bread is harvested by workers in the field, transported to market by drivers, made into dough by bakers, delivered to stores, marketed, and sold. Bread represents people working together as one to nourish our society.
God and Us: Our gift of bread and wine also represents God’s help. We provide the labor. God provides the atmosphere, the rain, and the miracle of growth. Without God’s touch, there would be no wheat or grapes, no bread, no wine.
During the Consecration, we offer up the bread and wine to God. What does God do? Because God loves us so much, he gives it right back to us…as the body and blood of His only Son, Jesus Christ. Catholicism is the only Christian religion that believes the bread and wine is transformed. It is not a representation. The priest acts as the person of Jesus, transforming the bread and wine into the ACTUAL body and blood of Christ.
Show and Tell
Before – Loaf of Bread and host
After – Body of Christ – Ciborium – Tabernacle – Pix – Monstrance
When we ingest the actual body and blood of Christ we become Christ-like. This is how we nourish the spirit within us. Spiritual strength comes from having faith that we become Christ-like. Henry Nouwen says, “The Eucharist can be seen only by those who already love the Lord and believe in his active, loving presence to us.”
When we believe, trust, and have faith that we consume the actual body of Christ, it will nourish and strengthen our spirits. The Eucharist becomes armor for going into battle against corruption, injustice, and temptation. We stand together as one baptized community, strengthened by the Eucharist, prepared to go out into the field and fight for our Christian beliefs (421 Words).
Eat This Bread, Breaking Bread
Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry. Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.
I am the bread of life, the true bread sent from the father
Your ancestors ate manna in the desert, but this is the bread come down from heaven.
Eat my flesh and drink my blood, and I will raise you upon the last day.
Anyone who eats this bread, will live for ever.
If you believe and eat this bread, you will have eternal life.
Deuteronomy 8:2-3&14-16
Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD. you then become haughty of heart and unmindful of the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery; who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers, that he might afflict you and test you, but also make you prosperous in the end.
1 Corinthians 10:16-17
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? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
John 6: 51-58
51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." 52 The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us (his) flesh to eat?" 53 Jesus said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever" (John 6:51-58).
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