Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Question: How do we avoid becoming identifiable with those James condemns in the 1streading and Christ excoriates in the Gospel of today’s mass? How do we keep the innocence that was ours when we were baptized and with confidence called out Abba, Father? Answer: Greater participation in the Eucharist.
The Eucharist is the source of peace. It is what enables us to examine ourselves in the light of Christ’s teaching, to be open to the desire for a deeper friendship with him who sacrificed himself for us and to be able to see those with whom we come in contact as he sees them.
If we are prevented physically from receiving Holy Communion, we can always receive it spiritually. “Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament I implore that I may love thee more and more” is the prayer we should learn to say each time we finish one project and begin a new one. It is the guarantee that will keep us from the examples of those people described in today’s readings who alienate themselves from the Lord and from our doing good for others.
Resolve: I shall say some prayers today for those religious communities of women and men where the Blessed Eucharist is given special attention and that the membership in them may increase.