Sermon Cloud

Beginning this past Tuesday, Catholics in our diocese are welcoming the Ark of the New Covenant, a replica of Noah's Ark which is adorned with a number of Icons. The Ark is crossing our diocese this week, and will continue to other points West in the coming months, before returning to Quebec City in time for the 49th International Eucharistic Congress which will take place there next summer.

On Thursday and Friday, the Ark was in the Sudbury area. A number of parishes hosted a variety of activities, and masses were celebrated at Ste-Anne-des-Pins on Thursday evening and at Our Lady of Hope on Friday evening. Bishop Plouffe presided at these two Eucharistic celebrations and reflected on the importance of the Eucharist in our spiritual lives.

Catholics are Eucharistic people - we identify first and foremost with the Mass and the Eucharist so it is fitting that we should take some time to reflect on and deepen our appreciation for this most precious gift.

The disciples who were present at the Last Supper were somewhat confused when Jesus told them that simple gifts of bread and wine had been transformed into his body and blood. We too might be confused at this news, because the bread and wine don't actually change shape, form or substance. However we believe that they truly become the body and blood of Christ, food for our spiritual journey through life.

We might be tempted to think that this food should be given in abundance, since God's grace is given infinitely to us through this sacrament, but in this case, less is more: a simple wafer of bread is enough to spark our prayerful union with God, and to feed us on our pilgrim way because Jesus is fully present in that little host which speaks with more conviction than the many other voices of modern-day society which vie for our attention.

One of the consequences of listening to the voices of this world is that we are tempted at times to believe in the individualism that is often promoted, and the resulting tendency to believe that we are in control of our lives and that when tragedies occur, to blame others for the difficulties we face. Some people in today's gospel passage tried to assign blame to Pilate and to the Galileans (Lk 13:1-2) but Jesus turns their focus away from laying blame and exhorts them instead to repent for their own sins and to recognize the gift of forgiveness that is offered.

Our God is infinitely patient with us, waiting for us to come back to him. Like the gardener who urged the landowner to be patient, waiting yet another year for his fig tree to bear fruit (Luke 13:8-9), God waits for us to turn away from our sinful ways, and to recognize that even in the midst of trial, he is always near to us, offering us simple but profound gifts - bread and wine which are his body and blood, the living presence of our Creator who shares our pains and sorrows, and who is the source of our joys and celebrations.

When we realize the depth of love and forgiveness offered by our God in the Eucharist, our reaction is much like Moses in today's first reading (Ex 3:5), 'remove your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground'. Let us be courageous enough to remove from our lives all that separates us from our God, so that we too can acknowledge the extraordinary privilege that is ours, and stand proudly on the holy ground that is our life in faith.