Loyalty is a quality we value highly. We want our friends to be loyal. We expect our families to be. We hope for some modicum of reliability from bosses or employees. In fact, every meaningful relationship involves loyalty to be viable.
“Fear no one,” Jesus says. Not long after, he nuances this command: Fear only the one who can destroy the soul along with the body. Soul killing may sound esoteric, but it’s pretty common nowadays. At times it feels like someone has murdered the soul of America while no one was looking.
“Lo, the angel’s food is given!” So we sing in today’s special sequence. On this feast of Christ’s Body and Blood, we recapture the wonder of what has become commonplace for so many of us: the reality that the Kingdom banquet is set before us, and we’re invited to come forward to this table.
An elderly man confided to his priest the secret of his answered intercessions. “I always pray to the Faddah, the Son, and the Muddah!” As Trinities go, this one is hard to beat. Though we might quibble about terms, envisioning God as divine family is both accurate and helpful.
Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come, Holy Spirit! The title of today’s sequence, to be sung after the Second Reading and before the Gospel Acclamation, is an exuberant reminder of this robust and active feast we celebrate.
When athletes in racing, basketball, or other sports leave the ground even for a few seconds, they are said to “catch air.” Especially when it comes to basketball, most of those players have a higher perspective than the rest of us who are only walking around!
How do we know what time it is? The clock on the wall gives us one answer. Then the moment passes, and we’re obliged to look again for a new answer shortly.
Jesus offers his followers the promise of a rare gift at the Last Supper: a Spirit of Truth. But what is truth? Most of us are a little hard on the Roman governor of Palestine when he asks this question of Jesus during his trial.
Nearing 60, I’m ever more reluctant to change. Yet time is change. If events were frozen, time itself would lose all meaning. This makes the Chinese curse that wishes chaos on an enemy—“May you live in interesting times”—ironic.
Sometimes it feels like a huge sign ought to be posted in every window around the world: “LEADERS WANTED.” Such a sign might hang in businesses and city halls, in schools and in churches—everywhere leadership is needed and its absence keenly felt. But leadership alone can lead to dangers worse than mere chaos.