All of you who stand fast in the Lord are a holy seed, a new colony of bees, the very flower of our ministry and fruit of our toil, my joy and my crown.
St Augustine
From today's office of readings.
It is a joy for every pastor of souls to see those entrusted to his care buzzing like a new colony of bees - active in faith and works of mercy. It makes us smile to see the people ignited by the breath of the Spirit through our preaching and celebration of the sacraments and making the faith and parish life their own. How important it is for priests and laity to learn mutual respect - both admiration for another's talent and deference to the grace and office of ordination. The Queen of every parish is Our Lady and Christ is king. Thus there is no room for queen bee personalities or wannabe kings in the ministry of a parish. With deference to Christ we work together not as enemies so His mercy can be clearly visible.
There are three things the Church prays that we will grasp a hold of in our hearts and intellectually understand today...the font, the Spirit, the Blood. All of these belong to Jesus and are instruments of His mercy. The font cleanses. The Spirit of the Father and the Son possesses all power to heal body and soul. The Blood of Jesus flowed from His horribly painful wounds, cascading onto the ground, becoming an ocean of mercy into which we insert ourselves as taps into a rich a fragrant tree. Those wounds, still visible in the Risen Christ, endure as reminders that our redemption came at a great price. From the wounds in His broken Body came the redeeming Blood we consume in Holy Mass and the water which gives life to every font as Jesus breathed forth the Spirit for the last time on earth. The Spirit the Blood the water of the font-these three are Christ's and they testify that He is Lord. He is the first font of new life. He has power to heal all wounds and forgive all sins. Enter His wounds by embracing your own woundedness and meditating on what He endured for you. From His wounds into ours flows the ocean of mercy.
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