June 19, 2022 - Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

This week’s Monastery Lectio, June 19th, will be our last. We began this journey at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ash Wednesday, February 26, 2020, when churches across the world closed their doors for the health and safety of their congregations. The mission of Monastery Lectio was for followers to read, reflect, and pray with us, using the liturgical readings, all from the comfort and safety of their own home. Although we continue to face the challenge of living with the coronavirus, many of our readers have returned to attending Mass in-person at their local parish.

We feel that the mission of Monastery Lectio has come to its completion, but we hope that you will continue to pray and reflect with us. We want to thank all of you for your support and dedication to reading our weekly lectio. We hope that it brought you joy and peace and that it helped you through these difficult times. Thank you, again, and please know that you all remain in our prayers.

“You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110

Readings

Book of Genesis 14:18-20

First Letter to the Corinthians 11:23-26

Luke 9:11b-17

Reflection

by Sister Jane Hibbard, SNJM

Bread and wine, the celebration of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ!

Jesus leaves us with the most accessible of gifts to feed our hearts and lives.

He invites us to community, to sharing in the life and mission he began and meeting with our sisters and brothers in this simple but profound act of presence.

Eucharist means thanksgiving. So we come to the celebration of Eucharist in humility and trust, asking for healing and grace for the journey of our lives. And we do this in communion with our brothers and sisters who are with us. In our Gospel today, Jesus feeds the multitudes. Eucharist is the gift that keeps on giving. When we come to the church, we are ready to receive forgiveness and grace. That is all that is required. We say with Genevieve Glen, OSB: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come to the place where I live, my inner world. It’s really not a fit place for you. It’s a mess.” We open ourselves to the healing of forgiveness at the beginning of each liturgy.

Then we listen to the word of God, bless the gifts of bread and wine and receive the Body and Blood of Jesus…….grace upon grace for the journey ahead. “Jesus comes to us in communion in all his power as the crucified and risen one whose one object is to heal whatever is holding us back from fullness of life. The Lord just wants to hear us say: Please, come in!” (Genevieve Glenn, OSB) Our God will clean up the mess and grace us to go on.

What an incredible gift we take part in when we celebrate the Eucharist. As Pope Francis says: “Jesus gives us the greatest sacrament in a humble gesture of giving and of sharing.” Eucharist is not a reward; it is food for the journey. We are invited to go forth and be Eucharist in loving service to our brothers and sisters. So simple and yet so assessible and so profound. With Pope Francis, we pray: “Give us the courage to go outside of ourselves and bend down with love toward the fragileness of others, as God does with us. This is the logic of the Eucharist: we receive Jesus who loves us and heals our fragileness in order for us to love others and assist them.”

Be with the mystery. Come to the table. Let our God heal and nourish your life and get ready to be Eucharist for others and be ready for heaven.

From the Rule of St. Benedict

“Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God, and our ears to the voice from heaven….” Prologue v. 9

Gospel Acclamation

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven, says the Lord; whoever eats this bread will live forever.” John 6:51