To the Band of Brothers: Summer Edition

Fr. Willie ‘87
No, it’s not time to come back to school yet, but I thought I would send a little reflection nugget to help keep you rooted. It came to me on Father’s Day. I know… a thing of the past, but I only had a moment now to write it.

It just so happened Father’s Day landed on the same Sunday as the feast of Corpus Christi. While one celebration is focused on our dads, the other celebrates the body and blood of Jesus, the Eucharist. Coincidence? I think not. Godincidence? I think yes.

Here are three very powerful connections between the two feast days:

First, is unity. Both dads and the Eucharist are about keeping the family together. In my house, my father insisted we eat together every night. He also made sure we went to Mass on Sundays as a family. Even when we got older and started making plans with our friends, Sundays were sacred not only for Church, but also for each other. 

It wasn’t always easy. I remember when the valid exceptions started to roll in (along with his eyes at hearing the excuses). When my brother started dating his girlfriend (currently his wife), he asked to go to Mass with her and her family. That’s pretty valid. Or, when older meant we started going on trips with friends, dad insisted we find a church and go to Sunday Mass.

That’s why the Eucharist is also about unity. Jesus gave the disciples and the Church his body and blood so we could stay united even though the church would be continents apart. Go to Mass in any country in the world, and even though you may not speak the language, you know what’s going on and can approach the altar to receive communion. Even at one point in the Mass you are shaking hands and giving peace to an absolute stranger (or is he?).

Second is provision. One of your dad’s most important roles is to provide. He provides food, shelter, clothing, education, and, most importantly, love. Grinding it out from 9 to 5, five or even six days a week is all about providing for his kids. He gives you pocket money so you can hang out with your friends. One of my father’s favorite taglines was, “as long as you live under this roof, a roof I provide, you will…” He was right.

The Eucharist also is a provision. Jesus gave us His body and blood to provide food for the journey. Our lives are a journey through good times and bad until we make it to our heavenly home. We can do a lot of great things as we make our way through life and we also face a lot of challenges. The Eucharist provides us with the necessary spiritual and sacramental food to stay healthy and strong.

Third is sacrifice. If there is ever a word that describes fatherhood, it’s this one. Happily, dads sacrifice a lot to keep the family together and provide for them. Going to work every day and coming back, spending weekends at a soccer tournament, or flipping burgers at Tombola are sacrifices dads make for the sake of those they love and are responsible for.

The Eucharist is all sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed his own life, his body and blood, for us on the cross so we could have eternal life. Actually, Jesus’s whole life was about sacrifice. From the moment he was conceived in Mary’s womb, he sacrificed his made-in-the-shade divinity to take on our human condition. It is the reason we refer to the celebration of the Eucharist as the “sacrifice of the Mass.” The Paschal mystery is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

So, there it is. Father’s Day and Corpus Christi… two peas in a pod. Maybe you can come up with other similarities. I am sure there are others. Either way, know that ultimately the one thing that most ties them together is simply love, sweet love. I pray that last Sunday you did both: celebrate your fathers and went to Mass.

Auspice Maria,
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BELEN JESUIT PREPARATORY SCHOOL
500 SW 127th Avenue, Miami, FL 33184
phone: 305.223.8600 | fax: 305.227.2565 | email: webmaster@belenjesuit.org
Belen Jesuit Preparatory School was founded in 1854 in Havana, Cuba by Queen Isabel II of Spain.  The task of educating students was assigned to the priests and brothers of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose teaching tradition is synonymous with academic excellence and spiritual discipline.  In 1961, the new political regime of Cuba confiscated the School property and expelled the Jesuit faculty.  The School was re-established in Miami the same year, and over the next decade, continued to grow.  Today, Belen Jesuit sits on a 30-acre site in western Dade County, only minutes away from downtown Miami.