18 Sunday  B

As a youngster I was always hungry, especially in Colleges. Visiting relations, my father would often ask “Did you get your legs under the table?” That meant “Was there food, welcome and hospitality?”

The Food, Welcome and Hospitality of God Our Father has been on focus in The Jesus Stories for the last few Sundays. The Father, Jesus says, gives Bread from Heaven to his children. It is Bread enlivened by The Spirit of Jesus.

Mass, is The Meal of welcome, hospitality and much more. It reaches into the depths of The Mystery of Love. Mass includes everyone and everything that exists .There is no last word on Mass. It is open ended Love. Mass is made for humans. The mother and father, the working person ,of everyday, live the spirit of The Mass.

Vatican Two teaching gave new wine of excitement and wonder to the old casket Mass. There was an enthusiasm that I wished to imbibe. I liked its description of Mass as Two Tables ...The Table of God’s Word and The Table of Eucharist or Thanks. They both are The Same Person. They compliment each other as courtship does marriage, as starter does main course. Perhaps, more simply ...The first half of Mass is God speaking to us. The second half is we speaking to God, led by the priest.

I feel very inadequate about the first half ....God speaking to us, through human voices and faltering speech...God , the Spirit of Jesus, ever so gracious ,non threatening. Even a few words from The Scriptures kept Saints going for lifetime. The Church, in a sense, spoils us with lavishness, variety and generosity of Readings. A single line from A Psalm Song can touch the deepest core of the heart. Before proclaiming The Gospel Story I am consoled ,touching the head, lips and heart, with the prayer ...Christ be in my mind, Christ be on my lips, Christ be in my heart.....Here comes mediocrity ,to talk about awesome Wonder.

Liam Hickey St. Ciarans Hartstown Dublin 15.

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