SAFCAM Communique #55 - English

SAFCAM Communique #55            05/06/2021         

Dear Subscribers

Happy feast of Corpus Christi, the celebration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Body and Blood of Christ.

Some celebrated that on Thursday; the rest of us celebrate it this weekend.

Two years ago, a ‘Pew’ survey reported that only one third of USA catholics believe in the real presence. I wonder if we surveyed our catholic students or parishioners, what the % would be.

We cannot take it for granted that our communicants believe in the real presence, and we need to keep encouraging the faithful to grow in understanding and love for the blessed sacrament.

Organic food adverts and healthy diet promos often use the slogan - "You are what you eat!" Well I believe it is most appropriate in the case of communion. Yes, we are called, we are challenged, to become what we receive, what we eat! To not just receive, but to become the body of Christ, a healthy active limb of that body. At the same time, it contains and provides the energy, the booster we need to answer that challenge positively. We seem to find it so hard to grasp the idea that we, altogether, the whole church, are meant to be the body of Christ: that we are bone of Jesus' bone, flesh of his flesh. That the words "This is my body" at mass includes everyone present!

The mystery of the eucharist, like the mystery of God, is so immense there is no way we can ever exhaust all that it encompasses; we are always just beginning to grasp its meaning, as giving and receiving, life and death, birth and resurrection, sacrifice and thanksgiving, unification of God and creature and of creature with fellow creature, and of the past, present and future all merging into the present moment, the NOW of God.

We have heard and we sympathise I'm sure with the feminine cry: "You guys only love me for my body!" I can empathise with what must be the cry of Jesus to us all: "The trouble with you Christians, my dear followers, is that you really only love me without my body!" He probably is pleading with us: "I don't want you just to love me for what I did 2000 years ago. I don't want you just to love me for my mind, for my words of wisdom in the gospel. I don't want to be loved only by your mind. I don't want you to love me only in spirit. I want you to love the whole me with the whole of you! I want you to love my body; that is,  your community, your family, your fellow believers, the young people in need, the poor; and it is your passionate enthusiasm in being bodied with me through them that I desire most.

And the eucharist cannot be separated from life and from comm-unity. As our lives flow towards it daily, it must flow out from it too. Sadly, I think we have to admit that our eucharistic celebration is often an event separated from the rest of our daily life; an act of genuine piety perhaps but with not enough influence on the rest of daily life. Christ shares himself with us so that we might in turn share ourselves with others.

June  

- For the LGBT movement, June is Gay-pride month; for us this is the month of devotion to the Sacred Heart!

It sometimes seems to have become superseded by devotion to the Divine Mercy! Really there need be no contest between the two; both are all about the love of Jesus for us and our call to trust in him.

- This month, the focus of our prayer intentions, both in our Salesian Family and in the Universal Family of the church, is for those preparing for marriage. We invest so much in the preparation of religious and priestly vocations. We cannot neglect the vocation of marriage which is suffering an even greater crisis than that of consecrated life!  (For some inspiring resources, visit: www.messyfamilyproject.org and    www.communio.org )

Recommended postings on SAFCAM.ORG:

- Among many other recent postings, see the article regarding the marriage of Boris Johnson with his long-term girlfriend, Carrie Symmonds, which made the international news, but is also upsetting some Brits. This development could have long-term impacts on the future of the catholic faith in England!

- Also, the posting about the significant revision of Chapter VI of canon law.

Recommended viewing:

https://youtu.be/a_Ld9Azsodk - Does the church hate gays? If not, why does it not recognise same sex marriage? – a 55minute talk by Jason Evert which explains very well why, by defining what marriage and parenthood really is and entails.

Instead of offering a multitude of links, we recommend searching, and even subscribing to the following channels on YouTube:  ‘Manny Gonzales’ ; ‘Ascension Presents’ for some excellent spiritual content ; and to ‘Kimi Kamiti’ who is a remarkable 20-something South African now living in the confusion of USA wokeness, but able to free herself from Cancel-culture, CRT (critical race theory) and woke-mindsets.

Have a great week and celebration of the Sacred Heart on Friday!

(Camiel and) François