In June we celebrate several holidays: Father’s Day, the feast of the Sacred Heart, and Corpus Christi. What do they speak to us?

In June we celebrate several holidays: Father’s Day in USA and Canada, the feast of the Sacred Heart, and Corpus Christi. These holidays are all interrelated; I see several important connections.

The Father sends the Son to reveal to us the true face of his love; Jesus reveals the Father to us and reveals the truth of human nature. Jesus, our friend, the incarnate love of God, and the merciful Heart, gives his life for us, his Body so that we may feed on him: “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me” (John 6:57).

Since 1914, the Pope’s Prayer Network has been reaching out to youth through the Eucharistic Youth Movement [EYM]. In the EYM, Christ calls us to be formed in the school of the heart. “The Way of the Heart” shapes our mission, and forms our thoughts and feelings according to the Heart of Christ.

Many EYM members went on a mission during Holy Week. Some of us went to poor communities; others went to ‘the peripheries’– to work with migrants and those with disabilities. On our mis-sions, we labored with Christ in his mission of compassion. Step 7 of The Way of the Heart is, “We offer our lives along with him.” As I offer my life with Christ, my life becomes Eucharist. I am free to join in his mission of love and service to others. I simply tell the Father “Here I am” — with my life, my heart and my mind. I ask to join the Son as he offers himself to the Father; with Jesus, I can be a beloved daughter or son of the Father. I can join Jesus in his mission of compassion. In his mission, we become little “Eucharists” with him. He makes us bread, broken and shared with others. Christ calls me to receive the Eucharist and to be a little eucharist for others.

Let us celebrate with “eucharistic” gratitude, giving thanks! We are called. We labor in a mission of compassion. We are united to the Heart of the Son. With him, we are Living Bread, a sign of the Father’s love, in service of our brothers and sisters.

Lourdes Varguez, RJM
EYM Coordinator (Canada)