Browsing Pastor's Notes

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Welcome back to Deacon José Carlos Neri. Deacon José was with Holy Family on Wednesdays and some weekends last year, so he’s no stranger to our parish. He visited Catholics at Green Valley Nursing Home and assisted in the RCIA process. He was ordained to the Order of Deacon in April. He is in his last year of seminary formation at St Meinrad in preparation for Ordination to the Priesthood on 03 June 2023 and then ministry in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. As part of that final preparation, Deacon José will be proclaiming the Gospel and opening the Word for us with his preaching a couple times this fall and next spring. Please pray for him, encourage him, and support him during this important last year of formation.


In my recent Chaplain’s Column to the local Knights of Columbus, I shared the following 10 practices for the men to begin a personal Eucharistic Revival in themselves and in their families. I thought they were worth sharing with my parish family so we could all rediscovery Him who is the Source & Summit of our Faith.

10 Personal Practices to Participate in the Eucharistic Revival

  1. Pray for an increase in devotion, belief, fervor, and hunger for Jesus Christ truly, really, sacramentally present in the Eucharist. The heart of this Eucharistic Revival is a personal encounter with Christ who calls us from within the Church.
  2. Go to Sunday Mass with your whole family. Lead your spouse, your children, (grandchildren) to a Eucharistic Encounter with Jesus Christ. Lead your family in True Worship of God as God asked to be Worshiped.
  3. Arrive 10 to 15 minutes early before Mass to pray and prepare yourself for the Eucharistic Encounter. You might pre-read the Mass readings to prepare the soil of your soul to receive the Living Word in the Mass.
  4. When the Eucharistic Host and Chalice are elevated during the Eucharistic Prayer, bow your head in reverence, and pray the words of St Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” Outward expressions shape interior dispositions; just as interior thoughts give meaning to outward expressions. We must know, love, and serve the Lord in thought, word, and deed.
  5. Remain with Christ in thanksgiving for 3-5 minutes after the Mass. Jesus Christ remains in you in a particular and profound way in the Eucharist within your own body just after receiving Holy Communion. You are never as close to Christ as when He is with you in the Eucharist. Make known your joys, struggles, gratitude, needs to Him.
  6. Make a Good Confession so as to be able to receive the Blessed Sacrament in the State of Grace. Intentionally receiving when properly prepared & disposed, will, in fact, increase your intimate union & communion with Christ by removing those barriers that sin makes present within us and raises our awareness & intentionality of so great an encounter. If you are not in the State of Grace, refrain from receiving the Eucharist, even when you are Mass until you make use of the Sacrament of Confession. While Catholics are expected to attend the Holy Sacrifice of Mass each Sunday, we are not bound or expected to receive the Eucharist each Sunday. In fact, it is more holy to refrain if we are know that we are not in the State of Grace and thereby prevent a sacrilege of receiving unworthy, than to receive in the state of grave sin.
  7. Make time to spend in adoration monthly, if not weekly. Numerous parishes in the New Albany Deanery offer times of formal Adoration throughout the week. And even if not Exposed in the Monstrance, prayer before Christ in the Tabernacle will change you.
  8. Pray for the priest who gave you your First Holy Communion. As an adult, have you ever paused to think of the tremendous gift he first provided you. Then, pray for the priest making possible the Holy Communion you will receive this coming Sunday. Priests need prayers. They are confronted by the ordinary trials and temptations of life like any person, and so priests, like all people, need prayers. But priests, in a special way, are primary targets for the evil one. The evil one knows that to lead a priest astray weakens not just the priest, but all those to whom the priest will serve.
  9. Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Eucharist (Paragraphs 1322 to 1419)
    <https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P3W.HTM>
  10. Watch an educational video series to expand your Eucharistic knowledge and spur devotion. I would suggest: “Presence: The Mystery of the Eucharist” or “Lectio: Eucharist with Dr. Brant Pitre” both free to you on Formed.org
  11. Visit the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops website on the Eucharist Renewal. Sign-up and read the weekly email update to keep this revival alive in your Faith life. <https://www.eucharisticrevival.org>.

 

+ Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God. +

Holy Family, Saintly Father, Blessed Mother, Divine Son, Pray for us.

~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries

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