Jun 12 2024 4 mins
Thursday 10th week in ordinary time "Mt 5:20-26"
"I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven…if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." We can't approach the Altar of Sacrifice in any old way. To be ready to participate in the Sacrifice of the Altar we need first to be 'reconciled'. St Paul was very clear when he explained to the first Christians that "whoever eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord" and so he invited them to "examine" themselves first, because "any one who eats and drinks without discerning the Body eats and drinks judgement upon himself." (1Co 11:27-29) In April 390 Emperor Theodosius sent his army to Thessalonica to crush a revolt. The Roman soldiers slayed seven thousand people without trial, innocent and guilty alike. According to historian Theodoret, when the emperor, accompanied by his court, tried to enter the Milanese cathedral to attend Mass, the bishop St Ambrose rebuked the emperor and forbade him to attend the Holy Mass until he repented and did penance. Theodoret explains that Theodosius "had been brought up according to divine words and understood well": he could do nothing but return "weeping and sighing" to the palace. Receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin is a sacrilege that demands reparation. The Angel of Fatima asked the three children to say this prayer in reparation: "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And by the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners." Holy Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, increase my love for Our Lord really present in Holy Communion and teach me to make reparation for sacrileges against the Eucharist.
"I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven…if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." We can't approach the Altar of Sacrifice in any old way. To be ready to participate in the Sacrifice of the Altar we need first to be 'reconciled'. St Paul was very clear when he explained to the first Christians that "whoever eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the Body and Blood of the Lord" and so he invited them to "examine" themselves first, because "any one who eats and drinks without discerning the Body eats and drinks judgement upon himself." (1Co 11:27-29) In April 390 Emperor Theodosius sent his army to Thessalonica to crush a revolt. The Roman soldiers slayed seven thousand people without trial, innocent and guilty alike. According to historian Theodoret, when the emperor, accompanied by his court, tried to enter the Milanese cathedral to attend Mass, the bishop St Ambrose rebuked the emperor and forbade him to attend the Holy Mass until he repented and did penance. Theodoret explains that Theodosius "had been brought up according to divine words and understood well": he could do nothing but return "weeping and sighing" to the palace. Receiving Holy Communion in a state of mortal sin is a sacrilege that demands reparation. The Angel of Fatima asked the three children to say this prayer in reparation: "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore You profoundly, and I offer You the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifferences by which He is offended. And by the infinite merits of His most Sacred Heart and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg the conversion of poor sinners." Holy Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, increase my love for Our Lord really present in Holy Communion and teach me to make reparation for sacrileges against the Eucharist.