Remembrance
Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
“Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)
Memorial of Saints Cornelius, Pope, and Cyprian, Bishop, Martyrs
“Do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Corinthians 11:24)
Depending upon how you count, Jesus speaks up to over 100 different commands in the New Testament.
“Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” “Love one another as I have loved you.”
“Give to everyone who asks you.”
“Love your enemies.”
Personally, I have fallen well short of carrying out so many of these commands. Yet perhaps we can say the only command of Jesus which, as a Church, we have faithfully carried out without fail is the one recounted for us by St. Paul in our First Reading today: “Do this in remembrance of me.”
For 2,000 years, the Eucharist (what we know today as Catholic Mass) has been offered “in remembrance of Him.”
How much do I cherish the fact that we have faithfully carried out this command of Jesus?
Jesus, thank you for the gift of the Mass offered in memory of You. Amen.
Fr. Connor Penn is parochial vicar at St. Timothy Catholic Church in Lutz. Ordained in 2020, Fr. Penn briefly studied journalism before entering the seminary. Fr. Penn grew up in Temple Terrace, attending Corpus Christi Catholic School and later Jesuit High School.
