2 July 2017

By Stefania Caterina and Fr. Tomislav Vlašić

Father Tomislav: Dearest Brothers and Sisters; on 1 July we have remembered the old feast, that is, the solemnity of the Most Precious Blood of Christ. Today we want to offer this Holy Mass in reparation for all the sins against the Most Precious Blood of Christ. We want to venerate it and ask for forgiveness for the profanation of our life, for the profanation of the Earth which is takes place in front of our eyes every day.

As Christians we often remember the miracles Jesus did. In yesterday’s Liturgy we heard about a great miracle: God promised Abraham and old Sarah a son saying that all is possible for God.[1] In today’s first reading we find something similar: the prophet Elisha promised the woman of Shunem, who was barren, to have a son.[2] The promise was fulfilled by the Lord. I would like us to see ourselves in this example: our fruitless life, our failures, feelings of bitterness, revenge and hate; all the emptiness in us. In His omnipotence God can make everything good again; He can fill us with grace beyond all measure so that our lives may be fulfilled and realized.

St. Paul also said that in his letter to the Romans[3]: “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”As Jesus resurrected through the glory of the Father, we too can get our life back and live a new life. We can live our life until reaching the fullness of life, but not only in this life on Earth but “we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him”. Do we believe that we will also live with Him, resurrected and new? This is the invitation of God to participate to the life of Christ so that we may live happily with Christ in this life and have certain hope to live in eternity; yet, we have to look at another aspect: how does the omnipotence of God express itself in us?

Let’s go back to the first reading of the second book of kings: “One day Elisha went to Shunem. And a well-to-do woman was there, who urged him to stay for a meal. So whenever he came by, he stopped there to eat. She said to her husband, ‘I know that this man who often comes our way is a holy man of God. Let’s make a small room on the roof and put in it a bed and a table ….’” etc. That woman sensed the presence of a messenger of God; she felt the holiness of God and began to serve the man who brought the holiness of God.

Jesus has come in our midst; He has given His Most Precious Blood for us. In the Blood poured out on the Earth He poured out His Life; He communicated the holiness of the Father; He communicated the glory of the Father. How come that humanity is distancing itself from Him? We can see it every day and in different ways even though we, Christians, read and proclaim the signs He accomplished in the Gospel. Yet, He is alive in the midst of us, ready to offer Himself to the Father at any time to wash away our dirtiness, our sins, to regenerate and resurrect us; however, humanity does not recognize this holiness. It does not even recognize the need for an eternal life, a life similar to God. This is collective suicide, spiritual suicide. The Most Precious Blood of Christ is forgotten; it is despised.

Therefore today’s Gospel[4] reminds us. Of what does it remind us? Of the omnipotence of God in our favour; it becomes useless if we do not welcome it. Jesus is in our midst and teaches us: “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.” In order to understand the omnipotence of God that put itself at our disposal to regenerate us and make us live happily in the fullness of life on Earth with all its trials and difficulties and to reach eternal life it is necessary to get away from all the elements that make us slaves of our life. Jesus is not against our parents, our brothers and sisters, but, on the contrary, He wants us to have a healthy distance to them. Jesus is not against the enjoyment of life, but He invites us to keep the right distance to prevent pleasure from destroying us and keeping us away from the source of life.

In this time in which the action of the Antichrist becomes stronger every day in various form, which escape our eyes, we are dragged into perdition if we are not open for the Spirit of Christ. We wonder why so many suicides and wars happen. When one finishes, ten others come up in different places of the Earth. How come that despite so much human progress poverty, inequality, slavery and seduction of the masses occurs? And what can we do against it? What we can do is to welcome Jesus Christ, welcome the life He gives us in the way the woman did we have spoken of.

Today the Christians – I say Christians because they recognize Jesus as Lord in words – should ask himself in what way they welcome Jesus. As a Prophet?  Will they receive the reward of a prophet? As a Righteous? As you know, justice is understood as human justice, which is often moral condemnation. But if we want to welcome the full life, we must welcome Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, as the Redeemer of the whole universe; He must be welcomed as a divine Person who introduces us to the divine life. Once we have accepted. Jesus Christ without compromises, He enables us to enjoy the life of God which is omnipotent in us and ensures us eternal life.

Thus, today’s reflection especially wants us to return to love the Eucharist, not like a ritual but with the awareness that the Son of God offers Himself for us to liberate us from any kind of inner slavery: the slavery caused by the life on Earth. He offers Himself to elevate us to the Father; He redeems us with His Blood. Thus, all of us Christians are called to convert, that is, to a conversion in which we welcome Jesus Christ, and one more thing:  that we bring the living Jesus Christ, the fruit of His Most Precious Blood, so that those who are of good will in the world may perceive the saving God. Otherwise we Christians too are dragged down and slide into perdition.

I bless you and scatter the Blood of Christ over all of you who are listening, all those of you who desire salvation; may the Blood of Christ take away all your sins, pave the way for the new heavens and the new earth; in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[1] Saturday of the 12^th week of Ordinary Time, Year-A: Gen 18:1-15

[2] 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A, 2017: 2 Kings 4:8-11; 14-16

[3] Cfr. Rm 6:3-4; 8-11

[4] Cfr. Mt. 10:37-42