Message from Canon Kristian

Dear brothers and sisters

This weekend we have the second of our Sundays which have as their focus a foundational teaching, central to the understanding of our Faith as Catholic Christians.  This Sunday we are asked to give particular thanks for, and appreciate in a special way , the immensity of the gift which is the Real Presence of Christ in the Most Holy Sacrament of His Body and Blood.  It is the Holy Eucharist that forms the Church and is the source and summit of her life.  It is through our participation in that same Eucharist and our reception of the Sacred Body and Blood of Christ that we are transformed into the Body of Christ.  In one of his many surviving sermons, St Augustine of Hippo, referring to the reception of Holy Communion, coined the phrase:  “ You become what you receive” (Easter Sermon 227).  As we honour and reverence the Real Presence of Christ in the Sacramental Elements, we are likewise called to reverence and honour the divine presence in ourselves and in others, particularly in those most in need, remembering the words of Jesus at the Judgement in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats:

“In so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me” (Matthew 25:40).

Just as it is through the power and action of the Holy Spirit that the ordinary bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, so it is through our openness to the same power and action in the Eucharist that we can be transformed.  However, this spiritual transformation doesn’t work by magic.  We have to be open and willing to co-operate with the grace of God already at work within us.  This requires us to have the courage to let go of those things – sometimes but not always sinful – which impede our growth and development in the spirit and the courage to allow ourselves,  both as individuals and together as a Church, to be  guided into new and uncharted waters –  or to “put out into the deep” as St John Paul II insisted in his Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte, issued at the close of the Great Jubilee Year 2000, with reference to the invitation of the Jesus to the disciples on shore of the Sea of Galilee (Luke 5:6):

“At the beginning of the new millennium, and at the close of the Great Jubilee during which we celebrated the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of Jesus and a new stage of the Church’s journey begins, our hearts ring out with the words of Jesus when one day, after speaking to the crowds from Simon’s boat, he invited the Apostle to “put out into the deep” for a catch: ‘Duc in altum’ (Lk 5:4). Peter and his first companions trusted Christ’s words, and cast the nets. “When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish” (Lk 5:6). Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Heb 13:8).”

Although over 20 years have passed since St John Paul II wrote this Letter , it is well worth reading it again, as we face the challenge of new beginnings following the pandemic.

This week we will also celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Focus on, and prayer to, the Sacred Heart is another of those devotions which is characteristic of Catholic spirituality and piety, even if it is not so prominent as it used to be in days of yore.  However, June is the month in which Catholics traditionally centre their prayer on the abundant, profligate and unconditional love of God for us and for all his creation, symbolised in the iconography of the burning Heart in the breast of Jesus.  This is an understanding of God which never becomes outdated and so rightly we renew our devotion to the Sacred Heart each year. If you don’t have an image of the Sacred Heart in your home, then this month might be an appropriate time to get one and to put it in a prominent place.  Likewise, you might perhaps add a prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, or even recite the Litany of the Sacred Heart , as part of your daily prayer throughout June.  Whatever  you do, it is important to remember that the extraordinary love of God, expressed in the total gift of Christ for the world through the Cross and Resurrection,  forms the centre and heart of every person and of every family and household.

The meeting of the G7 – the group of the seven nations with the largest advanced economies – will be taking place in Carbis Bay in Cornwall from Friday 11-Sunday 13 June.  This is a unique occasion for our diocese situated down in the South West.  Major issues, such as the state of the world as it starts to emerge from the Covid pandemic and the need to respond concretely to the environmental challenges being posed by climate change, will be amongst the topics of discussion.  It is important that we keep this meeting in our prayers, asking that the Holy Spirit of God will guide the discussions and decisions of these national leaders.  We are invited to join Bishop Mark and other local Faith Leaders in an interfaith service in Truro Cathedral on Thursday, which will be live-streamed.  The details of how to join in are in the Newsletter.

As our parish life begins to open up again slowly, there will be a meeting of the Parish Fundraising Group in the hall next Saturday at 9.30am. This is an important group for our parish; not only does it look at ways of raising much needed funds needed to support our parish community, but it also often plays an important role in organising social gatherings as a way of achieving this aim – and we all know how much we have missed proper social interaction over this last year or so.  This group is open to any parishioner who would like to help with planning our fund-raising activities, so there will be a very warm welcome for any new members who might turn up on Saturday morning.

I am sure the other parish groups that were in operation prior to the onset of Covid will gradually start to re-emerge over the next few months, together with some new ones.  Along with the suggestion in the Newsletter of the possibility of forming a Grandparents Group, given the Bishop’s encouragement in the document A Precious Place of God’s Grace – a document we will have occasion to reflect on together – there will be a need to review the ways we reach out to others outside of our community, whether in terms of evangelisation and the spreading of the Christian message or in terms of social care and social justice.  As always, any ideas you might have would be very gratefully received.

Monika Manser has produced her usual helpful guide to imaginative contemplation on this Sunday’s Gospel (available on the parish site here). You can also read the latest Newsletter of the Diocesan Vicariate for Evangelisation and Catechesis online here and the last Newsletter from St John’s, our parish school can be downloaded here.

I keep you all in my daily prayers.

With every blessing

Canon Kristian