The Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

At the last supper Jesus said to His Apostles: "Take, eat: this is my body." "Take, drink: this is my blood." The words of Christ Himself are very clear. Christ explains the bread to be His body and the wine to be His blood. We therefore receive the bread and wine unquestionably as the body and blood of Christ Himself.

Jesus said to the Jews: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you have no life in you. Almost all of His followers at this point left Him because they believed they were being told to practice cannibalism. But Christ reiterated: "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." He did not back down from His words.

We must therefore hold fast to our faith that the Eucharistic elements are in fact the body and blood of Jesus Christ. No matter what your senses tell you, be steadfast in your faith. Thank Christ every day for nourishing you with His body and blood.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christ had to Suffer

It was absolutely necessary for Christ to suffer. His passion was unavoidable. Christ always knew the reason He was born was to die on the Cross. He never avoided His destiny. The Cross is Christ's glorification. We too are called to glory in our own sufferings. Listen to the words of Saint Peter: "When a man can suffer injustice and endure hardship through his awareness of God's presence, this is the work of grace in him. It was for this you were called, since Christ suffered for you in just this way and left you an example, to have you follow in His footsteps. He did no wrong; no deceit was found in His mouth. When He was insulted, He returned no insult. When He was made to suffer, He did not counter with threats. Instead, He delivered Himself up to the One who judges justly. In His own body He brought your sins to the Cross, so that all of us, dead to sin, could live in accord with God's will. By His wounds you were healed. At one time you were straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd, the guardian of you souls."

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Resurrection

Christ is truly risen from the dead. On the Cross, Christ's body was truly separated from His spirit when He gave up the ghost to His Heavenly Father. Christ laid in the tomb for three days, but He truly did rise on the third day. He was then seen by many people thereafter. Our entire Catholic faith is based upon the fact that Christ rose from the dead.

There is true cause for rejoicing here! We died with Christ and were buried with Him in baptism, but now in Him we live forever! Today let us thank our Lord and rejoice in the victory He has won for us.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Holy Saturday

The whole earth is silent and still on this day. Christ our Lord is asleep in the tomb. Our Lord has died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear. Christ descends into hell with the mission of freeing those who live in darkness and the shadow of death. Christ bears His Cross, the weapon He used to win the victory over satan and death. Christ commands all those who are asleep to rise from the dead and promises to give each person His light. Christ did not create humanity to be prisoners in hell. He therefore orders all to come forth to receive His light.

Holy Thursday

Before Christ willingly underwent His passion and death, He ate His last meal with His disciples. Christ instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood. Christ did so out of His infinite love for those He came to save. He continues to come to us sacramentally, especially in the Eucharist. Here Christ gives Himself completely; Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. He delights in remaining with the sons of men.

We should never underestimate the power of Christ's love for each one of us. Our God is a God who cannot conceivably be any closer to us. We receive Him into our very being when we receive the Eucharist. How can we imagine a greater gift? How can we want for more when we have everything we need in the Eucharist?

Christ has showed that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. We too must lay down our lives for our brothers out of love for Christ.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeff A. Fasching

Holy Week

The days when we commemorate the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are quickly approaching. Our lenten observances were meant to prepare us to celebrate this most holy time of the year worthily. What is our disposition? Are we truly ready to give Christ fitting worship? Can we say that lent has provided an opportunity for true repentance and conversion? If so, have we seized the opportunity? If not, why?

Our Lord patiently waits for us to turn our hearts over to Him completely. He gently knocks at the door, but will never force Himself in. Are we ready to accept Christ on His terms rather than our own?

For our sake, Christ instituted the Eucharist and the Priesthood of Jesus Christ before suffering His agony and passion. The time is now when we must allow Christ to come to us through the grace of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. Let our preparation be such as to allow us to bear fruit from receiving our Lord.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Mass of Chrism

Today is the day that your priests publicly renew the vows they made on their day of ordination in front of the Bishop of the Diocese. Your prayers are asked for me and for all the priests in this Diocese. As we enter into Holy Week you are invited to renew your own fidelity to Christ and His Church. Meditate often on how Christ has chosen to redeem you. Meditate upon his Sorrowful Passion. Thank Him for His unbounded love for you.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeff Fasching

