Homily for the Week of June 10, 2012

Feast of Body and Blood of Christ, 2012 Exodus 24: 3-8; Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26 Some of our most remembered events are those associated with a meal. Meals can be the regular meals prepared every day and shared with family or friends, or meals that celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, weddings, baptisms, proms. Meals can come as formal and elaborate banquets, or cookouts, barbecues, or picnics where we bring out own food. They can be simple food such as chowder or cotton candy as part of the Cadyville Field Day. Some of these meals make such an impact upon us that we remember them for a lifetime. Since food is necessary for survival it can be easily assumed that Jesus shared many meals with his parents and his friends. One of these meals, however, stands out above all others. It is the one that we celebrate today, and the one that you and I have participated in many times. It is the Holy Eucharist, or Holy Communion or Communion. Like all meals it provides us food for survival, but unlike other meals it provides us food for spiritual and religious survival as we get old enough to appreciate it. A few weeks ago we invited 9 of our young girls and boys to share this meal as they made their first Holy Communion with the help of their parents and teachers. The last meal that Jesus had with his friends, known as the Last Supper, was part of the ceremony of the Jewish Passover. It was a meal that was held every year after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. There are many places in the Bible that give us many details about meals such as who ate with whom, who sat where, what people ate and drank and where, how the food was prepared, which utensils were used, when the meal took place, what was discussed at table. This final meal of Jesus with his close friends cements their mutual relationship. However, at this final meal Judas definitively separates himself from the group. And then Jesus does something different. For the first time Jesus made a transition from the Passover meal to a new meal. Jesus did something different. He took some of the bread on the table and some of the wine in the cup, and for the first time ever said over the bread THIS IS MY BODY, and over the wine THIS IS MY BLOOD. For years Jesus had been teaching that there are other kinds of bread besides the physical bread and wine. He taught his disciples about the bread of compassion. He often offered others a shoulder to cry on, a few moments of listening time to those who needed someone to talk to. He offered the wine of words which moved the hearts of many to believe and to love. Health experts tell us that without sufficient amounts of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins and fats in our diet we will not be healthy and we may even die. We are told to eat a variety of foods so that we get all the nutrients we need. We tend not to question the health experts. We trust they know what they are talking about. Even though there is probably no one here who follows their recommendations perfectly. Today’s feast puts us in touch in with another expert, Jesus. He tells us what we need to do to be healthy spiritiually. While we have not seen Jesus personally, we have the words of many who did, and who told us what Jesus wanted us to hear and to follow. When we listen to what Jesus had to say we begin to realize that Jesus had a few things to say about nutrition. He does not tell us about the vitamins and minerals we need to keep our physical lives healthy. He came to tell us that he will give us a full life. And the food that will nourish that life is himself. He tells us that He is the bread of life and whoever eats this bread will live forever. And that is a truly healthy diet. Jesus is our expert on life and he tells us that the food which he offers us, which is himself, will nourish us forever. There was a time in our church history, even 50 or 60 years ago, that Catholics thought they were not good enough to receive communion, so they stayed away. At that time Catholics were obliged to go to communion at least once a year at Easter which was called Easter duty. Today, however, many people have lost their faith in the presence of Jesus in Communion and thus stay away. Many do not believe that the Eucharist is really and truly the body and blood of Jesus. And so they stay away from going to Church. And like a domino effect when they stay away from Mass attendance they are getting away from their spiritual roots. And without a strong spiritual foundation to build our lives on, we have fewer values to live by and fewer values to pass on to our children. God’s life is shown to us in many ways, but it is in the Eucharist and Communion, more than anything else that God loves us and God is with us. The bread on any table is quickly eaten and then there is no more. But the bread and wine which Jesus gives us in Communion becomes more and more as we take it more and more often.