Presence of Jesus Mission with Fr Dennis Chriszt (Part 1); For audio only PPN
The Presence of Jesus Mission with Fr. Dennis Chriszt, CPPS, Part 1 of 4, gives an entertaining reminder of ways God is present in our lives where even two or three are gathered in His Name. Host Patti Brunner shares, with the Truth of the Spirit listeners, words of encouragement from the Lord and practical spiritual advice in this difficult time of Corona virus precautions.
Other teachings on the subject of the Real Presence are available on Truth of the Spirit episodes: Eucharist and Other Sacraments-Eucharist with Patti Brunner, and Basics of Faith Part VII – Basics of the Real Presence. Fr. Dennis Chriszt presented the parish mission “Celebrating Real Presence” at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Rogers AR on March 7-9. 2020.
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In these sad days of protective isolation because of the Corona Virus outbreak around the world, the Bishop of Arkansas, like many other bishops, has directed Sunday masses to be discontinued as well as other parish activities for the next several weeks including Holy Week and Easter, in order to slow down the outbreak in Arkansas. He encourages individual adoration visits to Blessed Sacrament and the Sacrament of Reconciliation using a screen.
As I immediately turned to the Lord for advice to share with others, the Lord gave me this word: Tell my people this: I am always with you! Fear not! Continue to pray, to love, to serve. Watch and be aware of those in need and help them overcome their distress. Share the peace that overcomes all understanding. Look at the Word of God in scripture. When Paul writes about the ‘Temple of the Holy Spirit’ [1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 6:16] realize that Christ, indeed, is within you. The difficulty in receiving the Most Precious Body and Blood of Christ does not keep you from the Presence of God. Magnify my Presence in your heart by prayer and love. Read the Magnificat prayer [Luke 1:46-56] of Mary, Mother of Christ. You, too, have Christ within you! You, too, are a temple of the Most Holy Spirit. There are several signs to the world that the Holy Spirit dwells within you. People can easily turn to the fruit of the Holy Spirit [Galatians 5:22-23] to recognize the Presence of God. People are more surprised by truth when the supernatural charisms are manifested. Here is how you, as a Christian believer, can manifest the power and love to your family, your community and to the world: Spend a few minutes several times a day praying in Tongues. This gift not only manifests the actual presence of the Holy Spirit it is also a ‘gateway’ gift that activates various gifts of Prophecy, Word of Knowledge, and Word of Wisdom. Make note of what the Holy Spirit reveals with these Revelational Charisms then pray the suggestions and follow the actions to help others. As you compare the words released by Praying in Tongues with fellow Christians God will affirm his words released to you. Ask the Lord to activate the gifts of Healing and Understanding in your heart so that you might be sensitive to the needs of those around you and then, through prayer and the power of the Holy Spirit, bring healing—not just to disease but inner healing—to those who suffer duress. Join with the Blessed Mother and pray her magnificent prayer of the Rosary. As you share your petition with her she will speak it to Me, says the Lord. I do not deny my Mother’s petitions. Do not be unaware of the ploys of the Evil One in the current climate of fear and pestilence. I have given the way to bind mute his harassment. Close your ears to constant bombardment to sin. Instead, listen to the proclamation of the Good News, the Gospel. The last few days of Lent are opportunities to fast and pray. Even though our Sunday Masses are closed to us, the sacrament of Reconciliation will flourish, says the Lord, visits to the Blessed Sacrament for private devotion and adoration will be made available. Although the parish Stations of the Cross may be cancelled nothing can prevent your private devotion to the Stations and to the 7 Sorrows of Mary. In your home, the Lord says, give reverence to icons of the Crucifix and pictures of Divine Mercy, the Sacred Heart of Jesus and your favorite saint. The Lordsays, Look for your favorite holy card and use these sacramentals to remind you that the Lord is present in your ‘Domestic Church’ your home! Fear not! The things of this world will pass away but my Love is always and forever.
Thank you Jesus for this comforting word! Now, let’s continue with this week’s episode.