Palm Sunday

How is it that the King of kings enters into the holy city? Is it in the midst of His conquered enemies? Is it in the presence of all His captives and countless treasures? Does He ride on a magnificent chariot pulled by a glorious, well-bred horse? No. The King celebrated His triumphant day riding on a donkey. Pride and ambition play no part in this triumphal entry. Rather it is humility, meekness, mortification and self-denial that our Lord demonstrates. He is completely unselfish. Christ was born in poverty and remained in poverty all His life. Christ had no friends in high places or among the rich. All His friends were among those who were poor. His favorites were the rejects of the world. It was such as these that followed Him on this day. They did so not following any order as from a general, but out of curiosity, love and veneration. As soon as Christ is seen coming into the city they break off palm branches and throw them in His path. Hosanna! Hail to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! This is the way that Christ chose to take possession of His kingdom.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Christian Charity

Christian almsgiving is something that Jesus Christ recommends quite frequently in the Gospels. Almsgiving is a mercy we perform on behalf of those in need. We also do good for our neighbor by helping him to work for his salvation. For example, we support his defects and pardon his offences.

We must also remember that these works of charity may be offered for the dead as well. In so doing, we may obtain great satisfactory virtue. The satisfactory value of our works of charity may be turned over into the hands of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She, in turn, may distribute them as she sees fit to those souls which she desires to deliver from Purgatory.

Remember to pray for the souls in Purgatory.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

The Love of God

The Almighty God loves us no matter what we do. His love in unconditional. Salvation history shows us His faithfulness and the faithlessness of God's people. No matter how many times the Israelites turned away from God and abandoned Him, God always brought them back to Himself. God does not change. He treats us the very same way. However, we must not take the mercy of God for granted. We cannot presume upon His mercy.

We must strive to please God and always carry out His will. When we fail, we must immediately turn Him and seek His pardon. God wants to forgive. We must constantly beg Him for true contrition and a true spirit of repentance.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Repentance IV

Why do so many people refuse to repent? Repentance is absolutely necessary and yet seems to be so seldom found. Without repentance there is no pardon of sin and no heaven. Without repentance our penance, charity, almsgiving or anything else we might do to please God is all in vain.

What is repentance? How do we know whether or not we have it? Repentance is an anguish of the soul, and detestation for past sin, and a firm resolve never to sin again. Without repentance it is absolutely impossible to obtain forgiveness. A lack of repentance is the cause of a great number of sacrilegious confessions and communions. Many unrepentant people do not even realize what a sad state they are in.

If we conceal a sin when we go to confession, this sin is constantly before our eyes and eventually we go to confession again in order to free ourselves from it. But it is different with repentance. We confess, but our heart is not in it. We approach the Holy Sacrament with a cold, unfeeling, and indifferent heart and we just go through the motions! There are a great number of Christians who will discover at the hour of their death nothing but invalid confessions!

Repentance is an anguish of soul. We must weep over our sins either in this world or in the next. In this world we can wipe out our sins by repentance, but not in the next. We should thank our Lord that the anguish of our soul is enough for Him to let us experience eternal joy. It takes so little to satisfy God.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Suffering

Christ laid down His life for us. We should therefore lay down our lives for ourselves and for those who will be helped by our example. Now is the acceptable time. Now is the day of salvation. The Scriptures remind us that we should in fact rejoice in our sufferings. Suffering teaches us to endure with patience. Patience pleases God.

The more we share in the sufferings of Christ, the more we share in His consolation. We should always be anxious to share in Christ's sufferings if we desire His consolation. In fact, sharing in His consolation will be directly proportional to our sharing in His suffering.

In Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Pray

Pray, pray and pray some more! Our whole lives should be a prayer. We can pray absolutely any time during the day no matter what else we may be occupied with at the time. We have only to open our hearts up to the Almighty God and call Him to mind. This in itself is a prayer. When we offer to God our various activities during the day we are saying a prayer. When we feel discouraged for a lack of success and we turn to God we are offering a prayer. When things are going well for us and we call to mind God's presence in thanksgiving we pray.

Prayer takes many forms depending upon the disposition of the individual and the state of life one has embraced. However, remember that there is absolutely no substitute for prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. There is no substitute for Eucharistic Adoration. Our Lord waits for us in the tabernacle and it is His delight to remain there among His creatures. How great our need is of Him! We must pray to be among His chosen friends to faithfully give Him homage and make reparation for the coldness and indifference He is shown in the Blessed Sacrament.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching

Obtaining What we Want

It is not forbidden to ask for money, material well-being or whatever is necessary to maintain us in our position in life, but we must ask for these things in their proper order. If we want our desires to be met in this respect without fail we must first ask for the larger things. These larger things include the amendment of our lives, the gift of Christian patience, detachment from things of the world and true contrition for our sins. Then afterwards we should pray for health or success. Until we have received these first graces, anything else will likely be harmful to us.

Sincerely in Christ,

Rev. Jeffery A. Fasching