Corpus Christi :
Catholic Christians celebrate this Sunday the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, known as ‘Corpus Christi’; the Sunday after the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. This celebration is a combination of three feasts, namely the feast of the Eucharist as a Sacrifice, the feast of the Eucharist as a Sacrament, and the feast of the Real Presence of Jesus in this Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. This feast is instituted in order to give God collective thanks for Christ’s abiding presence with us in the Eucharist and to instruct us about the mystery, faith, and devotion surrounding the Eucharist; and to teach us to appreciate the great gift of the Holy Eucharist as both a Sacrament and a Sacrifice.
This celebration is a commemoration of the Body broken, and Blood shed years ago for the salvation and redemption of humanity, which is still being continued in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist by providing spiritual food and nourishment. This celebration gives us energy, motivation, wholeness, wellness, and happiness by serving as the food for the spirit to keep us nourished on our daily journey. This broken Body of Christ, still feeds and sustains us spiritually as well as nourish us today and forever.
“Our Nation is one of our greatest gifts. We have to realize this forgotten fact and to acknowledge every day and be thankful to the giver of this beautiful gift.“
However, today when we look around the world, we observe that our world is broken, wounded, and dispirited due to the Covid 19 Pandemic. When we see what is happening in our beloved country, the deaths, agitations, rioting, violence among our brothers and sisters around us, it saddens and sickens our hearts. We are deeply hurt, disheartened, and disappointed. We are now wounded more than any other Nation in the world already due to the enormous number of deaths caused by the Covid19. We cannot take this kind of unrest and violence anymore as we are beaten and broken, killing our spirit and ethos as a Nation. We are a Nation of blacks, whites, browns, and all types of colors, and it is our strength, not our weakness. We are a garden of people on the face of this planet with black flowers, white flowers, brown flowers, and flowers of all colors, and that is the beauty and quality of our garden. There is no nation on earth like our Nation, where people of different colors, cultures, creeds, races, and nationalities are welcomed and encouraged to pursue their dreams and aspirations to improve the quality of their lives.
Our Nation is one of our greatest gifts. We have to realize this forgotten fact and to acknowledge every day and be thankful to the giver of this beautiful gift. There are people out there who would like to receive a share of this gift, and they are deprived of it due to one or other reasons, and they can be envious, jealous, hateful and spiteful of what we have; and they may directly or indirectly try to destroy this gift and make us deprived of this gift which is a great blessing. It is time for us to be more diligent and prudent than ever before with our actions and attitudes.
We are a democracy, and we have every right to protest and conduct demonstrations as they have a role in democracy. However, it should not go to the extent of killing the spirit of our nation as the United States of America and hurting the psyche of our nation and destroying our unity and identity. The wrongs have to be rectified, and the guilty have to be punished. The legal system of our country takes maximum care of it with utmost diligence and attention. Violence begets only violence, and it is never a solution for any of our issues or crises if we want to have peaceful and amicable results.
It is not the right time to fight on account of color, creed, culture, race, and political affiliations of any kind during this trying time; instead, time to team up together as citizens of this beautiful country. The need of our time is to surface the evil and negative forces/powers within the country or outside; the so-called ‘wolves in sheep’s clothing’ and discover their motives, intentions, hidden agendas and secret plans and isolate them. The American people cannot be taken for a ride as we are the people of the United States as a Nation under God! After all, what matters more is who we are than what we accomplish in life.
At the end of the day, we are all Americans, no matter what the color of the skin may be. When our bodies are bruised, and lives are broken, and blood oozes out, it has the same red color irrespective of the color of our skin. Can anyone tell me how the color of my soul is different from the color of the souls of my other brothers and sisters around me?
We are called to rise from our differences of color, creed, culture, and political affiliations and see the reflection of ourselves in others and rise like the famous phoenix bird from its own ashes of differences as we are all Americans, and we can do it together. Therefore, please join me today, praying with the Upanishad; “Lord lead me from darkness to light; ignorance to knowledge, and mortality to immortality.”
Lovingly,
Fr Tomy Puliyan, MSFS
“Holiness and Happiness through Wellness and Wholeness”
You said it well, Father Tomy. I don’t know why we can’t look at one another’s differences in beliefs of all kinds without bashing one another. Thank you
Right observations,. Democracy doesn’t give permission to distroy the very spirit of nation identity.
Rule of law means no one is above the law ,which should be ensured.
My freedom ends ,when others freedo starts.
We have the Rights to protest,but not at the cost of others
As you rightly said, let the people of America respect every other individual as their fellow Americans And not just based on their skin type.
Let’s thank God for the wonderful opportunities that you had given to us while being here.