The week before our Bishop’s announcement our parish had a church mission entitled, “Celebrating the Real Presence”. Rather than a lesson on the Sacrament of the Eucharist, our presenter Fr. Dennis Chriszt, a Missionary of the Precious Blood from Chicago, chose to teach us about the four ways of the Presence of Christ among us in the liturgy as taught by the first document of Vatican II; Christ is present in the Assembly Gathered, in the Word Proclaimed, in Bread Broken & Wine Poured Out and in the Ministers Ministering. Truth of the Spirit is sharing these words at a most appropriate time. They prove that God has not abandoned us as we are restricted from attending Mass. Christ is still truly with us. As we gather in our ‘domestic church’ also known as the family, Christ is truly present. Truth of the Spirit invites you to join Fr. Dennis Chriszt. I am your host, Patti Brunner
Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison. The people of Israel were in exile. Their nation had been destroyed; the temple existed no more. They had been taken away to a foreign land. They were strangers far from home. They never felt welcome. They were forced to live among their enemies, and encouraged to change their ways. And become more like their captors than themselves. They had lost everything. And all hope was destroyed. And it was that that exact moment that God sent Isaiah to God’s people in exile. “Fear not I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine,” God says. “I am the Lord your God the holy one of Israel, the savior. You are precious in my eye and holy and glorious. I love you. Fear not. I am with you.” The people of Israel believed thought God was back home in Israel. And Isaiah says, “Wherever you are, I Am.”
Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison. Jesus was about to leave his disciples. He had left them once before; when he died and was buried. And they thought they’d never see him again. He’d come back from death. He showed them his hands and his side. He walked with some of the on the road to Emmaus. He came into a room with locked doors and bolted shutters. He had given them hope. He had inspired their faith. He had shared his life with them. He had promised to send them the Spirit. But now He was leaving them again! But He reassures them. Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.
Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison. Early Christians were so convinced that Christ was with them always that they borrowed a phrase from the culture they lived in where people spoke Greek. A phrase that was the antiphon that I’ve been singing: Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison. Long before there were Christian people throughout the Empire would cheer, “Kyrie Eleison!” whenever the Emperor came to their village. They did not plead for mercy, it was not begging, “Please Emperor have mercy on us!” It was acknowledging that the one who had mercy, the one with the power to forgive, had come to visit them. I suppose the Pope has never been to Rogers. I’m guessing the President of the United States has never been here. Well, I guess that is quite possible. A candidate might show up sometime, in the next few months. But people who lived in small towns, when the Emperor showed up, it was an exciting day! They lined the streets as he rode into town on his chariot or he was carried in a chair, on the shoulders of the soldiers. They were delighted to see their leader who they believed in many ways was like a god. And so they cried out, “Kyrie Eleison!”
For most of the Church’s history the phrase “Kyrie Eleison” was never translated from Greek into any other language. Those of us old enough to remember mass in Latin, we never said “Lord have mercy” in Latin. We would say “Kyrie Eleison”. “Christe Eleison” as it says over your front door. I was delighted to see that up there. I knew what I was going to talk about this morning. It wasn’t until the early 1970’s that Kyrie Eleison was translated into any language. But in any language—English, French or Italian or Polish or Spanish or German or Peace Swahili or anything else, it always sounds like we are asking for forgiveness. Because there is no single phrase that adequately translates Kyrie Eleison.
I think we should always sing Kyrie Eleison because it reminds us that the Merciful One is in our midst. That the Merciful One is here already when we gather together, before the Word of God is proclaimed. Before we eat His Body and drink His Blood. The Merciful One is already here because “Whenever two or more are gathered in My Name,” Jesus said, “I am with you.” [Matthew 18:20] I am delighted there are more than two here this morning. It would have been a long way to come for only two. But I am also delighted because as I look out, I know that the merciful one is already here, in all of us. Just our being in this room: God is with us. He promised to be with us always.
Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison. He is already present in us who have been baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. He is already present in us who have been anointed by the oil of salvation, in Baptism, and Confirmation, and at least one of us in Holy Orders. He is already present among us who have been saved by his mercy. He is already present among us, for we have eaten his body and drank his blood. Imagine what our worship would be like, if we really believed that we were the presence of Christ. The Church tells us the first way that Christ is present when we gather for Eucharist is in us gathered. He shows up in the Word Proclaimed; he shows up in the Bread Broken and the Wine Poured, but He is already here the moment we walked in the doors—wherever ‘here’ is! Today we are in a holy place but if two or more of us gather in a park to celebrate Eucharist, He would already be there when we show up.
