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Showing posts from August, 2015

CLOSED COMMUNION IS NOT HOLY COMMUNION

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR B August 16, 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Rev. Dcn. David Justin Lynch Proverbs 9:1-6 Psalm 34:2-7 Ephesians 5:15-20 John 6:51-58 +In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.        Receiving communion has always been the most important thing I do.  Throughout my life, I have almost never missed Mass. I have often gone to great lengths to get to Mass. When I was a boy, I often stayed home from family outings and rode the bus to church. I’ve always organized my vacation plans to be sure I was near an appropriate church after scoping them out on the Internet before leaving, and of course, I’ve always arranged for communion to be brought to me when I’m ill. Why do I take the Eucharist so seriously? It is bread from heaven, the   deepest   kind of sustenance humans can receive, the food that nourishes God's life within me.        Last week, we talked about incredible statemen

JESUS: HUMAN AND DIVINE! HOW INCREDIBLE!

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - YEAR B August 09 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Rev. Dcn. David Justin Lynch 1 Kings 19:4-8 Psalm 34:2-9 Ephesians 4:30-5:2 John 6:41-51 + In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN. Sometimes we hear incredible statements that astound us, that are simply not believable based on what we know. We react by thinking the person who made the statements knows more than we do, or is something more than what we are, or we dismiss that person and/or the statement altogether, as simply crazy. In all those situations, we encounter concepts beyond our level of understanding. We don’t know how to react, because we, as human persons, have limitations, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually, no matter how well-educated we are, and no matter how many other people think we have our act together.  Those limitations are a part of the human condition we must accept. Jesus in today’s Gospel proclaims that if

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME  YEAR B August 02, 2015 Saint Cecilia Catholic Community Rev. Dcn. David Justin Lynch Exodus 16:2-4;12-15  Psalm 75:3-4;23-25;54 Ephesians 4:17-24  John 6:24-35 + In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN. Have you ever made bread? I have. One mixes together flour, water, salt, sugar, oil, and yeast to make the dough. One then kneads the dough, shapes it into a loaf, and puts it into a loaf pan, which goes into the oven at a very low temperature to allow the yeast to make the dough rise. The rising takes several hours.  Once the bread is risen, one turns up the temperature in the oven to bake the bread until its done, lets it cool a bit, and then cuts the first slice. Fresh bread, still warm, directly from the oven, tastes like heaven. The process of making bread explains why Jesus is the bread of life. Bread is a common, ordinary food, made from basic ingredients. Jesus, in addition to being our Div