Subordinate Wives?

This week, the Gospel reading continued to focus on the Bread of Life Discourse. I want to take a closer look at our second reading, though, and what it means for the women (and men) of our Church. The reading talks about how wives should be submissive to their husbands. Sound the alarm! There goes the Church being all misogynistic! No. That's not it at all.

Christ is the Groom, and the Church is the Bride. Jesus died to save the Church. His body was broken so that the Body of Christ (the Church) might live. The Body of Christ has Jesus at the head. The Church is a part of Christ, and Christ is a part of the Church. Similarly, a husband is a part of his wife and a wife is a part of her husband. A husband sacrificially serves his wife. She follows the lead of her husband. Still think this is archaic? Hang on...

This isn't a one-directional teaching. When we look at how Christ sacrificed everything for the Church (the people), we also see how the Church is called to sacrifice everything for Him. It's a circle. In a perfect marriage, and in a perfect church, the groom and the bride live to serve each other. Furthermore, Jesus says, “no can come to me unless it is granted him by my father.” Both Christ (the groom) and the Church (the bride), need to be in communion with the Father and with each other.

First Blog!

Well, to start, my name is Jason Trujillo, and I’m new to St. Monica in Dallas. I came all the way from California to join your family as the director of youth and young adult ministry, and I am so happy to be here! Every Monday, I will be posting a blog that breaks down what happened at Mass the day before in a way that hopefully relates to you whether you’re the youngest 6^th grader or the oldest young adult (is that an oxymoron?). So here it goes…

Yesterday, the Gospel continued Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse, so obviously one of the main topics is the Eucharist. This week though, the focus is on faith. Not “faith” in the terms of our belief system or religion, but “faith” the theological virtue—which means “belief in God.” As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus. At every Mass, bread and wine are consecrated into something so much more. The Eucharist is not a symbol. It is not part Jesus and part wine. It is fully Jesus! Our faith in the Eucharist, in believing this Sacred Mystery, is belief in God.

What does this mean for us? Jesus is present at every Mass! He is present in the Adoration Chapel and in the tabernacle. It means that when we receive the Eucharist, we are literally taking Jesus’ body into our own. So the question really is, “What does this mean to YOU?”