About 20 years ago I went white water rafting through the Grand Canyon. I’ve done it twice in 10 years. The first time I did three days. Because my friends and I had never been on a raft before in our life we thought if we don’t like it three days is long enough. So we signed up for the short trip. At the end of the first day we knew we were going to come back and do the rest of it. So we came back ten years later and did six days. It takes nine days to go from one end to the other. So we went the last three days and then came back and did the first six. The six day trip included a week-end. So I packed a zip-lock bag with hosts, a bottle of wine, a chalice, a bible, a sacramentary so I could say a mass, a stole—I didn’t have the rest of the robes it was way too much to pack. And on Saturday we stopped by a side canyon just to go do some hiking and in this particular canyon there was a large alkaline deposit; the water was almost the color of …your tee-shirt. Can you stand up so those in back can see that shade of blue? But it was more translucent than clear, because the alkaline was so heavy. But it also made it like the Dead Sea and you can’t sink. You float. And our guide told us to take off our vests , our life jackets. And he said, turn them upside down and use them like a diaper [laughter] so we stuck our legs through them otherwise you would scratch your bottom on the rocks as you go floating down. And it was a natural slide like at one of those parks. We just had so much fun. Instead of staying there an hour we were there for three hours. And when the sun began to set we couldn’t find a place to camp. And we kept seeing these beaches that were already full of people, and the park service has limits on how many people can stay at each site and we finally got to a place where no one else was camping. We found out; we knew why when we saw it because the place was littered with huge boulders. And there was flat sand and there was space for at most two sleeping bags between each set of boulders. So we were stretched out. It did mean that we each had our own private bedroom.
On Sunday morning when we woke up, a couple friends of mine, we decided we would go and look for a place where we could have all 18 of us, whoever wanted to come, to celebrate Mass. As we were walking around boulders we found this place, it was like the boulders had been piled up in a semi-circle, like an amphitheater, and there was one boulder at the bottom surrounded by sand that was perfectly flat, and was this high. And our Jewish brother opened his bible and read from a passage where it says, when the temple is rebuilt, the altar will be made by a stone not hewn by human hands. And we found an altar there, not hewn by human hands. And there before Mass started God was with us. Because we were there; because we knew that we were going to give praise and thanks to God. When I packed I didn’t know if there would be four of us, my three friends and me, or if there would be a whole raft of 18 people. Every single person showed up including the Jewish couple. Most of the group were not Catholic. But we all knew that God had made this place for us. And before we sang “Amazing Grace”, because I didn’t have any books with me so we had to sing things that I thought that everybody might know, before even then, we knew we were on holy ground, because God was with us.
Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison. God is with us, now. God is with us whenever we gather. Sometimes, when I gather, if I am having a bad day, it’s because I know that God is with you that I can say, “In the Name of the Father and the son and the Holy Spirit. Because I know God is with you, your faith will help me to get through whatever this day is. One year ago today I preached at my mother’s funeral. And there are priests I know who say, “How could you do that?” And I said, “Because there was no other priest who knew her better than me. I got through because through because everyone in the room reminded me that God is with us. That God was with me in my mourning, God was with my family in our mourning, and the people of God brought God to us at a time we needed to know that God was with us.
Imagine if every time we gathered we would remember that God was with us before we opened in song. That God was with us; not that God was with ‘somebody else’ or that we were in a ‘holy place’ but that God was with us because it was us, us who God made in God’s image and likeness. And when God said, “I will be with you until the end of time God is already present in us Let us rejoice and be glad.
Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison. Was there a time in your life when you realized that God was with you? Is there a time in your life when you knew that the people of God who were with you brought God with them? Where ever you happened to be.
“Kyrie, Kyrie Eleison.”
You’ve been listening to Truth of the Spirit, I’m your host Patti Brunner. Our speaker today, Fr. Dennis Chriszt, CPPS, has been a priest for almost 38 years and a Missionary of the Precious Blood for almost 40 years. We will continue with our mission on the next episode in this series as Fr. Dennis teaches about Christ Really Present in the Word Proclaimed. We invite you to subscribe to Truth of the Spirit to make it easy to come back next time. I’ll be posting a blog of this talk on PatriarchMinistries.Com and you can also look at the summaries of our other postings. We especially invite you to listen to Episode TOS043 entitled Eucharist and Other Sacraments-Eucharist with Patti Brunner and EpisodeTOS059 Basics of Faith part VII – Basics of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. And then, come back for more, because with the Holy Spirit there is always more! Amen.
