Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for Pentecost - Sunday, June 22, 2025

In 1944, Catholic theologian Henri de Lubac famously said, “The Eucharist makes the Church!” While that may have been clear during the first 1,000 years of the Church, many Catholics seem to have forgotten that premise. Yet, the Eucharist has been and continues to be essential to who we are as Catholics. If you ask me why I became a priest or even why I remained a practicing Catholic given all of the problems that the Church has faced, I would say: “I’m a Catholic priest because the Eucharist makes the Church.” It’s not made of the mistakes and sins of the leaders, or the clergy, or the faithful. NO, the Eucharist makes the Church.

This Sunday, we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi or the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ! This feast celebrates the doctrine of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It asserts that, in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is literally and wholly present—body and blood, soul and divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine. On this day, more than any other, we tell the world that Christ really meant the words, “This is my body” and “This is my blood.”

Christ gives us the words that Catholic priests have repeated for nearly 2,000 years to transform simple bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood: “Take and eat, THIS IS MY BODY” and “Take and drink, THIS IS MY BLOOD” and “DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME.” Through those words of consecration, bread and wine become the body, blood, soul and divinity of Jesus. Not a symbol, not a re-creation, not a re-enactment, but the actual body and blood of Jesus.

St. Augustine said that we must, “believe what we see, see what we believe, and become what we are: the Body of Christ.” When we leave this mass, we must be transformed just as the bread and wine are transformed. The Eucharist makes the Church and the Eucharist makes US.

I smile when I distribute the Eucharist because it is a joy to say, “The Body of Christ.” When you joyfully respond with a loud and convincing “AMEN” (“YES!”) you should smile as well. Then, one with Christ, we must all go out and live that AMEN!

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for Pentecost - Sunday, June 15, 2025

Feast of Holy Trinity/Father’s Day

Happy Father’s Day! It’s pretty easy for those of us who have fathers to take them for granted. At 93 years old, my dad is still present in my life. My dad was a NYC firefighter for over 30 years. He was also a house painter, worked at a fish market, helped a house builder. He taught me the value of hard work and being happy in each moment. My dad’s father died when my dad was only four years old. So, my dad had to figure out how to be a father even though he didn’t have a father in his life. He did a heck of a job. I’m blessed that he inspired me to be a better father to my son.

It is fitting that we celebrate Father’s Day on the feast of the Holy Trinity when the Church celebrates one God who exists as three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus refers to God as “Father” over 165 times in the Bible. Just in John’s Gospel, Jesus uses the phrase “My Father” 34 times. The Trinity reflects the perfect love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Last week we celebrated the presence the Holy Spirit in our lives to inspire and to motivate us to perform “great deeds.” Jesus emphasizes God as both his Father and our Father. Fathers are often driven by love to perform great deeds for their families. We tend to throw around the word “love” rather casually these days. We “love” pizza or we “love” the Dodgers or the Angels. More than pizza or sports teams, we love our Lord, our spouse, our children, our parents, and our dear friends. Unfortunately, we use the same word “love” for those relationships as we do for teams and snacks.

Yet, even the best of our human love a small and imperfect representation of the infinite and perfect love that God our Father feels for each of us. There is no comparison between our human ability to love and the love that God feels for us. No matter what we say or do, God can never stop loving us and He invites us to experience His love through the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May we always feel that love!

Fr. Mike

Fr. Mike's Gospel Reflection for Pentecost - Sunday, June 8, 2025

For fifty days we have been celebrating the incomparable joy of the Resurrection. Today, Pentecost Sunday, we close the Easter Season by gratefully acknowledging the magnificent and mysterious work of the Holy Spirit. On this day, the Holy Spirit transformed very ordinary men (who ran away when Jesus was arrested and hid in a locked room because they were afraid) and inspired them to begin the challenging process of founding the Church.

Three years earlier, these apostles had dropped everything and followed Jesus. They truly had no idea what to expect. They put their own hopes and dreams on hold, they left their jobs, and they left their families. They put their egos aside, swallowed their pride and humbled themselves before Jesus. They spent three years with Jesus – listening, watching, and following. From Easter until Pentecost the apostles were still trying to figure things out. Like many of us, they were unsure about how to do the important job that Jesus had given them without Him at their side each day.

Jesus knew that, on their own, these men were not capable of starting the Church. So, Jesus caused the Holy Spirit to enter them, fill them with courage, and transform them into men who could inspire people to listen to the Good News of Jesus Christ. With the help of the Holy Spirit, they were on fire for the Lord!

In the Creed we call the Holy Spirit, “the Lord and giver of life” because the Holy Spirit gives us “new” life to fuel our relationship with God so that God can work in us and through us. In the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit is present in two ways: He transforms bread and wine into the Body and Blood of our Lord. Then, after we receive the Eucharist, the Holy Spirit transforms us so that we can become what we receive.

The Holy Spirit set the disciples on fire so that they could carry out the mission of starting and growing the Church. The Holy Spirit sets us on fire with the real presence of Jesus within us – HERE AND NOW – so that we can continue that mission.

Heavenly Father, help us to recognize and accept the Holy Spirit acting in our lives, setting our hearts on fire, and moving us to act in the lives of others.

Fr. Mike