Hello Faith Formation Families!

The great celebrations of the church keep coming!  In the past few weeks, we've celebrated the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, the descent of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the Holy Trinity.  Today's special celebration is extra special for the parishioners of Blessed Sacrament, because our church is named after it!  Today, we celebrate the Feast of...

THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS!

That's right:  "The Eucharist," "The Blessed Sacrament," and "The Body and Blood of Jesus" all mean the same thing!  At the Last Supper, Jesus was celebrating the Jewish holy day called Passover with his friends.  Like Jewish people had done for centuries before, Jesus held up the bread and said the blessing.  But then he surprised his friends!  He said something they weren't expecting!  He said, "this is my Body, given up for you!"  Imagine the surprise on his friends' faces!  Then Jesus said, "Do this in memory of me!"  

After all his friends had eaten, he took the cup full of wine, and he said the same blessing his friends had heard at Passover celebrations for their whole lives.  Then he surprised them again!  He said, "this is my Blood, poured out for you!  Do this in memory of me!"  And he shared the cup with his friends. 

His friends took those words seriously.  Jesus said, "Do this in memory of me," and after he died and rose from the dead, that's just what they did!  Day after day, week after week, for centuries, friends of Jesus all over the world do exactly that in memory of Jesus.  Do you know what we call this special celebration in his memory, when bread and wine become his Body and Blood?  MASS! I hope you'll join me this weekend at church or online for the special celebration of the Body and Blood of Jesus!

Hey, do you want to learn a couple words of Latin?  In Latin, the "Body of Christ" is called "Corpus Christi," and you'll still hear those words used sometimes for the name of today's celebration! 

Happy Corpus Christi, all you amazing Faith Formation families!

A Taste of Summer!

A Taste of Summer is THIS WEEKEND, June 6!!  I hope to see you on the trail or at Cottage Creamery!