RE: 06.23.11~Readings for Sunday, June 26th-2011, and news release on World Youth Day in Madrid

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June 26, 2011
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body
and Blood of Christ

Reading 1
Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a
Moses said to the people:
"Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God,
has directed all your journeying in the desert,
so as to test you by affliction
and find out whether or not it was your intention
to keep his commandments.
He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger,
and then fed you with manna,
a food unknown to you and your fathers,
in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live,
but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.
"Do not forget the LORD, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
that place of slavery;
who guided you through the vast and terrible desert
with its saraph serpents and scorpions,
its parched and waterless ground;
who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock
and fed you in the desert with manna,
a food unknown to your fathers."
147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20
Responsorial Psalm
R. (12) Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has granted peace in your borders;
with the best of wheat he fills you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.
or:
R. Alleluia.
1 Cor 10:16-17
Reading II
Brothers and sisters:
The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.
Jn 6:51-58
Gospel
Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in 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.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."
Next Day
USCCB News Release

11-128
June 20, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


On World Refugee Day, USCCB Official urges United States to Remain Global Leader
In remarks made in commemoration of the United Nation’s World Refugee Day June 20, Ambassador Johnny Young, executive director of Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged the United States to maintain its role as a global leader in refugee protection.
“Without U.S. leadership, the situation for the world’s 15 million refugees would be much worse,” Ambassador Young said. “We must remain committed to refugee protection and to the U.S. refugee program, which saves thousands of lives each year.”
In his remarks, Ambassador Young expressed the support of the USCCB for the Refugee Protection Act, which was introduced in Congress last week. The proposed legislation would strengthen protections for refugees and asylum-seekers who find safe haven in the United States.
“I commend Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) for their introduction of the Refugee Protection Act and urge Congress to enact it as soon as possible.”
The legislation would, among other things, eliminate the one-year filing deadline for aliens in the United States to apply for asylum, authorize the Secretary of State to designate certain vulnerable groups as eligible for expedited adjudication of refugees, and facilitate the reunification of families who have been unnecessarily kept apart.
“A large number of refugees rescued by our nation are themselves victims of terror and are in need of protection from such threats,” Ambassador Young concluded. “We can ensure the integrity of the U.S. refugee program without sacrificing its vitality and capacity.”
Migration and Refugee Services of USCCB is the largest refugee resettlement agency in the United States, serving close to 20,000 refugees every year.
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Keywords: refugees, immigration, World Day of Refugees, Ambassador Johnny Young, Migration and Refugee Services, Senator Patrick Leahy, Representative Zoe Lofgren, Refugee Protection Act
USCCB News Release

11-117
June 9, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


U.S. Bishops Will Join English-Speaking Pilgrims at World Youth Day Love and Life Center in Madrid This Summer
Mass with U.S. pilgrims to be celebrated at Palacio de los Deportes arena Aug. 20
U.S. Bishops to teach, mingle with participants throughout youth festival
A USCCB sponsored virtual pilgrimage will allow others to participate from home
WASHINGTON (June 9, 2011)—U.S. pilgrims attending World Youth Day (WYD) Madrid 2011 will have the added benefit of a youth facility providing English-language programming. Called "Love and Life: A Home for English-Speaking Pilgrims,” the center will be located at Madrid's Palacio de los Deportes, the city's premiere civic and sports arena. A Mass specifically for U.S. pilgrims is scheduled at the facility the morning of Saturday, August 20, with over 60 U.S. bishops expected to participate and concelebrate.
Activities at the center, scheduled around the WYD program of events, will include Masses and devotions, catechesis sessions, concerts, speakers, testimonies, prayer, movie screenings, and more. The air-conditioned facility seats 15,000 in its main event hall and its exhibition areas will contain a chapel specially constructed for WYD, as well as informational displays, an art show and support for the young visitors to Spain's capital city. It will also offer them a place to rest from the summer heat.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) will be providing the animating team for Friday’s catechesis session at the center and is also involved in offering a lectio divina experience on Friday evening after the Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross). U.S. Bishops will be present at the site throughout the “Youth Festival” times to interact with the young pilgrims. Several U.S. bishops will provide catechesis at the site as well as at other locations. USCCB is also sponsoring a concert before the Mass on Saturday offered by Oregon Catholic Press and World Library Publications, beginning at 9:00 a.m. At the conclusion of the Mass, the pilgrims will be “sent forth” by the bishops to the Cuarto Vientos Airport, where many of them will participate in the evening Prayer Vigil and will spend the night. The WYD closing Mass with Pope Benedict XVI will also be hosted at this location.
The Knights of Columbus and the Sisters of Life are sponsoring the “Love and Life” pilgrim center and have worked closely with USCCB’s WYD coordinators, Rick McCord and Sister Eileen McCann, CSJ. The center will be opened to all WYD participants free of charge. Co-sponsors include Holy Cross Family Ministries, Canada's Salt and Light Television Network, the Apostleship of Prayer, the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), World Youth Alliance and the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family.
More than one million people are expected to participate in WYD events, which begin Tuesday, Aug. 16, and end Sunday, Aug. 21, with an open-air Mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI. At least 25,000 U.S. pilgrims will travel to the Spanish capital this summer for the event.
For information and updates on activities, performers and speakers programmed at the “Love and Life” site visit www.wydenglish.org or inquire via e-mail at wyd@kofc.org.
For those who can’t go to Madrid this summer but wish to follow WYD events from home, the USCCB’s Communications Department has launched a first-ever “Virtual Pilgrimage.” Through a Facebook application and website for non-Facebook users individuals can create an avatar and use it to participate in the virtual pilgrimage. A Google map provides visuals of where pilgrims are coming from and where they are in Madrid —uniting pilgrims from across the U.S. and world.
The USCCB has also created a Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Virtual-World-Youth-Day/155152027881863) where virtual pilgrims can “participate” in WYD by viewing live video feed from Madrid, following twitter feeds and blogs, and uploaded photos and videos from the event. Non-Facebook users who wish to create an avatar can go to http://www.virtualworldyouthday.org/.
For information about WYD schedule and updates visit WYD Madrid 2011 official site: http://www.madrid11.com/en