Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year B

 

Ex 24:3-8

Ps 116:12-13, 15-18

Heb 9:11-15

Mk 14:12-16, 22-26

 

Our Lady Queen of Peace, Wichita Falls, TX

 

Six years ago, I had completed my first year of formation as a seminarian and received my first summer assignment here in Wichita Falls. A brother seminarian and I split our time between Our Lady Queen of Peace and Sacred Heart. One of my fondest memories of that summer was organizing and participating in the Corpus Christi procession. It is with great joy that I return to this beloved parish as a priest to preside at this celebration of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Back then I was at the front of the procession carrying the cross. Today I will be at the end of the procession carrying Jesus Christ in the monstrance.

Our first reading today from Exodus recalls how God was preparing his people for the coming of his Christ. Through Moses, God was teaching the people about covenant and about sacrifice. In the Old Covenant, God the Father promised his Chosen People that he would bless them if they follow and obey his law. The assembled people of Israel accepted God’s covenant with them and said “YES” to God. Their yes was then sealed by the sprinkling of the blood of sacrificed animals. They were to follow the commandments of the law of God and to worship him as he desired to be worshipped. “The actions on the part of the Israelites did not demand a commitment from them other than a promise. This was the reason behind the need to continually renew it.”[1] The blood of animals is insufficient to atone for sin. No sacrifice made by human beings is sufficient to reconcile us to God. The sacrifices of the Old Covenant were symbols of the perfect sacrifice to come later.

In our second reading from Hebrews, the sacred writer reminds us that the Messiah, Jesus Christ has now entered into his creation as both High Priest and perfect sacrifice. Jesus has made with us, his people, his Church, his Mystical Body a new and everlasting covenant. Jesus offers to us eternal life and happiness if we will follow him. We, assembled as Church give our “yes” to the new covenant through our baptism. That covenant is then sealed by receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

Our Gospel reading from Mark recounts the Last Supper, the very first Holy Mass. At the Last Supper, the first Holy Mass, Jesus took basic foods meant for the nourishment of our bodies, bread and wine, and transformed them into his own actual body and blood given to us for our spiritual food. The very next day, Jesus Christ the High Priest offered his body and blood as the eternal sacrifice in his Passion and death on the cross. Through his saving action, Jesus enacted the New and Eternal covenant between God and his people. His blood shed for us was a perfect sacrifice, sufficient to atone for all the sins of humanity for all time. Unlike in the Old Covenant, Jesus’ sacrifice was no longer a sacrifice of “something else for some of the people”, but a sacrifice of “self for all people”.[2] In asking his disciples to ‘take, eat’, Jesus invited them to receive the gift of his divine life – God’s divine life – into themselves. He makes that same invitation to us today.

Catholic Christians believe the words of Jesus Christ spoken in the Gospel. We believe that in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is truly, really, substantially and sacramentally present – body, blood, soul, and divinity. (CCC 1374) He did not speak symbolically or metaphorically. The Eucharist is not a symbol! The Church teaches us that although Jesus is present to us in many ways ‘in his Word, in the prayer of the Church, in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned, in the sacraments, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of his priests, he is MOST ESPECIALLY present in a unique way in the Eucharistic species.’ (CCC 1373) We refer to Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist as REAL, not because he is not somehow present in any of these other ways, but because in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is present in the fullest sense: Jesus Christ, true God and true man, makes himself wholly and entirely present to and for us hidden behind the appearances of bread and wine. Again, the Eucharist is not a symbol!

The fact that Jesus is really present in the Holy Eucharist has some serious implications for we who claim the name of Catholic. Did you listen to the words of the sequence sung today before the Gospel? There are two stanzas in there that are quite sobering and should cause any faithful Catholic to pause and reflect, perhaps even tremble a little when we come to Mass:

“Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what diverse dooms preparing,
Endless death, or endless life.

 

Life to these, to those damnation,
See how like participation
Is with unlike issues rife.”

 

When we enter the Church, we do so in silent reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ is truly present in the tabernacle. We refrain from idle chatter and social talk so we can properly compose ourselves before receiving our Eucharistic Lord. We genuflect before the tabernacle, using our bodies to acknowledge the presence of our Lord and King. When we receive him, we are entering into the most intimate union possible with our God on this side of eternity. To receive Holy Communion is to receive the same Christ who offered himself for us as both High Priest and eternal sacrifice (CCC 1382). Nobody who is conscious to grave sin is to receive Holy Communion without prior sacramental confession and absolution (CCC 1385). To do so willingly and knowingly is to profane the Blessed Sacrament and to bring judgement and condemnation down upon oneself, as St. Paul warns us. (cf. 1 Cor 11:27-29). Further, our bishops remind us that proper preparation for Holy Communion includes fasting for at least an hour before receiving the Blessed Sacrament, repenting of one’s sins daily, and dressing appropriately and modestly when participating in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. If we are not fully prepared to receive Holy Communion and in a state of grace, we should remain in our pew and pray for a spiritual communion with our Lord, asking him for the grace to allow Jesus to enter into our minds, hearts, and souls. If however, we are fully prepared and in a state of grace, nothing, absolutely nothing should prevent us from receiving our Risen Lord in this most Holy Sacrament of the Altar!

          It is worth reminding ourselves when we approach the altar of sacrifice to receive our Eucharistic Lord that we are to do so with a proper demeanor and reverence toward this most Blessed Sacrament. It is not a mere symbol! As we move forward in procession, we do so with all our hearts and minds focused on who (not what) we are about to receive, not looking around or greeting others in their pews. This is the Lord’s time with us – we are to use it well! When it is our turn to receive Jesus, we strive to do so with great reverence and devotion, remembering that Jesus Christ has given himself as a gift to us; a gift to be received, not grasped at and taken. After the minister proclaims to us “The Body of Christ,” we audibly say “Amen!” to give our assent that we do truly believe that he is fully present, body, blood, soul, and divinity. He is not a symbol! We may receive on the tongue if we so choose, following an ancient and venerable custom of the Church. If we do, we never, ever bite at the Eucharist and risk also biting the minister, nor do we imitate the coin slot on a vending machine. Rather, we always remember to open our mouths wide and stick out our tongue so the priest can gently place Our Lord on it. We may also choose to receive in the hand, following another ancient practice of the Church. When we do, we are to recall the instruction given to us in the 4^th century by Sts. Cyril of Jerusalem and John Chrysostom: “stretch out both hands, [one on top of the other,] making a throne for the King . . . so that the sacred host can be conveyed to the mouth with the other hand.”[3] The Eucharist is a gift to be received: we never pinch it or grab it from the hand of the minister. It is a laudable and worthy practice to then return to our pew and kneel in silent prayer, thanking Jesus who now lives within us for the beautiful gift we have just received.

          My dear Catholic Christians, as we prepare ourselves to receive the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in just a few short minutes, I beg you to pray for those who call themselves Catholic but who do not believe in the Real Presence. Sadly, the percentage of Catholics who believe the Eucharist is merely symbolic of Christ is a high percentage. Their souls are in mortal danger. Pray that they receive the grace to be able to believe in this divine truth so they may be able to receive our Lord worthily and in the manner in which he desires to be received.

 

St Joseph, Faithful Guardian of Christ, Pray for Us!

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[1] James M. Reinert, Preaching the Social Doctrine of the Church in the Mass, vol. 2 (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2011), 81–82.

[2] Reinert, 82.

[3] (Fifth mystagogical catechesis of Cyril of Jerusalem, n. 21: PG 33. col 1125, or Sources chretiennes, 126, p 171; Saint John Chrysostom, Homily 47: PG 63, col. 898. etc.)