HOMILY - CORPUS CHRISTI SUNDAY (YEAR A)
JUNE 17-18, 2017
4:30 PM (SAT), 12:00 NOON ORDINARY FORM (ENGLISH) MASS
Today is Father’s Day. Happy Father’s Day!
My own Dad handed on to myself and my siblings a love of reading – by taking us to the Public Library on weekends to check out books; an ability to work on … and sometimes fix … things – by teaching us to work with tools; to problem solve by teasing us with riddles and puzzles; to work hard – by his own example of hard work; and above all to love and to forgive – because we weren’t always the best of kids … or maybe that was just me.
Dr. Scott Hahn, a rather well-known theologian … in a talk on the Lord’s Prayer – the Our Father – makes the observation that we do not call God “Father” because He is _like_ a Father. Rather, Dr. Hahn says that in a true sense “Father” is “God's name, His personal identity, [since] God is Father eternally.” The rest of us – those who are male parents and those who bear the professional title of “Father” – are the ones who are _like_ a father … our Heavenly Father – namely, God.
And so, based on my life experience, God’s Fatherhood, reflected in my own Dad, shows me that God reveals what things are … by teaching us, challenging us, guiding us to serve Him in this world and to be Eternally happy with Him in the next. He sent His Only-Begotten Son to show us how to live … and not just live, but to “live hard.” And of course in God’s eternal plan, he also shows us how to love and how to forgive.
Today, in the Church’s reckoning of things, is The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Today, after the noon Mass, in the blazing heat … we will have a brief procession to make known in a very visible way that we indeed believe that the Holy Eucharist most certainly the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Today, after the noon Mass, in the blazing heat … we will have a brief procession to make known in a very visible way that we indeed believe that the Holy Eucharist most certainly the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ.
Not a symbol. Not an idea. But truly, substantially, and really Jesus’ Body and Blood.
In the First Reading from Deuteronomy, we hear Moses reminding the People of Israel about the mighty deeds – that is, the miracles – that God has wrought in their midst. These aren’t ancient history to the Israelites. They saw them, experienced them, and lived through them. Yet, it would seem that mankind has a “what have you done for me lately” mindset – even in ancient times. So, Moses helps them to remember how God “directed” them, “test[ed]” them, “fed” them, “guided” them, and healed them.
One of these miracles was the “manna, a food unknown to [them] and [their] fathers”. The word “manna” itself means “what is this” in the Hebrew Language. To name something “what” implies a mystery. Yet even in this, God gives the “what” they needed – namely food.
In the Gospel, we hear John Chapter 6, the “Bread of Life” discourse. In these passages, Jesus puts forth His teaching on the Eucharist.
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.
Three times in a row – Jesus puts this forth. Never backing down, never apologizing for His choice of words.
We hear that “[t]he Jews quarreled among themselves, [asking], ‘How’”? But in the end, they don’t even give Jesus a chance. Instead of allowing Christ Jesus to call them to a deeper Faith … they balk and “returned to their former way of life” … and no longer followed Christ.
Finally, St. Paul lays it out for the early Christians, as well as for us.
The cup … is … a participation in the blood of Christ
[and] [t]he bread … is … a participation in the body of Christ …
The word translated here as “participation” has also been rendered as “communion,” “sharing,” “fellowship,” “partaking,” “intimacy.” The Greek word is koinonia which parallels the Latin word communio which is where we get the English word communion.
So, Holy Communion … what we partake in … what we share … is the Most Holy Eucharist … an intimate fellowship – not only with each other, but with God.
And like a good Father, God has taught and instructed us by showing us through Salvation History and through His Son Jesus Christ … the “what” and the “how” … as well as challenging us to dive into this Great Mystery through an intimate fellowship with Him and each other.
As we approach this altar to receive the Most Holy Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ – taken, blessed, broken, and given for our Salvation … let us pray for a deeper outpouring of God’s infinite and manifold graces. To bring us into deeper unity with Him and with the Church … a fellowship of intimacy … united in … a new life … a stronger Faith … a richer Hope … and a more fervent Love.
Let us accept these graces … and give God the praise and the glory for so Great a Gift … as we receive the Most Holy Eucharist … the Sacrament of His Body and Blood … which God Father has provided for us … at so great a cost in His Son’s saving sacrifice … through our communion in the Holy Spirit.
Photos from Corpus Christ Procession
