33 Days to Eucharistic Glory
The Day 15 reflection focused upon Rest. We are all so very busy; it’s reasonable to think we are also all so very tired. That may or may not be true. Some get life from the same tasks they are ‘busied about.’ Yet, all of us need rest. The Sabbath Day – the seventh day – was instituted by God in the beginning to keep us from exhausting ourselves on our labors. Even when our labors are good ones, we need the reminder that we are more than what we do. We are who we are because we are made in the Image & Likeness of God. We are baptized sons & daughters of the Father. We are loved & redeemed by the Son. We are living temples filled with the Holy Spirit. Yet, if we don’t pause to rest, to rest in God, especially in Mass and on the Sabbath, we will forget. We will forget our very identity, our very selves. We will forget our purpose & goal & destination. We will forget our God, and make ‘gods’ out of our works & pursuits in the world. These 33 Days of reflection and preparation are a call to remember, to live, to be still & know God – I am! Consecrating ourselves to Christ in the Eucharist, reminds us that He is always truly, really present in the Eucharist waiting for you to come Rest in Him.
As we return back to “Ordinary Time” for the next few weeks, it’s worth thinking about how we engage actively in the Mission and Ministry of Christ in our “Ordinary Time” of life. One area came to mind recently. On more than one occasion in my years of ministry, I’ve had a newly homebound person inquire about having someone visit them for both social connection and bringing Holy Communion. From the surface, it is not beyond expectation that the parish would find a way to reach out to members of the parish who find themselves in need for companionship and visits. After all, “Visiting the Sick” is counted among the 7 Corporal Works of Mercy (referenced by Jesus in His description of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46). It is an activity we should be busy about. We have a number of folks who assist in this holy work. Formally, our nearly 20 “Befrienders” make numerous such visits to homebound individuals (if you know someone in need, please let the parish know). We have another 8-10 caring parishioners who make weekly visits at Green Valley Nursing Home and Autumn Woods Nursing Home.
Yet, another challenge comes to mind. Often times, the very same persons requesting a regular visit from a fellow parishioner now, in their time of need, was not necessarily known for having made similar such visits when they themselves were once able. There is a sad irony in this. “I want to be visited”, says the person who was once too busy to visit. I do not say this to shame our homebound sick (some of whom were in fact quite busy visiting & ministering in earlier years) but to bring it to your attention for consideration now. Who will visit you when your day comes? Have you paid it forward before your needing to receive ever arrived? The Church is not structured as a ‘lay away program’ in which we start paying for it now, so we can receive it later. Rather, the Christian ‘structure’ is to give what you have now as a way of responding to Christ call to holiness. While we know we will receive an eternal reward, our ministry and self-sacrifice in Christ is to be its own reward. Yet, we should be attentive to the reality that all of us will have ‘withdraws’ to make in the days or years ahead. As such, we must engage now in storing up those treasures in heaven while we still can. If there is grace & future favorable judgment to be had from Jesus Christ for having visiting the sick (and there is!), when exactly do we think we will do that holy labor? When we have time?!? I tell you, you will only ‘have time’, when you at last have lost your physical independence… and then, then it will be entirely too late. Now is the time, the day to live, to participate, to help, to care, to be Christ to others… long before we will find ourselves in need of others to be Christ to you. In these darker January days, is there someone in your life that needs a visit? And do you indeed need to visit someone to share your Light of Christ in the darkness of these January days?
Nothing Less than saints for the Holy Family of God.
Holy Family, Carrying Christ’s Light to the world, Pray for us.
~ Fr Jeremy M. Gries