On the Way | Christmas, Eucharist and the Body

CHRISTMAS, EUCHARIST, AND THE BODY OF CHRIST

Christmas is intimately tied to every Mass, when at Holy Communion we hear the words, “The Body of Christ.”

At Christmas, we celebrate the Son of God’s human birth at which his body became visible. Angels and shepherds came to adore him. And we join them with our voices in the carol, “O Come let us adore Him ... Christ the Lord!” Christ received a human body so he could die and destroy the power of sin and death over us. Christ received a human body so that he could also give his very self entirely to us in the Eucharist.

Like the angels and shepherds on the night of his birth, we can adore him. But unlike the angels and shepherds, we are privileged also to receive him as our food. Food, in the very words of Jesus, “for a man to eat and never die.” (Jn 6:50) Christ is quite literally our “living bread.”

But not everyone realizes how profound and important is the gift of the Eucharist. Some surveys suggest that a disturbing number of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

This is both troubling and illuminating. It might explain in part why many choose not to participate in Sunday Mass. The good news is that there is a clear path forward towards renewal of parish and family life, and it’s quite simple: a rekindling of Eucharistic faith and amazement. It is through the Eucharist that Christ is formed in us, our salvation is accomplished and the Church becomes a living Body, his Presence in the world. It is Jesus’ great miracle of enduring love, and that miracle remains with us!

This year, on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, our diocese joined every diocese in America to begin a three-year, grass-roots revival of devotion and belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This first year focuses on a diocesan response, next year will focus on parishes and the final year will be dedicated to the entire nation.

There’s no time like the present to deepen your own faith and love for Christ in the Eucha-

From the Bishop

Bishop James V. Johnston, Jr. is the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph rist. Love is stirred, strengthened, and impassioned through little things done consistently over time. If I may offer, here are some simple suggestions to renew Eucharistic amazement:

• Go out of your way to spend time each week, or even each day, before the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Our churches and chapels have tabernacles, in part, so that you can draw near to him. Adore him, thank him, contemplate his being in your midst, offer him your trials, burdens and needs.

• Stay faithful to the Sunday Obligation to worship God at Mass (the Third Commandment) and consider being a daily Mass-goer and watch how your life changes for the better.

• When before the Eucharist, or when you receive the gift of Holy Communion, pray the words from the Gospel that Saint Thomas the Apostle professed when he touched the body of the Risen Christ, “My Lord and my God!” Express your faith in the Risen

Lord and the gift of himself to you in the

Eucharist.

• Meditate on the words and experiences of the saints about the Eucharist and become familiar with the many Eucharistic miracles that have occurred and been confirmed by the Church over the centuries.

Just before we receive the Eucharist at Mass, we utter the words of the centurion and make them our own personal profession of faith: “Lord, I am not worthy for you to enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” (cf. Mt 8:8) Receiving him, Christ literally enters under our roof and our bodies become his house, his tabernacle. If we receive with faith, he heals and restores us just as he did those in the Gospels, and we are privileged to carry his living presence into our families and our world.

Let us bring our real presence before Jesus and love him, Really Present to us, in the Holy Eucharist.

Merry Christmas!

Martin Ismert, left, and brother Ben Ismert, right, are co-owners of Quality Steel & Wire in Grandview.

FAITH WORK at

By Ashlie Hand

The vast majority of the more than

1.5 million people employed in the Kansas City and St. Joseph metropolitan areas work in secular industries. How is faith expressed by devoted Catholics working in our area banks, law firms, doctors’ offices, restaurants, farms or auto plants? This is “Faith at work.”

Martin Ismert

Co-Founder, Quality Steel & Wire

Q Tell us a little bit about your faith journey.

I was born and raised Catholic at Christ the King Parish in Kansas City. The pastors I had growing up influenced me to see and understand different views and types of people. That diversity in people and culture has helped me as I’ve grown up and entered modern career life, where you meet and must interact with all walks of life.

