Holy Spirit Missionary Sisters PO Box 6026, Techny, IL 60082-6026 319 Waukegan Rd., Northfield, IL 60093 Office of Vocation Ministry Phone: 847-441-0126, ext. 704 sspsovm@aol.com www.ssps-usa.org www.worldssps.org
June 2012 “Just think what we become when we receive the body of Christ. We become nothing less than living tabernacles. God dwells within us. As the hymn tells us, we become what we receive. And what we receive becomes us. That is the great mystery, and great grace, the great gift of this most blessed sacrament. We carry something greater than ourselves. And that makes us instruments of God’s great work in the world – literally. Once we have received him, we can never be the same again. What will we do with that knowledge? How will we use what has changed us…to change the world?” - Deacon Greg Kandra from www.freerepublic.com When I grew up the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ was an important part of my upbringing. I knew that shortly after celebrating the Feast of Pentecost we would be collecting the most beautiful flowers in the village and begin planning our decorations so that everything would be ready for the Corpus Christi procession. People were building four altars in different parts of the town and one was more exquisite then the other. It was simple but I always felt like we were preparing for God to come down and visit our town… just once a year to see the various parts that seemed forgotten. The celebrations of the Feast of Corpus Christi have changed as has my understanding of God’s presence among us. I understand that I do not need to wait a whole year to meet God in various places that seem sometimes undeserving. I know that God is present among us regardless of our human conditions. God is among us because of God’s choice to join us on our life journey. Our task is to recognize God in the simplicity of our daily life and in the signs that Jesus left us as bread and wine. Do you perceive God’s presence in the ordinariness? May this time of rest and vacation be a time of meeting God in those places that we often do not want to visit and those that we enjoy and may we bring blessing to people we meet. Sincerely, Sr. Elwira Dziuk, SSpS
Called by the Spirit, Embracing the World.