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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This is Archbishop Coakley\u2019s excellent homily from yesterday\u2019s Benediction and Eucharistic procession in response of the black mass that took place in Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nSeptember 21, 2014<\/span><\/p>\n
St. Francis of Assisi Church<\/span><\/p>\n
The Most Reverend Paul S. Coakley<\/span><\/p>\n
Archbishop, Archdiocese of Oklahoma City<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/p>
Praised be Jesus Christ!\u00a0 It is my great privilege to welcome you to St. Francis of Assisi Church and to spend this hour together with the Lord in prayer and adoration.\u00a0 Thank you for being here.\u00a0 Your presence is a powerful witness of faith in the midst of what has been a particularly challenging time for our community.\u00a0 I would like to gratefully acknowledge the participation of our Catholic people from around the Archdiocese but also those of you who have come from near and far to join us today.\u00a0 I am especially grateful for the presence of my brother bishops (and their support), Archbishop Beltran, Bishop Slattery of Tulsa, Bishop Kemme of Wichita and so many priests, deacons and religious women and men.\u00a0 It is a special blessing to recognize here so many Christian leaders and believers from other churches and ecclesial communities who have come to join us in prayer as well.<\/span><\/p>\n
We gather today in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord who is the source of our unity, imperfect though it might be, and our bond of charity.\u00a0 We just heard our Lord proclaim:\u00a0 \u201cI am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.\u201d For Catholics these words from the sixth chapter of St. John\u2019s Gospel are the very heart of our understanding and appreciation of the Holy Eucharist.\u00a0 Jesus does not speak metaphorically when he says, \u201cWhoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.\u00a0 For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.\u00a0 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.\u201d\u00a0 It is truly Jesus whom we encounter and receive in the Holy Eucharist.<\/span><\/p>\n
At times, Christians have argued over the theological significance of these words.\u00a0 Satan, on the other hand, hears these words and trembles.\u00a0 The Eucharist has been at the heart of the current controversy over the so-called black mass which (which to our shame as a city) is being allowed to proceed this evening at the Civic Center Music Hall. That blasphemous and sacrilegious ritual is a mockery of the Catholic Mass that requires for its consummation the corruption and desecration of the Eucharist.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because Satanists, and their master, know who is present.\u00a0 They acknowledge the Real Presence of the Lord Jesus, not to adore him, but only to mock and to scorn in hatred.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
I think many people in our community haven\u2019t understood the persistence of our efforts nor the depth of our outrage over this blasphemy largely because they do not share our faith.\u00a0 They do not understand, or accept, what we believe to be true.\u00a0 They do not share our faith in what we Catholics (and many other Christians) acknowledge to be the greatest gift that the Lord has entrusted to the Church:\u00a0 the gift of his own Body and Blood in the Blessed Sacrament.\u00a0 The Eucharist, instituted by the Lord at the Last Supper and entrusted to the Apostles is truly the Lord\u2019s abiding Presence among us.\u00a0 It is really and substantially spiritual food for our pilgrim journey and the pledge of future glory in the Heavenly Banquet.\u00a0 It is the bread of angels given to men.<\/span><\/p>\n
We are not here, however, to protest.\u00a0 Let us put aside, for the moment, our outrage.\u00a0 We are here to praise and to adore.\u00a0 We are here to give thanks for the gift of our faith and the priceless treasure of the Lord\u2019s abiding presence with us in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood.\u00a0 We are gathered before our Eucharistic Lord to listen to his holy Word and open ourselves to the promptings of his Spirit so that we might become more faithful and authentic witnesses of his love and mercy in the midst of our broken and suffering human family. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
We are also here to offer our petitions to the Lord, that he might deliver us from the power of sin and, yes, from all demonic influences.\u00a0 We are here to offer our prayers in reparation for the blasphemous outrages being committed against our Lord, against his Church and the Eucharist in these days.\u00a0 Our city has also been the target of these dark forces of hatred that seek not to build up, but only to destroy.\u00a0 We beg the Lord\u2019s protection through the intercession of his Holy angels and saints.<\/span><\/p>\n
We are gathered as witnesses to hope at a time when darkness seems to be gaining ground both here and around the world.\u00a0 We know that Christ is victorious!\u00a0 He has conquered Satan.\u00a0 He has destroyed the reign of sin and the power of death through his holy Cross and glorious Resurrection.\u00a0 Through faith and Baptism we already share in his victory.\u00a0 The war has been won, though skirmishes will continue until Christ comes again in glory to reign forever.\u00a0 In the meantime we have been enlisted to bear the standard of the Cross and our share of the sufferings of Christ for the sake of his Body, the Church.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
We gather here in prayer.\u00a0 We gather to adore, to praise and to give thanks, to beg the Lord\u2019s mercy on our city, our nation and our world.\u00a0 We pray for our own continuing conversion that we might be holy and courageous witnesses.<\/span><\/p>\n
Our faith is not meant to be (and cannot remain) contained within the walls of this beautiful church.\u00a0 Our Eucharistic Procession through the neighborhood beyond these walls which will follow in a few minutes is a reminder that we, the Church, are present in the world as light, as salt and as leaven to bring hope and the offer of Christ\u2019s salvation to all we meet.\u00a0 Let us pray that we might embrace our mandate to live as missionary disciples in the midst of the world so that we might draw all people to Jesus Christ and to safe harbor in his Church.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is Archbishop Coakley\u2019s excellent homily from yesterday\u2019s Benediction and Eucharistic procession in response of the black mass that took place in Oklahoma City. \u00a0 September 21, 2014 St. Francis of Assisi Church The Most Reverend Paul S. Coakley Archbishop, Archdiocese of Oklahoma City Praised be Jesus Christ!\u00a0 It is my great privilege to welcome […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1155,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,6787,10,134,3048,5302,6786,5345,1],"tags":[2027,6500,6780],"class_list":["post-24380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-america","category-black-mass-2","category-catholic","category-clergy","category-eucharist-2","category-post-christian-west","category-sacrilege","category-satan-2","category-uncategorized","tag-archbishop-coakley","tag-black-mass","tag-black-mass-oklahoma-city"],"yoast_head":"\n
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