<US>"A Father's Talk," Benedict XVI: "The Consecrated Host is truly the Bread from Heaven"

  • From: "Fr. Pat Umberger" <frpat@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "Fr. Pat Umberger" <frpat@xxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 09:15:41 -0500

.=:  U S U A L    S U S P E C T S  :=.
      from Father Pat Umberger      

"Round up the usual suspects"  ~"Casablanca," the movie
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F A T I M A / L O U R D E S / S P A I N / L I S I E U X / P A R I S
THIRTY NINE are currently signed up and our goal has been surpassed.
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Fatima), Spain (Alba de Tormes, Avila, Segovia, Burgos, Loyola, Pamplona &
Javier) and France (Lourdes, Paris & Lisieux).  Out farewell dinner will be
in a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The brochure is now on-line,
along with a map and links to our hotels! The very reasonable price includes
transportation, luggage transfers, all admissions, guide, escort, all
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T W O  T R E A T S
"A Father's Talk"
"Pope Benedict XVI: The Consecrated Host is truly the Bread from Heaven"

Forwarded by member Chris . . .
  
A     F A T H E R ' S    T A L K
 
People always say how mean kids can be, never how nice they can be. This
story will either make you cry, give you cold chills or just leave you cold,
but it puts life into perspective!
 
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children,
the father of one of the school's students delivered a speech that would
never be forgotten by all that attended.
  
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a question...
"Everything God does is done with perfection.    Yet, my son Shay cannot
learn things as other children do. He cannot understand things as other
children do.
 
Where is God's plan reflected in my son?" 

The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued, "I believe,"
the father answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the world,
an opportunity to realize the Divine Plan presents itself and it comes in
the way people treat that child."
 
Then, he told the following story:
 
Shay and his father had walked past a park where some kids Shay knew were
playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's
father knew that the kids would not want him on their team. But the father
understood that if his son were allowed to play, it would give him
much-needed sense of belonging.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay
could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting
none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six
runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team
and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning."

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs, but was
still behind by three. At the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove
and played in the outfield. Although no hits came his way, he was obviously
ecstatic just to be on the field, grinning from ear to ear as his father
waved to him from the stands.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two
outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base. Shay was
scheduled to be the next at-bat. Would the team actually let Shay bat at
this juncture, and give away their chance to win the game? 

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that a hit was all but
impossible because Shay didn't even know how to hold the bat properly, much
less connect with the ball. 

However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to
lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The
first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed.

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward
Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground
ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could
easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out
and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and
threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first base
player.

Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first, run to first." Never in his
life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the baseline,
wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "run to second, run to second!" By
the time Shay was rounding first base,  the right fielder had the ball. She
could have thrown the ball to second base for a tag. But the right fielder
understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so she threw the ball
high and far over the third base player's head.

Shay ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled
the bass toward home. As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop
ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "run to
third!" As Shay rounded third, the kids from both teams were screaming,
"Shay Run home!" 

Shay ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered as the hero for hitting
a "grand slam" and winning the game for his team.

"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face,
"the kids from both teams helped bring a piece of God's plan into this
world."

We can all make a difference. We all have dozens of opportunities a day to
help realize God's plan. So many seemingly trivial interactions between
people present us with a choice; do we pass along a spark of the Divine love
that God gives to us every day?

..................................................

THE CONSECRATED HOST TRULY IS THE BREAD OF HEAVEN

VATICAN CITY, JUN 15, 2006 (VIS) - At 7 p.m. today, Solemnity of Corpus
Christi, Benedict XVI celebrated Mass on the square in front of Rome's
Basilica of St. John Lateran, then presided at the Eucharistic procession to
the Basilica of St. Mary Major.

   In his homily, the Pope affirmed that the consecrated Host is the "food
of the poor," and the "fruit of the earth and of the labor of mankind." And
yet, he added, "bread is not simply our own product, something made by us;
it is a fruit of the earth and, hence, a gift. ... It requires the synergy
of the forces of the earth and of the gifts of the heavens: sun and rain."

  "At a time in which we hear of desertification, and there is ever more
talk of the danger of men and beasts dying of thirst in those regions
without water, at such a time, we gain a renewed awareness of the greatness
of the gift of water, and of how incapable we are of producing it alone.
Then, looking closer, this little piece of white Host, this bread of the
poor, appears as a synthesis of creation."

  "When, in adoration, we contemplate the consecrated Host, the mark of
creation is speaking to us. Then we discover the greatness of this gift, but
we also discover the Passion, the Cross of Jesus and His resurrection."

  The Holy Father went on: "In the feast of Corpus Christi we contemplate
above all the sign of the bread. This also reminds us of the pilgrimage of
Israel during the 40 years in the wilderness. The Host is our manna with
which the Lord nourishes us; it truly is the bread of heaven, by which He
gives Himself. In the procession, we follow this sign, and thus we follow
Him."

  Benedict XVI then raised an appeal to the Lord: "Guide us along the roads
of our history! Always show the Church and her pastors the right path! Look
at suffering humanity, anxiously wandering among so many uncertainties; look
at the physical and mental hunger afflicting them! Give men bread for the
body and the soul! Give them work! Give them light! Give them Yourself!
Purify and sanctify us all!

  "Bring us to understand" the Pope concluded, "that only by participating
in Your Passion, by saying 'yes' to the cross, to sacrifice, to the
purification you impose upon us, can our lives mature and reach their true
fulfillment. Gather us from all the corners of the earth. Unite Your Church,
unite lacerated humanity. Give us Your salvation!"

  Following Mass, the Pope presided at a Eucharistic procession that passed
along Rome's Via Merulana to the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Along the way,
thousands of faithful prayed and sang, accompanying the Blessed Sacrament.
An open vehicle transported the Sacrament in a monstrance, before which the
Holy Father knelt in prayer.

HML/CORPUS CHRISTI/...
VIS 060616 (500)
   

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May God Bless you and those you love, and keep you safe,

Father Pat

      "Be still and know that I am God." ~Psalm 46:10
__________________________________________________

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