Sunday, August 21
Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time
“Go out to all the world and tell the Good News.”
Reflection
As I return to the seminary this weekend I’m struck by the words of our readings, which again and again focus on the incredible breadth of the Church and God’s universal call. We hear in our first reading: “Thus says the LORD...I come to gather nations of every language.” And later: “...They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations…”
Growing up, I enjoyed the experience of encountering new people through church. It was and is always a joy to go to Mass in a new place or community and meet people who, while strangers, are also closely united to you and I by our common faith. What a profound reality! To think that we have been praying for each other every Sunday and joined together through our partaking of the Eucharist for years and years!
Of course, alongside the joy of meeting new people comes the bittersweet experience of saying goodbye - even if only temporarily - to new friends and fellow parishioners. I am certainly sad to say goodbye to you all as I depart from Holy Cross for another semester, and as I prepare for a new parish assignment next year.
Yet the Eucharist also offers a great consolation for saying goodbye as well. As a friend taught me back in college, “we are always united in the Eucharist.” What an incredible gift! And it is very true - in the Eucharist you and I are united, along with the Church throughout the world, and indeed all the faithful, even the faithful departed. I invite you to reflect on this great gift of unity that we find in the Eucharist. Each time you receive the Eucharist pray for those who are near to your heart, even if physically they are far away.
Certainly you will be in my prayers and heart when I am at Mass in Washington, and indeed wherever the Lord leads me. Through the Eucharist, we are never truly separated, because the Lord Jesus draws us together in himself:
“And people will come from the east and the west and from the north and the south and will recline at table in the kingdom of God.” (from today’s Gospel)
God bless,
Dc. James Buttner
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