The Gospel for the memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of the Church, is taken from John 19:25. 34. Standing by the Cross of Jesus with his mother and his mother’s sister Mary, the wife of Clophas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, woman, behold your son. Then he said to the disciple, behold your mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her into his home.

After this, aware that everything is now finished in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, I thirst. There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, it is finished. And bowing his head, he handed over the Spirit now, since it was preparation Day, in order that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the Sabbath. For the Sabbath day of that week was a solemn one.

The Jews asked Pilate that their legs be broken and they be taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other one who was crucified with Jesus. And when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out. Many do not realize the power of the Eucharist. And we as Catholics believe that when you go to the Eucharist, any venial sins that you have on your soul are forgiven.

And what I see in this passage is a beautiful image of the wine which is the wine of forgiveness, the. The consecrated wine. What is so beautiful about this passage is Jesus is doing one last thing before he claims it is all finished, and that is to drink the wine of forgiveness. It’s a beautiful image of not only Jesus forgiving those who disappointed him, weren’t there for him, condemned him, crucified him, but also it’s a part of his way of saying that world of unforgiveness, of judgment, of condemnation, is finished. And the Eucharist brings in the world of forgiveness, which is the beginning of the kingdom that we now live in. Please reflect on these words.

And at the end of the music, I will close with a prayer. The closing prayer. Father, we’ve been taught that the Eucharist is a reenactment of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But we don’t really take it as literally as we should, because what it’s saying is that every time we take the Eucharist, we’re not only infused with the power of the Holy Spirit, but given the gift of being able to forgive. It empowers our forgiveness, which is the heart of everything. It seems to me that we are missing in the world a spirit of openness and forgiveness.

Acceptance, support, connection. Bless us with these gifts and we ask this in Jesus name, amen.