June 14, 2023

By Father William Muench
NCC columnist

As I was preparing to celebrate Mass this morning, I considered the wonderful, even powerful feast days that our Catholic Church liturgy is celebrating these days. As Church, we celebrate a feast day in honor of the Holy Trinity; we celebrate a feast day in honor of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi); we celebrate a feast day in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The Feast of the Holy Trinity is a feast day in honor of God. I know every Mass is a celebration in honor of God. This feast day of the Holy Trinity celebrates and makes us recognize that our God is a Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. We celebrate the Holy Trinity each time we make the Sign of the Cross. Theologically, we know the meaning of the Holy Trinity is not easily understood; the Holy Trinity is a mystery for us.

Yet, we, Catholics, still know a great deal about God. This is the message of Jesus we continue to find in the Gospels. Jesus tells us a great deal about God the Father. Jesus makes it clear that God loves us all unconditionally. God the Father is forgiving and loving. Jesus demonstrates to us that he, the Son, was sent by the Father to save us, not condemn us. Jesus comes to live with us, to die for us, to rise again to lead us to a new life. In love, the Father and the Son send the Holy Spirit to empower us. The Holy Spirit comes to us all in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation to lead and guide.

The Feast of the Holy Trinity brings us the message of God’s great love for us all. Jesus commissioned the apostles to bring the Good News of God’s love for us all, to baptize all in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We also celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. At the Last Supper, the Lord Jesus instituted this sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We believe in faith that Our Savior Jesus is truly present in the Blessed Eucharist. On this Feast Day of Corpus Christi, we, Catholics, have a unique opportunity to proclaim and celebrate in gratitude this most important sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. In faith, we believe that at each Mass, the priest, through his ordination, consecrates the bread and wine into the Blessed Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Our Lord, Jesus Christ – bringing to us the Lord’s love in Holy Communion.

In addition, our prayer in the presence of the Blessed Eucharist – properly exposed on the altar in the Blessed Monstrance – is an exceptional opportunity to unite ourselves closer to the Lord. This is a transformative prayer, bringing Our Lord Jesus into our lives – guiding us in all that we do.

The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – this feast celebrates in a deeper way the great love that the Lord Jesus has for all of us. St. Margaret Mary brought to Our Church an image of Jesus with his actual physical heart visible on his chest, emphasizing and reminding us of the great love of the Lord, his unconditional love for us all, demonstrated through his suffering and death on the cross. Each time we see this Sacred Heart, we are called to a deeper love for others as Jesus taught us.

Each time we celebrate these feasts of our Church, we celebrate God’s great love for us all – God’s love for us as Trinity, God’s love for us in the Blessed Eucharist and God’s love for us as visible in the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Each feast day, of our Church calls upon us to be a loving, caring people -demonstrated by our love for others.