Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, June 15, 2022 -- NINE
Fishing derby held at Cutsforth Park
Spiritually Speaking
Jesus calls us to become
bread for others
By Fr. Thankachan Joseph
The Catholic Church will celebrate
this Sunday as Corpus Christi Sunday –
the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Bethlehem
meant the place of bread, place of meat.
Jesus was born to become bread to
quench the spiritual and physical hunger Fr. Thankachan
of everyone. Before leaving this world, Joseph
He called His disciples and instituted the
Holy Eucharist as a spiritual nourishment.
Is Jesus Really Present in the Holy Eucharist? Every
day on every continent and at every Eucharistic celebra-
tion the real presence of the Lord takes place through a
true Eucharistic miracle in which the Eucharistic bread
and wine are truly made the Body and Blood of Our Lord.
A beautiful story comes from the life of St. Antony
of Padua (1195-1231) regarding the real presence of the
Lord: Saint Anthony engaged in conversation with a
particularly stubborn heretic who refused to admit the
mystery of transubstantiation, for he perceived no change
in the sacramental species after the words of consecra-
tion. In vain, Anthony presented proofs drawn from both
Scripture and Tradition.
When his efforts failed, he decided to alter his strate-
gy. “You possess,” he told the man, “a mule. I will present
a consecrated host to it. If it falls on its knee before the
Blessed Sacrament, will you recognize the real Presence
of the Savior under His Eucharistic appearance?” “Cer-
tainly,” responded the confident unbeliever. The two men
agreed to meet again in the market square three days
later then went their separate ways, each to prepare for
the spiritual showdown. The heretic deprived his beast
from all food for the three days. Our saint prepared by
doubling his accustomed time in prayer. At the set day and
time, Anthony appeared with a ciborium in his hands. The
skeptic led the famished animal. A considerable crowd had
gathered, curious to attend such a remarkable sight. With
a smile on his lips, the unbeliever set a sack of oats before
the animal. The hungry animal turned away from the oats
and toward the Sacred Host held high by the Saint. With a
graceful motion uncharacteristic of his breed, the beast of
burden bowed low to the ground, giving due reverence to
his Creator. Thus, the heretic and those gathered believed
in the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharistic bread.
With the miracle of the loaves, Jesus fulfills the nat-
ural hunger of everyone before He begins the spiritual
discourse. The temptation of the Lord in the desert begins
with the tempter asking Jesus to change the stones into
bread, since the Lord was hungry. In the last judgment
scene, to the people on the right He says, “Come you that
are blessed by my Father! I was hungry and you fed me,
thirsty and you gave me a drink” (Matthew 25:34-35).
These examples show Jesus addressing the basic needs
of human life first.
Do we approach him for physical food or spiritual
food? As human beings we cannot live on bread alone. I
am reminded of the words of St Augustine: “It is no use
feeding on Christ with our teeth if we are not feeding on
him with our minds,” that is, by faith. Eating and drinking
of the body and blood of Jesus are meant to be symbolic
of our wanting to live by the word of God. In the Gospel
of John, Jesus speaks about the vine and branches and
reminds us that without Him, we cannot live: “I tell you
solemnly, if you do not eat of the flesh of Son of Man
and drink his blood you will not have life in you. He who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I in
him anyone who eats this bread will live forever” (John
6:53-54).
To starving people who followed Jesus into the desert
He offered ordinary bread, satisfying their physical hun-
ger. To the leper He offered the bread of physical healing.
To the lonely woman at Jacob’s well He offered the bread
of human kindness and acceptance. To sinners He offered
the bread of forgiveness. To the rejects and outcasts, by
mixing with them, He offered the bread of empathy and
companionship. To the widow of Nain and Martha and
Mary He offered the bread of compassion. To the thief
who died by His side, He offered the bread of repentance
and reconciliation with God.
It is our time to satisfy human needs of people around
us. Is there anyone hungry around me? How do I approach
such situations and become the bread for someone in
need? What bread are we looking for? Only Jesus can
offer us that bread, because “He is the Bread of life.”
ALL NEWS AND ADVERTISEMENT DEADLINE:
Kids from 0 to 14 years old participated in the annual fishing derby held at Cutsforth Park, despite the wet weather.
-Contributed photos.
Morrow County Parks
held its annual Youth Fish-
ing Derby on Saturday, June
11, 2022, at the Cutsforth
Park pond. The pond was
stocked with fish from the
Irrigon Fish Hatchery cour-
tesy of Oregon Department
of Fish and Wildlife. There
45 participants along with
family, friends and relatives
who braved the dreary,
rainy weather to land some
great fish.
Hot dogs, chili, hot
chocolate and coffee were
provided and prepared by
the Heppner Elks Lodge
#358 members. Wildhorse
Resort and Casino, along
with the Glen Ward family,
contributed to the event to
help ensure each participant
received a lure, bobber and
a small bucket of goodies.
The late Glen Ward was
a staple to this annual event
and could always be found
at the table with his custom
board and ruler for mea-
suring the fish as the kids
brought them up. Glen en-
joyed seeing the delight and
smiles as the kids would
bring him the fish, although
there were always a couple
that were squeamish as the
fish flopped around out
of the water. Glen would
quickly reassure the kids
the fish would not hurt
them and often would see
a child carry or at least
touch the fish. For Glen this
was pure enjoyment as he
believed that teaching the
youth about the outdoors
and all that it had offer was
one of best things to teach a
child. In honor of the years
of supporting this event it
was announced that all fu-
ture Youth Fishing Derby’s
would be in his honor and
now be known as the Glen
Ward Memorial Youth Fish-
ing Derby.
Keeping in tradition
with Glen, there were vol-
unteers that could be seen
helping youth at the pond
as they supplied fishing
equipment to those in need
and assisted at the ponds
edge. There were a dozen
youth in 0-5 age group who
landed a total of three fish
with an average length of
14-½ inches. The largest
fish in this group was 19-½
inches long and caught by
Griff Mullins.
Twenty-two fish were
landed by the 6-10 age
group with average length
being 13 inches. This
group’s largest fish was
reeled in by Ella Mullins
and measured 15 inches in
length. The 11-14 age group
had a great day catching 25
fish in total with the average
fish length of 13-¼ inches
in length.
Hannah Brannon was
the first to turn in a big
fish at 22-¾” weighing 4
lbs. 6 oz. with rumors that
it almost got away. Hailey
McDaniel, at the end of the
derby, reeled in a 23 ½” fish
weighing 6 lbs. 3 oz. bring-
Don Bennett
1972 Charter Member of the
Heppner Water Control Board,
recently retired from the board.
Thank you, Don, for your
50 years of service
Heppner Water Control Board
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ing in not only the largest
for the group but the best
catch of the day.
The smallest fish of the
day was another competi-
tion that several came close
to getting but the smallest
legal fish of the day went
to Duke Baker with a fish
measuring 1/16 inches and
weighing 3 oz. Trophies
were given the largest fish
in each age group and to
the smallest legal fish of
the day.
Morrow County Parks
appreciate all who help
make this event possible
and those who braved the
weather and participated
in the event. “It was great
to see everyone once again
after the two-year break.
Mark your calendars for
June 2023 as the Glen Ward
Memorial Youth Fishing
Derby will take place for all
to enjoy and make memo-
ries,” stated a parks spokes-
person.