Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
May 25, 2008
Gospel :Jn 6:51-58
A Sunday school teacher asked her class where God lives. One little girl said, “God lives in heaven; another said, “God lives in church; another said, “God lives in our hearts.” Then little Johnny said, “God lives in our bathroom.” “What makes you say that, Johnny?” He answered: “Every morning my dad stands at the door of the bathroom and shouts, ‘My God, are you still in there’?”
Of course, all of those answers were correct. God lives in heaven, in church - and in our hearts. God even lives in the bathroom. However, God lives in a very special way in every Catholic church throughout the world.
If you walk into any Catholic church you should see a single red candle – and close by the red candle something that looks like a very ornate safe. It may be right behind the altar, or off to the side, but it should be somewhere within the main body of the church. We call it the tabernacle because it contains the Holy of Holies. This is where Jesus lives.
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Church places this feast immediately after Trinity Sunday and Pentecost – both of which honor the invisible God. Today’s feast honors the God that we see and embrace – the God that is present on the altar while still under the appearance of bread and wine – Jesus present in the Eucharist.
A young physicist once took a consecrated host to a laboratory. He wanted to see whether the bread had really been changed into the Body of Christ. He placed it under a microscope, but it still looked like ordinary bread - so he decided to give up all religious belief and practice. He did not lose his faith – because he had no faith to begin with. Faith is the ability to believe in something we cannot prove. Since he could not prove the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, he refused to believe.
In contrast, a Protestant woman, after attending Catholic mass only a few times, announced that she had decided to become a Catholic. Asked why, she answered, “Well, the sermons were so terrible and the music so dreadful, that I knew there must be something else there to make them want to come.” She may not have been able to give a theological explanation of the Eucharist, but she felt something that could not be explained in purely human terms.
Our belief that the Eucharist is the real presence of Christ is the major distinction between the Catholic Church and most other Christian denominations. It has brought many non-Catholic Christians into the Church. This power of the Eucharist to attract people should be justification enough to believe in the Real Presence.
At what point during our liturgy does the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ? Most of us were taught that it is when the priest elevates the bread and wine and repeats the words that Jesus uttered at the Last Supper: “This is My Body. This is My Blood.” Many in the eastern Church, believe that it is when the priest extends his hands over the bread and wine and invokes the Holy Spirit to “come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” It is not important when it happens – only that it does happen.
We should never take it for granted, because at every celebration of the Eucharist something extraordinary takes place. The Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, is really and truly present on the altar. A few minutes later, he enters our bodies - and our hearts – and becomes, really and truly, part of us.
When a person is dying, the last Holy Communion is called viaticum – food for the journey home to the Lord. The communion we receive here today – and every day – is also food for the journey – for the journey through life. It strengthens us for all the twists and turns along this sometimes rocky road. Jesus compares it to the food that God provided the Israelites during their long journey from captivity to freedom.
But that food – the manna God sent from heaven – could only sustain them a little while. All who received it would eventually die. The food we share today – the Body and Blood of Christ – sustains us throughout eternity. “Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
After the elevation of the bread and wine, the priest prays: “Grant that we, who are nourished by his body and blood, may be filled with his Holy Spirit and become one body, one spirit, in Christ.” This is a second consecration – another transformation – that expresses the ultimate purpose of the first. The Body and Blood of Christ that we receive from this altar transforms us into the Body of Christ that we are meant to be for the world.
We come here not just to receive Communion – but also to enter into communion – with Jesus, with one another, with the entire Body of Christ throughout the world, with all of God’s creation.
This is our mission – to be the Body of Christ in a world that hungers for Him.
Three In One, One In Three
May 19, 2008
Today’s Reading: John 3:16-18
An elderly bishop visited a small parish to administer the sacrament of confirmation. He asked the candidates if anyone could give a definition of the Holy Trinity. One girl raised her hand and said, softly, “The Holy Trinity is one God in three persons.” The bishop, who was hard of hearing said, “I don’t understand what you said.” The girl replied, “You’re not supposed to – it’s a mystery!”
It is a mystery, and our human minds may have difficulty grasping idea of one God in three persons – but that’s all right. The girl was correct - we do not have to understand everything – especially the enormity of God. Thinking that they could is what got Adam and Eve into trouble.
Today’s gospel does not tell us what the Trinity is – just what the Trinity does. “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.”
God loves the world so much that he sends part of Himself - his Son - who gives his life for us, rises from the dead, and ascends to the Father. Then, He shares his Spirit with us.
The Trinity is not an abstract concept – disconnected from our ordinary experience. It is the saving action of God – the consequences of God’s love for all humanity.
Time after time, we turn away from God’s love. We follow, not God’s will, but our own. God’s response to our disobedience is not punishment, but pardon – not condemnation, but salvation.
God’s love and forgiveness is available to everyone – but not everyone takes advantage of it. There is the necessity for faith – for belief in God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
What about those who do not believe in Jesus - are they condemned? God does not condemn anyone – but those who reject Jesus condemn themselves. Rejection of Jesus implies full knowledge of him. It can only come through deliberate rejection - from actions that betray a determination to knowingly turn away from God’s love.
