Homily for the week of June 6, 2010

Feast of Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, 2010

Genesis 14:18-20

Psalm 110:1, 2, 3, 4

1 Corinthians 11:23-26

Luke 9:11b-17

Five weeks ago 11 girls and boys were spiritually hungry. They sat in these front pews and made their First Communion. For many of us First Communion is the first time we join the older people in doing something they do. The photos, prayer books, holy cards and gifts we receive become part of our religion. Each one of you could tell a story of your First Holy Communion. Today is the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. In Latin it is Corpus Christi. When we receive Jesus we call it Holy Communion. The prayer that you and I participate in is called the Eucharistic Prayer. But I wonder how many of you see Holy Communion as satisfying your spiritual hunger. Nothing else! No one else! God alone can satisfy it.

Last week we thought about the mystery of the Blessed Trinity that in God there are three persons. This weekend we have another mystery called the Blessed Sacrament. We believe that Jesus is present in the Holy Communion that we receive. It is not just bread but it is Jesus himself. Jesus told us one day: This is My Body given for you. this cup is the new covenant in My Blood poured out for you. If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood you have no life in you.

From the time we enter the Church for Mass we invited to reaalize that God along sustains us. Throughout the rest of the week we are seduced by millions of messages that try to tell us that something else sustains us. Little by little we can give in to those who tell us that we will find happiness if we buy certain cloths, drive certain car,maintain a certain weight, have a certain body shape, live in a certain home, have a certain kind of job, make a certain salary, have a certain amount of sex, have a certain level of popularity. But holy communion or Eucharist reminds us that we can't sustain ourselves. Though there is nothing wrong in the things I mentioned, each time we are at Church for Mass we come to realize that only God alone sustains us.

During part of the Church’s history, there was such a devotion to the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist that believers would hurry from one church to another just to catch a glimpse of the consecrated bread as the priest held it high during the “Elevation”. There was a sense of their being blest just by seeing. And if you could not be there the church bells would ring so that neigbors would join in prayer with those at Mass. That is why today the altar server rings the bell when I raise the host and chalice.

In the world of Jesus, the expression “body and blood” was a way of speaking of the whole person. In the ancient formula handed on to Paul and then to us, which we repeat at Eucharist, we are invited not only to receive the body and blood of Christ that is for us but also to “do this in remembrance” of him. “Do this” means not only to recall his words and actions at Eucharist but to imitate his whole manner of life. Moreover, “remembrance” is not simply to call to mind but to make present again Christ’s entrusting of himself to us in love.

In the Gospel, we see how easy it is to miss the moment when Jesus can feed us. The Twelve Apostles and the crowd have been with Jesus all day as he was teaching them about God and has restored the bodies of those who needed healing. With the day drawing to a close, the peoples’ physical needs now come to the fore. The Twelve Apostles suggest to Jesus that he send the crowd into the surrounding villages and farms to find lodging and food.

Instead, Jesus directs the Apostles to their own resources All they have is five loaves of bread and two fish. They are sure there is not enough, and they quickly jump to the option of going out and buying provisions. Jesus, however, takes the five loaves and two fish, looks up to heaven, blesses, breaks and gives them to the disciples to set before the crowd. There is plenty for all and then some. How did it happen? Did Jesus actually multiply the loaves and fish, or was it a miracle in which everyone was prompted to share with others what they had brought? A better question is: How do we reproduce the giving of our whole selves, body, mind and spirit, to the one who is the source of all nourishment so that we may be broken open in love for the life of the world?

Over the last 20 or 30 years, many Catholics have sadly moved away from the practice of their religion. Recently I met several people who introduced themselves as “reverts.” Raised as Catholics, they each spent years away from the Church, often looking for spiritual nourishment in various other religions. Each indicated that the key factor in returning to Catholicism was the Eucharist. “I missed the Eucharist,” one woman told me. “I hungered for it.”

Many ask themselves the question: Why go to Mass? Why bother going to Mass when we can worship God anywhere? The simplest of answer is because it is only at Mass that we can receive Holy Communion. From the earliest days of Christianity, men and women and children have brought their deepest needs to the Altar table of the Lord. This is why we pray for the those who have died at Mass, and we pray for ourselves. It is at Mass that we can receive forgiveness for our sins, we can hear the word of the Lord, and we can pray with and for one another. Each of us are here today because our personal belief in Jesus, in his word and in his communion. But there are many who have made their first communion and for one reason or another have felt no need for a second or third or more communions. Could it be that Jesus is asking you to invite them back?