During the summer months, the Diocese of Bridgeport will be sharing homilies from pulpits all over Fairfield County in an effort to showcase our diversity and our communities of faith.
This week’s guest homilist is Father Cyrus Bartolome from Assumption Parish in Westport.
One of the main roads in the city of Rome that connects the Basilica of St. John Lateran to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore is called Via Merulana. It is very famous because every year it is the road that used by the Pope to do a grand procession, a Eucharistic procession. He will celebrate Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran , and then will have a big procession towards Santa Maria Maggiore to do the Benediction. And on that road, it is basically a hill, one of the main hills in Rome, Equiline Hill. There is a dip in the middle of that road, and then you go up towards Santa Maria Maggiore.
One day when I was still a seminarian, my first time in Rome, a good priest friend of mine invited me to join the Eucharistic procession. And it’s wonderful because he said to me, during the middle of the procession, “Look behind you.” Remember, we’re going down and now we’re going up. “Look behind you. “It is interesting because why is this good priest friend of mine saying, look behind you?
Because once you look behind you, you’ll see a vast people up in the hill and going down, holding candles, joining the procession, worshiping the Eucharistic Lord, while the Pope is praying earnestly during that procession.
The Gospel account that we just heard today reminds us of the generosity of God and also trusting in God. The gospel mentioned to us the feeding of the 5,000 people from the five barley loaves and two fish. If we deeply think or meditate on that Gospel account, we see that the good Lord is always inviting us to join him in a wonderful way. It is the Eucharistic gift that the good Lord is giving us the Eucharistic banquet that the Lord is inviting us to join in.
As we all know here in our country, there is this Eucharistic revival going on in Indianapolis to remind us of the presence of God in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and how the good Lord is offering himself to us in the form of bread, in the form of wine to receive him, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, in the Sacrament. Unfortunately, there are so many of our brothers and sisters in Christ, in the Church, outside the Church, in our country, and some parts of the world who do not believe in the real presence of the Lord. As we all know, a few years ago, there was a big survey that happened in the United States, and one of the questions is about the Eucharistic presence or the Eucharistic belief in the Church, and how there’s so many of our brothers and sisters Christ who do not believe anymore in the Eucharistic Lord.
Why? There’s so many reasons why, but I don’t want to bore you with so many reasons. But one thing that we have to remind us, all of us, in our reflection, in our prayer, is that the Lord is always present in the tabernacle. The Lord is always here wanting to invite us. The feeding of the 5,000 with the five loaves of bread … and two fish really instill in us the value of the Eucharist in our life.
The generosity of God is always being offered to us, but in order for us to receive that generosity, we have to trust in the Lord. Actually, if we will look and reflect in the Gospel account, that the generosity of the boy who gave the five loaves and two fish, even though he knows that he’s giving away all that he has, because he believes, because he trusts in the Lord.
And in that trust and generosity, there is this multiplication of the Eucharistic bread, the Eucharistic Lord. In this world, we are surrounded there so many things that hinder us in seeing God in our lives. Yes, there are some crosses to bear. Yes, there are some challenges that we have to face, but one thing that we have to remember is that once again, the generosity of God is being offered to us. We have to trust in the Lord, just like those people at the procession in, in Indianapolis. There are so many priests, religious bishops, and also many of our brothers and sisters in Christ came from all around the United States to celebrate, to renew, to believe, and to proclaim the Eucharistic Lord.
As you remember a few months ago, we had an opportunity to welcome and be part of that eucharistic procession coming from (New Haven). And as they went on to Indianapolis, we had an opportunity to show our faith in the Eucharistic Lord. We had an opportunity to pray the vespers and to have that blessing, that Eucharistic blessing, the Benediction here in our church. It’s a wonderful gift. It’s a wonderful blessing.
Just like those people, once again, joining that procession in Via Merulana, holding their candles, worshiping the Lord, proclaiming the Eucharistic Lord. Along with so many people, we too are being invited to proclaim the Lord, to worship the Lord in the Eucharist, and to live the Lord in our lives. In a few moments, Jesus is coming to us once again in the Eucharist. We are going to be the temples of the Holy Spirit. We are the tabernacles of the Lord. We become what we eat as the Church proclaim the good Lord is inviting us to receive him worthily wholeheartedly, and with faith and conviction.
