Five Ways – Nov 21

November 19, 2021

As we prepare to celebrate Thanksgiving on Nov. 25, let us remember the way each of us is a pilgrim. The Pilgrims who celebrated that first Thanksgiving in 1621
were carrying a long tradition of the word “pilgrim.” We are each part of the Pilgrim People of God, another name for Jesus’ Church, especially explained in Vatican II’s Constitution on the Church.

The US Bishops have just made available the text of “The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church.” Google it on the internet and you will find a marvelous explanation of how Mass, the Lord’s Supper, is already part of the Wedding Banquet of the Lamb. The document has 31 pages, divided into 57 paragraphs. The print is large, widely spaced, and contains very understandable and beautiful teaching about the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

The place of the Holy Spirit stands out, and the way the Eucharist links us to every issue of social justice, especially the unborn, abortion, the elderly and care for the environment (#’s 38-40). Attendance at Sunday Mass is treated not so much as an obligation, but “the fulfillment of our identity. . . .an act of love” (#28).

The 14th-century Orthodox theologian Nicholas Cabasilas is quoted (#24), as is Dorothy Day (#5) and the two recent teen saints Carlos Acutis and Jose Maria Sanchez (#52-53). Every baptized Catholic is strongly urged to be an evangelizer because of the strength the Eucharist gives us (#57). On the Mission-Unity-Dialogue website, www.harrywinter.org, you may be interested in the items on the Oblate Missiologists page, concerning our work with Hmong Catholics in the USA.

Many thanks to all who responded to the Oct.11 e-letter.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Harry Winter, OMI