Co-creating the body of Christ

The nuptial aspect of the Mass, and the Eucharistic aspect of the sacrament of marriage, became clear to me all of a sudden last Sunday. The priest's prayer over the gifts 'that they may become the Body of Christ' has an extended resonance in Mass celebrated facing West, suggesting also the transsubstantiation of the faithful into the 'body of Christ' in its other, ecclesial sense.

But for the first time it really struck me how this relates to the procreative marital act. Sex is holy precisely because it builds up, co-creates, the body of Christ. There is an intimate link then between that nuptial, procreative mystery on the altar, and the faithful, Eucharistic and priestly action of the married Christian couple in the marital embrace.

All the more reason then for married couples to remain faithful to the sacrament they share, lest the purity of their sexual love becomes adulterated; and for priests for their part to say Mass with a devout spousal love for the Church and a fatherly love for the children they raise for God through the sacraments.

A flood of grace during Benediction

Yesterday at Benediction I experienced a remarkable grace. As I looked up, the priest moved his arm downwards for the first part of the Benediction with such deliberate gravity that I was deeply moved, suddenly sensing inwardly the astounding reality of the Incarnation and of its continuation through the Sacrament held in blessing over me.

As the priest continued the motion to complete the sign of the cross, I further intuited how the suffering represented by the completed symbol of the cross is the completion of that first movement of God in the Incarnation.

All this in a moment which left me deeply moved and so flooded with grace that I was suddenly warm all over and had to remove my coat.

How extraordinary are God's graces that come to us when we least expect them and through the most unlikely means!

The Rosary: the world in your hands

 As you pray the Rosary, hold each bead gently but firmly, remembering that you are holding the whole world in your fingertips. Consider that within that tiny globe is the fate of all mankind, for good or for ill. For just as the sin of one became the sin of all, so does the faithful love of one become the salvation of all.
So pray with attentiveness and do not fear 'evil news' (psalm 112).