Pause for Prayer: FRIDAY 5/31

This weekend we celebrate feast of Corpus Christi, or as it's know known, The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.  To help us prepare for this celebration, our prayer this morning begins with some words from Saint Augustine (Sermon no. 272) where he says clearly that in the Eucharist we become - indeed that we are - what we receive: the Body of Christ...

What you see is simply bread and a cup 

    - this is the information your eyes report. 

 

But your faith demands far subtler insight: 

    the bread is Christ's body, 

    the cup is Christ's blood. 

 

Faith can grasp the fundamentals quickly, succinctly, 

    yet it hungers for a fuller account of the matter. 

As the prophet says, 

    Unless you believe, you will not understand.

So, how can bread be his body?

And what of the cup?
How can it (or what it contains) be his blood?"

My friends, these realities are called sacraments 

    because in them one thing is seen, 

        while another is grasped. 

 

What is seen is a mere physical likeness; 

    what is grasped bears spiritual fruit. 

 

So now, if you want to understand the body of Christ, 

    listen to the Apostle Paul speaking to the faithful: 

        You are the body of Christ, member for member.

 

If you, therefore, are Christ's body and members:

    it is your own mystery that is placed on the Lord's table,

    it is your own mystery that you are receiving! 

 

You are saying Amen to what you are: 

    your response is a personal signature, affirming your faith. 

 

When you hear "The body of Christ,"

    you reply Amen.

Be a member of Christ's body, then, 

    so that your Amen may ring true! 

Help me believe, Lord,

    that I truly meet and receive you 

in the wisdom and words of the scriptures,

        in the Bread and Cup of your altar...

Help me believe, Lord,

    that you're truly present and by my side,

in the lives of my brothers and sisters,

    in the praise and thanks we give you...

Help me believe, Lord,

    that you truly live in my heart and my soul, 

in my thoughts, my words and my deeds,

    in my faith and my hope in your presence...

 

Help me believe, Lord,

    that I am a member of your Body,

    that my own mystery is placed on your Table,

    that my own mystery is one

        with the Mystery I receive, the mystery that is you...

 

Amen.

 

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