From my teenage years on into college, I did fall away from truly living the Catholic Faith in myriad but typical ways. Around my junior year of college, about one year after my mother passed away, is when I felt a strong shift take place. I found myself choosing to be much more serious and intentional about who I am and what is important. Since then, I’ve been on a steady path of diving deeper into the sacraments, daily routines of reading the daily readings, going to confession at least once per month and being more involved and lively in our parish community.

Q Is your Catholic Faith part of your professional identity?

I make sure to keep my Catholic artwork and sacramentals hung up on walls in my office, which is viewable to many people coming and going every day. Most people here at work likely know that I’m Christian/Catholic from my words — and hopefully from my deeds.

Q Does your Catholic Faith influence your interactions and decisions throughout the work day?

There are always little things that come up with the personal lives of our employees, and we try hard to be lenient and fair. Generally, all of that goodwill and care returns back to us in spades with good, hard-working people and a good company reputation. I believe these little ways that we can help our employees as imperfect human friends in Christ is the right and godly thing to do.

Learn more

about Quality Steel & Wire at qswmfg.com/ about

Q Is there a Bible verse, Scripture story, prayer, spiritual item or quote that you carry with you?

I wear a crucifix daily that was blessed by a priest here locally. I do often find myself staring at the paintings in my office, especially when talking with people. I think that helps me to focus on what’s most important.

Q Do you have a favorite saint or religious figure who you turn to in facing challenges at work?

I really am drawn to the poetry and musings of Saint John Henry Newman, and the music that has been made from many of his writings.

Q What is your go-to Catholic/ Christian/faith-based podcast, app, radio program or station?

The Sunday sermon or videos narrated by Bishop Robert Barron and Word on Fire.

Martin and his wife Michelle and children attend Coronation of Our Lady Parish in Grandview.

Making Catholic New Year’s resolutions stick

Rev. Greg Haskamp

is pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish, Kansas City “It occurred to me while I was driving recently that instead of complaining about all the people who are doing

it wrong, I should give thanks for all who are doing it right.”

A friend shared that resolution with me recently. We’ve talked many times about how easy it is to get frustrated and upset by other drivers: the reckless, distracted or aggressive. But he said he suddenly realized one day that there are more people doing it right than doing it wrong, and his resolution was to give thanks for that.

A good New Year’s resolution is a call to conversion, a change of mind and heart, turning away from an old way of life and toward something life-giving and new. It could be an everyday resolve to pick up trash along a sidewalk, or a decision to set time aside for a retreat. It could lead us to schedule some silence into our daily routine, or to resolve to make a weekly donation to a parish food pantry. Or maybe it’s a choice to volunteer actively as a liturgical minister in our parish, or at One City Café, St. Mary’s Home for Mothers or some other organization that meets immediate needs.

Another good resolve could be to learn a new form of prayer. A professor “A good New Year’s once told a class I was in that, “If you don’t find joy resolution is a call to in your prayer, you should conversion, a change find a new way to pray.” How freeing! If you feel a of mind and heart, dryness in your prayer, learn turning away from a new way to pray! Read through the Psalms until an old way of life and one resonates (it shouldn’t take long). And read it daily toward something until you can recite it from life-giving and new.” memory. Let it comfort you or challenge you or inspire you or strengthen you. Or subscribe to receive the daily readings from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, committing to read them through at least once a day. If you’ve never prayed the Rosary before, give it a try and allow the mysteries of our faith to awaken your own. Try a new form of prayer for 2023, and stay committed to it. If you’ve never gotten in the habit of sacrificial giving to parish, diocese and other charities, the new year is a great time to begin. Called to the Biblical standard of sharing 10 percent of our gross income, with 5 percent to parish, 1 percent to the diocesan appeal and 4 percent to other charities of our choosing, tithing is an excellent way to make our faith practical, putting our money where our mouth is. My experience is that tithing fosters a spirit of gratitude in my heart for God’s blessings, strengthens my trust that God will continue to provide and draws me into right relationship with God and neighbor. 2023 could be the year you offer mercy and kindness to someone you’ve begrudged, develop a new spirit of solidarity with the poor or learn to live more simply by purchasing second-hand clothing. Our call to conversion becomes much more exciting when we resolve to become something new and allow the mercy and grace of God to make it happen.