Those who have never known Jesus have not rejected Him. They are subject to God’s mercy. However, those who knowingly turn away from Him must seek pardon and forgiveness.
The Good News — is that whatever a person might have done, however determined to reject God’s love a person might be – the door is always open. God loves the world and wants everyone to be saved. God anxiously waits on the most disobedient sinner to accept the salvation Christ won for us.
Ours is a dynamic and loving God – intimately involved in the world and in the lives of all humanity. The key to understanding God is love. God loves us all – and despite the many rejections he has to put up with God keeps on loving us.
In our first reading, Moses acknowledged that, “This is indeed a stiff-necked people.” Like the ancient Israelites, we do not often know what is good for us. We break God’s commandments and reject God’s love over and over again. We attribute to God all kinds of motives and actions that have nothing to do with Him. We blame God for all our ills. Yet, God still loves us.
Knowing all we do about God – knowing how utterly dependent we are – how, but for God’s love, we would be sunk in our own sin and selfishness - knowing all these things – no one should complain when asked to give God just one hour a week in worship.
St. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, does not give us a long and dense theological discourse about the Holy Trinity. He gives us a simple prayer that describes the essence of the mystery of the Trinity. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us today – and always.
Doing Great Things for God - Together
May 11, 2008
Read: John 20:19-23
One way to tell if a person is alive or dead is to hold a mirror up to the mouth. A breath – even a weak breath – will form a mist on the mirror indicating that the person is alive. If there is no breath, there is no mist – and no life.
On the evening of the first Easter, the risen Jesus breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Just when they were at their lowest ebb; shut away in a room, paralyzed with fear, dispirited, disillusioned and confused – the breath of Christ – the Holy Spirit of God, began to flow through them. They may have not yet fully understood, but he was giving them new life and new energy.
Fifty days later, on the first Pentecost, the Holy Spirit would come upon them again – and everything changed. The men who were cowering in the upper room just a few weeks before now spoke with authority – and people from different parts of the world heard them in their own language. They forgave sins – as they had been empowered to do on that first Easter night. They proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ with a courage they had never known before.
No one can receive the Spirit of God and remain unchanged. For these disciples, although Jesus had disappeared from their sight, in many ways he was closer to them than when he walked with them as a man. He was now a part of them.
Although their mission would cause them to travel far from one another, they would be more in communion than they had ever been. With the Spirit of Jesus living in them, they became, in a new way, his people; his messengers, and his body. Wherever they would go, he was with them.
This gift of the Holy Spirit, given to the small Christian community that first Pentecost, has been with his disciples in every age. The Spirit gives life and energy to the world and all the people in it. As their spiritual descendants, we need to be more aware of the Spirit within us and how we can harness its energy.
The Holy Spirit is commonly portrayed as a dove, but I like to think of it more like that bunny in the TV commercials that just keeps going and going. However, even that electric bunny will not move if no one turns on the switch.
If we walk into a poorly-lit room, we can complain about how dark it is, or we can turn on the light. If we see an area of darkness in our little corner of the world, we can curse the darkness, or we can help bring the light of Christ to it. We can “turn on the switch” and be empowered and energized by the Holy Spirit to do great things – or we can moan about the fact that there is so much sin and darkness in the world that it seems that God has forgotten us.
God never forgets us. God fills our world with a life so wonderful and mysterious that it defies explanation.
We can explain how the movement of the earth around the sun causes the seasons, or that the spinning of our planet brings about night and day. However, that does not give justice to a newly-blossoming flower or the gentle warmth of a spring day. We can learn how the union of cells can bring about new life, but that does not adequately explain the indescribable beauty of a baby’s smile.
All the positive energy and life that surrounds us is the Holy Spirit of God. It is part of us and we must be open to its power. It energizes us and allows us to become dynamic messengers of Christ according to our own individual gifts.
We do not simply bring Christ to others – we identify the Christ who is already there. Where there is goodness, it is His goodness. When we bring healing, it is His healing. When we forgive, it is His forgiveness. The Holy Spirit empowers us to show people how Jesus is already at work in their midst. They, in turn, are strengthened by the same Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is described as “a strong driving wind,” as “tongues of fire” and as the gentle breath of Jesus. You and I may have experienced these manifestations of the Spirit. You may have been knocked to the ground, as St. Paul was. You may have felt empowered to do things you never thought possible. You may have heard the small voice within telling you not to do something you knew was wrong, or a gentle nudge pushing you into doing something you knew was right. You may have been touched by the Holy Spirit and not even recognized it.
I remember once, many years ago, experiencing the Holy Spirit as I listened to an elderly woman outside of a nursing home. She talked about her life, and the things she had done, and the people she had loved. As a gentle summer breeze flowed through her white hair, I saw the years melt away and reveal a beautiful young woman whose smile was the face of God. I am still moved by the power of that smile.
God sent His Spirit to energize the world. God calls you and me to turn on the switch. Together, we can renew the face of the earth.
Calendar Cues
May 2, 2008
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