The feast today highlights the central place of the Eucharist in Christian life, our faith that God becomes present in a real way in ordinary bread and wine – food for the journey of life in the bread, energy and joy for the journey of life in the wine, and the wine of the coming of the Lord. Bread and wine were very much part of the ordinary food of the people of his time, and also of their religious life. People would remember the bread in the desert and the wine of the coming of the Lord.  

Each time we come to Mass, we take part in a real way in the death and resurrection of the Lord, The sacrifice of Christ on the cross and his resurrection is ‘made present’ among us. It is a place and time of grace.

So our Eucharist today is not just to commemorate something that happened many years ago. It is our commitment to Christ in his people, and our faith in his real presence among us in the Eucharist and in each other.

Jesus ask us to share the bread and cup, to proclaim this ‘mystery of faith’ for all time. We proclaim today that the Jesus of the tabernacle is the Jesus within all of us. Let’s be amazed that within each of us, God dwells in Jesus Christ.

Recall moments when receiving communion
gave you strength in your life.
Lord, I believe in your presence in the Eucharist.
Strengthen my belief.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J

In the Name

They looked down from heaven – the Father, Son and Holy Spir­it – with love for their people. They could see men and women of all races, colours, ages, faiths, holiness and sin. They knew help was needed for the human race and waited a long time before the time was right.

The word of God, son of God, born before all ages, became one of us. We know the rest of the story. One of the persons of the Trinity became one of us, so that we could become like them. Jesus, Son of the eternal Father, was born, lived and died like us. In death, cruelly murdered and then laid in the tomb, the Spirit became alive in him, and now the Spirit of Jesus and the Father is alive in each of us since baptism.

The life of the Trinity becomes very ordinary in the love, care and forgiveness we offer to each other. It is also there in the ways in which we try to better the lives of the poor, the depressed and the anxious. It’s in how we try to teach a younger generation the best lessons of humanity and faith, and introduce them to this mystery of God. We are active partners in the work of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the world today.

Slowly make the sign of the cross a few times today,
asking to believe in the mystery of God’s love within God and for us.
By the mystery of water and wine in the Mass,
help us, Lord, to share in the divinity of Christ,
who humbled himself to share in our humanity.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J

Spirit Alive

Someone dies and we say he kept his spirit alive to the end; or we say that ‘his spirit lives on’. A word we talk of easily. It’s something elusive, you can’t pin it down. It comes from somewhere. Maybe from parents, a spirit of endurance or being able to make it through tough time; or from our prayer and faith. We talk of good team spirit, or of a person who kept joyful and courageous to the end. Today is the feast of the Spirit of God, alive, active and joyful.

The flame of the Spirit of love is the flame of God. The tongues of fire over the apostles and the followers of Jesus were flames of love, the Spirit of God that would burn on the inside forever. Pentecost is the flame of God’s own love, given to his followers to mark the birth of the community, the body of Jesus, the church.

It is the spirit of forgiveness always, a gift of the first Pentecost. Did this blow in Ireland during the Royal visit of the British queen Elizabeth a few years ago, or  when the Good Friday Agreement and other peace agreements were signed, when the call came for a new reconciliation among people hurt badly in the times of the troubles?

Compassion, mercy, forgiveness and a hope for justice for all, are gifts we ask from the Spirit who blows among us strongly today.

On each inbreath, pray
‘Come, Holy Spirit’,
 live in me and in all of us
as you lived in Mary and the apostles.

Fr Donal Neary, S.J