Covenantal Love

“For this reason he is mediator of a new covenant:
since a death has taken place for deliverance
from transgressions under the first covenant,
those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance.”

Hebrews 9:15

On the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ or “Corpus Christi” we highlight one of the greatest mystery of our faith: the Eucharist. Coming from the Greek word ευχαριστία meaning “thanksgiving,” the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324). The Eucharist is the “Bread of Life,” that which sustains us and nourishes. The Eucharist is Jesus Himself.

At the Last Supper Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to His disciple and took the cup with the wine and said “this is the blood of the covenant.” Covenant. We hear often of covenants in the Old Testament — the covenant God made with Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David. When God gave the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, God made a covenant with the people, saying that they will be His People and He will be their God, their One and Only God. But, as we know the People became unfaithful and fell into sin and idolatry time and again, to the point of being captured by other nations and powers. They forgot about God, but God never forgot about them. God sent prophets to remind the people that God hears them and that He will deliver them from their captors and that they will rejoice once again. Although the Israelites abandoned their covenant with God, God remained faithful and in due time He made it new.

When the fullness of time had arrived, God sent His Son into the world so that all who believed and will come to believe might be saved. God became man and suffered and died, so that just as the blood of the lamb on the doorposts prevented the angel of death from killing the firstborn that first Passover night, so too the blood of the True Lamb of God will save His People from death once and for all. Jesus Christ is the Paschal Lamb that was sacrificed for us so that we who were dead in sin might have life, life eternal. That was the price of God’s love for us, a ransom He willingly paid. We are inheritors of the New Covenant. We who are baptized are given a share of the inheritance of Jesus, and this inheritance of Christ is eternal life, the dare to be co-heirs with Him. But to be co-heirs we must remain steadfast in Christ, and knowing that the world will try to sway us away from our inheritance, He chose to remain with us in a tangible way, a way that reminds us that He is always with us, that He is the source of our lives, and that He seeks to sustain us and nurture us — and that is the Eucharist, the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ Himself. He is the New Covenant, and how blessed are we to be invited to be partakers in His covenant of love.

Watch this week’s reflection below.

Mystery of God

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption,
through whom we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’”

Romans 8:15

As Christians we believe in a Trinitarian God, that is One God, Three Divine Persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have come to know that God is a Trinity through divine revelation — Scripture and Tradition. It is not something that we can test or prove, but rather a mystery that invites us to wonder.

When we ponder the mystery of the Trinity we are really pondering the nature of God. The Trinity exists as a community, a community of Persons. St. Augustine taught that the Father is the Lover, the Son is the Beloved, and the Holy Spirit is the Love that exists within that relationship. Love is only possible within a relationship and a relationship exists only between persons. So, God is a community of Persons who are in relationship with One Another, and this relationship is love. But, this Community of Love is not closed off, but rather God sent His Son into this world so that we too might become partakers in this special relationship.

By virtue of our baptism, we have been made children of God. We have become “heirs and coheirs with Christ,” meaning that whatever the Father gives to the Son, He also gives to us. We have been invited to partake in the very life of God. As such, we have been asked to partake in this life, living out this love in our lives in this world. It is not always easy. It is a choice that we must make every day — to choose love and to choose to see how God sees things, situations, and people, even those whom we do not like, every day. But we know God will give us the grace that we need to do so. That’s part of the mystery of God’s love, too. That He thinks so highly of us that He would call us His children and to love us unconditionally and to sustain us in all that we do and to forgive us and bear with us even when we do the most egregious of things.

May we never forget the great Love that God is and the love with and for which He has created us, and allow that to encourage us to live out our lives, choosing every day to love.

For another Trinity Sunday reflection, click here.

Watch this week’s reflection below.

So Loved By God

First published in 2022 as “Receive the Spirit,” a homily I wrote for Pentecost Sunday.

Happy birthday, brothers and sisters! Today we celebrate Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, the “birthday of the Church.”  On that day something amazing happened. Something that encouraged the early followers of Christ so that they no longer hid in fear but instead boldly proclaimed the Good News of Christ so that all who would listen could be saved.

We hear in the Gospel today that after His Resurrection, Jesus stood in the midst of the Apostles who were hiding from the Jews behind locked doors. There Jesus said to the Apostles, “Peace be with you.” Not words of disappointment or questions about why they ran and left when He was arrested, but simply “Peace be with you.” Not only this but He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” and sends them forth just as Jesus Himself was sent by the Father. Peace and Holy Spirit are what Jesus gave to the Apostles, and that is what Jesus seeks to fill our hearts with today.

In the first reading we can see what this Holy Spirit does. We hear in the Acts of the Apostles how tongues of fire descended upon the disciples and that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, causing something very interesting to happen. There were people present from many different places and who spoke different languages, yet they understood one another. The Holy Spirit brings down all barriers and heals all divisions, and He enables people to go and proclaim boldly the Gospel message.

Have you ever been to another country and went to Mass? Maybe you didn’t understand exactly what was said or what the homily was about, but you knew what was happening, right? It was the Mass. It was the same Jesus. The same Holy Spirit. And the language of this Spirit is something that goes beyond our grammar and syntax, it’s a language of love, a language that speaks to the heart. A language that speaks to where we most need healing, peace, comfort, and rest. It is the language that says “I love you.” It is the language between God and His children. St. Paul reminds us that we have received the Spirit of adoption, and we call God, “Abba, Father.”

Brothers and sisters, we are so loved by God. It was not enough for Jesus to suffer and die on the Cross where He gave up his life and spirit for us on Good Friday. It was also not enough for Jesus to rise from the dead on Easter Sunday. He loved us so much that even after ascending into heaven, 10 days ago, He sends us His Spirit as He has promised so that we might no longer live in fear or doubt or shame or guilt, but rather live in the freedom of the children of God, which we have been made. There is nothing more that can keep us from God. Jesus descended into hell, and broke through the gates of hell triumphantly, and the Holy Spirit broke down the language barriers and the gates that kept our hearts locked. Let us live in the Spirit, let us live in God’s love. Brothers and sisters, Jesus gave us His Spirit so that we might know that we are forever loved and held in the hands of His Almighty Father. Today Jesus says to us, “Peace be with you! Receive my spirit!” Will we be open to and allow the transformative power of God’s love to work within our hearts to cast out all the worries and anxieties that may be weighing on our hearts today? He wants to. Let us let Him. What are those things, brothers and sisters that are heavy on our hearts today? Let us take a moment to bring them to the Father now.

In a short while, the same Jesus who asked the Father to send down His Spirit upon the Apostles on that first Pentecost Sunday will once again be made present to us on this very altar, so that all who chooses to receive may be filled with the peace and the love the Jesus brings.

So indeed, Happy Birthday, brothers and sisters, for today, the Spirit of God has come down upon us, renewing us, strengthening us, inviting us to a new life once again, a life that never ends, a life that is in Christ Jesus, Our Risen Lord.