Love God. Live the Eucharist.

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December 12, 2021: What's in your Mantle?

As many of you know, our parish mission statement is: Love God (let all respond) Live the Eucharist. We created it when we merged in 2010. I love it because it is easy to remember. For those who have joined the parish since then, let me explain what it means.

 

Love God means with your heart, mind and soul to appreciate all that God has given you. To put God first in your life. To believe that God is enough in your life. So you don’t have to worry so much. Let go and trust God.

 

Live the Eucharist starts with what Eucharist means. It’s a Greek word meaning Thanksgiving. When we celebrate Eucharist we are giving thanks, and this is Source and Summit of who we are. But it is more than that, we bless Eucharist so that we are blessed by Eucharist. We receive Eucharist to become Eucharist.

 

What does that mean?   The readings for today and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe can help explain. The feast day begins a poor Mexican man named Juan Diego in 1531, who encountered Mary, but he didn’t know who she was at first.   She wanted to give a message of hope for the Mexican by building a shrine in her honor on the hill to replace one for the Aztec goddess, Tonantizin. He tells the Bishop about this. Of course the Bishop doesn’t believe him, but eventually Mary has him fill his mantle (or cloak) with roses (and this was not the season for roses) and present them to the Bishop. He unfolds the roses and this beautiful image of Mary is on the cloak. The image has some significant symbols (look at the image in your bulletin)

  • Her eyes look down, not up . . . symbolizing that she is not a God. Only God is God, not her.
  • Yet her dress represents the highest of Aztec gods.
  • Notice her skin color. She is not white
  • The sunrays behind her symbolize that she is greater than the sun.
  • The stars represent the coming of something new.

 

All cool stuff. But what does this mean for us? I need three volunteers to show us. [I put an apron/mantel on each one].   I put these roses in your mantel, now you open it up [It shows the word JOY.]

 

Like the first reading today, or what Mary proclaims . . . living the Eucharist means to be people of joy. Lighten up. Stop being so grumpy. Give thanks for what you have instead of complaining.

 

Also [I put roses into the second mantel] Now open it up. [It shows the word HOPE.] Like Paul said in the second reading, “Stop worrying so much” Mary came to Juan Diego about 10 years after Spain conquered them. Things seemed bad. Today things seem bad. As Eucharist people, we are to be people of hope. Eucharist is food for the journey, our “power food” for the week coming up. Even amidst hardship or loneliness, we are given a sense to trust that things will get better.

 

Finally, with the third cloak [It opens up to reveal the word SERVICE] as John the Baptist preaches in the gospel, we are to think beyond ourselves and do the right thing for others. And it doesn’t have to be spectacular, but in the simple, everyday things we face each day. As Mary appeared to inspire the people to go make a difference, so as Eucharist people we are to do the same.

 

In Juan’s mantle, he found a message for all people. In the first mantle, we found JOY. In the second, we found the message to be HOPEFUL. And in the third, an invitation to serve others. In these next two weeks of Advent, what’s in your mantle.

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