[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, June 19, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ LUKE 9:11b-17 The Lord gives food for our bodies and minds. Prayerthoughts a. The disciples questioned the Lord’s decision to feed the crowd. As I read the Gospels, do I try to understand completely what the Lord is trying to say to me? b. Jesus uses what they have. It is a significant action for my spiritual life. At this time of my life, the Lord will use whatever I can do to be better if we want. Am I open to the Lord’s wishes? c. Jesus uses words that he will use when he institutes the Eucharist for us. Do I try to receive the Lord in the Eucharist often, and then thank him for his gift? d. It is significant that all were satisfied. Am I satisfied with what is given to me? Do I thank the Lord and those who give me what I need? (This is the task of the meditation.) e. There was food left over. The Lord always gives us more than enough to help us in our lives. Do I thank the Lord enough in my prayer? f. My prayerthoughts….   Today, I will make a list of the people for whom I am most thankful, and pray for them and perhaps write them a note or email. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy  THE THEOLOGY OF “JESUS AND WE”   The Catholic family lived next door to the Catholic rectory and the relationship between the pastor and the family was a very good one. The family had a four year old daughter who, as her father said, “mastered the art of talking very well” and was always inquisitive. One day the four year old came over to the rectory with a jar of St. Joseph’s children’s aspirin, gave it to the priest and said, “This is for Jesus because he is sick.” The priest asked, “How do you know that Jesus is sick?” The girl answered, “Daddy said so.”  The priest could not figure that out, so he called the father at work who was very embarrassed about the whole thing and explained it to the priest. The day before at Sunday Mass he had a conversation with his daughter during Mass, and at the same time was trying to keep his daughter quiet. She pointed to the tabernacle, and said, “What is that?” “That is the place where Jesus lives,” the father said. The girl responded: “Can I ask him to come out and play?” “No,” he said, “I don’t think Jesus wants to come out and play today.” “You mean that Jesus doesn’t like me?” she said. “No,” the father replied, “Jesus just doesn’t want to play today.” The little girl replied, “Why doesn’t he, can I go ask him?” “No,” the father said, “You can’t go ask him.” “Why can’t I go ask him” the little girl wanted to know. And the conversation went on like this for a couple of minutes. Finally, quite exasperated, the father said, “Jesus is sick today, he doesn’t want to be disturbed.” Hence, she wanted to give Jesus the aspirins that her parents used to help her when she was sick.           The doctrine of the Eucharist is difficult to explain to our younger people, and it is even more complicated than it at first seems. Today’s Gospel clears it up a little in a comparative way.           In the Gospel today—understood by the early Church in Eucharistic terms—(the same words are used in the institution of the Eucharist), the Apostles had Jesus to themselves, in a sense, and consequently, were thinking to send the others away. It is a statement of what spiritual writers have called the “Jesus and me” theology.             “Jesus and me” theology is easy theology. Applied to the understanding of the Eucharist, “Jesus and me” theology concentrates on the Eucharist as such, as in the second reading (1 Corinthians 11:23-26) today—Paul’s statement about the institution. It is not a theology that is wrong; it is simply not enough. It becomes wrong when it does not move us to become what we should be, that is, good people interested in love of God and neighbor.           Jesus responded to his Apostles when they wanted to send the people away—“No,” he said in effect, “Do not send them away, keep them here”—that is, community is important. He was telling his Apostles that they will bring about community by feeding the people. It is a theology which might be summarized as “Jesus and we” theology. In terms of the Eucharist, the “Jesus and we” theology concentrates on the action of the faith community, of the people who receive the body and blood of Jesus, and what I do in my community after I receive the Lord in Communion.           In a “Jesus and we” theology, we can never receive the Real Presence of Jesus and at the same time hate anyone else or refuse to forgive another or ruin another’s reputation or deliberately be divisive in the church or community or family. The fact is that many times people receive the body of Christ in Communion and do not let it affect the body of Christ next to them in the pew or in the neighborhood.           The little girl in the opening story did not know what the Eucharist was all about, but she knew that Jesus was a person and a friend. If Jesus becomes a person and a friend to us, we will not just “keep him” in the tabernacle of our Churches. We will make him active in our lives.           And maybe even ask him to come out and play with us. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Never Be the Same” — Camila Cabello WE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME The Gospel JOHN 14:1-6 Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be. Where I am going you know the way.” Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Gospelthink: As I told my disciples, so I tell you: I will come back for you, and in the meantime, I am the guide for you. Is it clear by my actions that the Lord is present in my life?

“Something must’ve gone wrong in my brain. Got your chemical all in my veins, feeling all the highs, feeling all the pain. Now I’m seeing red, not thinking straight, blurring all the lines, you intoxicate me, just like nicotine, heroin, morphine. Suddenly, I’m a fiend and you’re all I need. Just one hit of you. I’ll never be the same.”

Camila Cabello’s song “Never Be the Same” is a love song and is intended to be a statement on behalf of the one loved. The man in the relationship is all the lady needs, the woman in the song sings, and, from her point of view, if only she and he could be together for the rest of their lives, their lives would be happy, and “never be the same” as it was before their relationship.  He is so important to her that he will affect the rest of her life. This love song can enable us to turn our minds to a world that is in need of help. As we study the feelings of the lovers, we can ask the question, “What is all we need?” The Christian should answer with the thought of  Scripture, “Jesus is all that we need; he is the way, the truth and the life.” For Jesus to be real, the Christian must truly accept him as the way, truth and life with all that the phrase means. It means that we will never be the same as before we knew him. It means that we Christians will deliberately break the addiction to violence that we have; it means that we will control the pleasure that can get out of hand; it means that we will not allow money to be a god for us; it means that Christians will accept the personal responsibility to change some of their sinful behaviors. After the tragedies that have happened in our world, after the terrorism attacks and the killings in schools, after the retaliatory wars that are initiated, we wonder whether we are recognizing that we have a problem. The problem may be simply that we are lost and that we have accepted no direction from anyone besides ourselves. Every Christian must acknowledge that Jesus and what he has given to us is the solution. He really is the way, the truth and the life. He is “all that we need.” Love songs can easily teach us how to look at our world. As lovers realize what each of them mean to each other, they understand that each will have a noticeable affect on how each of them thinks. They are guided by their love. When a Christian looks at the world, and they are guided by the love that they have for the Lord, the world will change and never be the same as before they knew about him.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, as we study the love songs of our day, may we learn that Your Son has shown us Your love and therefore we can never be the same once we know You. Your Son is the truth that we accept. It is His life that we should imitate. Help us see that we must accept Him totally into our lives. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: When a person is important to us, that person will have an effect on us.   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. In your opinion, have most Christians honestly chosen Jesus as the way, the truth and the life? Yes or no and why? 2. What do most couples need in a loving relationship? 3. In our past, what are some things that affect the rest of our lives? 4. What does the world need most? 5. How does a Christian bring the teaching of Jesus to the world? 6. In your opinion, will the world ever accept completely the teaching of Jesus? Why or why not? 7. What does the song “Never be the Same”  teach young people?