June 3, 2018

Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Exodus 24; 3-8; Hebrews 9: 11-15; Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26 Most of us have been coming to the celebration of the Eucharist, the Mass as some of us grew up calling it, for a long time. It probably is a safe statement that many of us grew to loving the Mass, but it took time. My parents and the five of us children went to the 7am Mass every Sunday at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Syracuse, New York. I remember it very well, even today. The first task my parents did was to ‘position’ the five of us. I was never near my brother, Thank You Lord. Since I was the youngest I didn’t pay too much attention to where my mom situated my three sisters and my brother. But I know she had very good reasons… then Mass began. What do I remember about these masses: first they were in Latin. English came into the Liturgy on July 1, 1967. I remember since I was ordained on May 20 that year and celebrated masses in Latin for the first month plus. But the question is a very good question: What do I remember about the mass when I was growing up? And what do I treasure now when I’m at Mass? Seamus Heaney (1939 - 2013) was one of the great Irish poets, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. A few years before his death he was asked to contribute to a book on the spiritual lives of major figures in the arts and sciences. He accepted the invitation reluctantly. He said that spirituality was the one part of his life about which he felt he was “woefully inarticulate.” Then he penned a poem, “Here, perhaps you can use this it in some small fashion in your book. He entitled this poem, A Found Poem. Part of the poem was his memory of attending Mass in his village church. “Like everybody else, I bowed my head during the consecration of the bread and wine, lifted my eyes to the raised host and raised chalice, believed (whatever it means) that a change occurred. I went to the altar rails and received the mystery on my tongue, returned to my place, shut my eyes fast, made an act of thanksgiving, opened my eyes and felt time starting up again.” This is not unlike most people I observe and myself as I celebrate. “This is My Body…This is My Blood…Do this in memory of Me.” These statements make us stop. The Consecration seems to be the absolutely quietest time at every Eucharist. We perhaps think about the words, the actions, wonder, try to get some handle on them hopefully to understand more of the mystery of Jesus and His redeeming of all people. “Do this in memory of Me.” What do we remember about Jesus? What part of His life captivates us? What part draws us to Himself? What part does the devil try to disturb us with, distracting us from this God who loves us all the time? It is always good for me to reflect on these questions: What am I letting God do in my life? Where am I afraid of God? The sixth chapter of John’s gospel has a section that is called, The Bread of Life Discourse.” He begins the chapter with the Multiplication the Loaves, followed by Jesus’ Walking on Water. Jesus had left the crowd, went up the mountain to pray while the disciples went across the Sea of Galilee at night. Jesus surprised them by walking on the water. The same crowd that had witnessed the Multiplication of the Loaves went around the lake and wanted to find out more about this miracle. This lead to Jesus’ Bread of Life Discourse”. Here is the key section: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.” ( verse 51) This started a huge quarrel with the crowd, wanting to know how one could accomplish this since it seems to border on cannibalism. Jesus answered them and He tells us directly, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless You eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise them 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 them. Just as the living Father sent Me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will have life because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (verses 53-59) As a result of this many left Him. “Do this in Memory of Me” makes us disciples of Jesus; there is no other way to interpret this. We are given Spiritual Food for our journey, Jesus Himself. In being a witness to this we also promise to live as witnesses to His Life and Resurrection. It really is not enough just to go to the Eucharist, we need to fulfill our commitment to live as Jesus lived. His life was a life of service, of love seeing in each person a brother and sister created in the image of God. To be a follower means that we must take care of those in need. I remember that age old sermon, ‘if you were accused of being a disciple of Jesus would there be enough evidence to convict you?’ In the first reading we see how the people of Israel at Mt. Sinai entered into a covenant with God. Now a covenant was a solemn agreement between two parties: God and the people. The key element for the Israelites is obedience to all God’s words and ordinances expressed in chapters 20-23 of Exodus which begins with the Ten Commandments. The people totally agreed saying, “We will do everything that the Lord has told us” and then again saying, “All that the Lord has said, we will heed and do.” Then Moses sprinkled the blood of the holocausts of young bulls on the people saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of His.” Paul explains to the Hebrews that Jesus’ sacrifice is superior to all others. He shed His own blood for the redemption of the world. Paul tells us today that this new covenant is greater than the first one. The death of the Lord delivered all of us from sin and opened up for us the way to heaven forever. We have the words of everlasting life. We are to live by them and God’s grace is sufficient for this. So I reflect on: • When has blood given me life? Has it ever been harmful to me? • How do I pour out my life in service to permeate my world with the Blood of Christ? • How have I given my life for the many?When has the celebration of the Eucharist been particularly powerful for me? What made it so? • St. Charles Borromeo said that our distractions at mass may be caused by what we do on the way to Church and what the 30 minutes are like before we begin? Are we God focused? • How focused am I on the community nature of the Eucharist? Sacred Space 2018 states: “Today’s feast of Corpus Christi is a revisiting of the liturgy of Holy Thursday with an emphasis on the institution of the Eucharist. We are reminded of the Jewish context of the Last Supper (Passover meal, sacrificial lamb). The terms ‘my body’ and ‘my blood’ of the covenant’ both express the total self-giving of Jesus for us. The Last Supper is the prologue to the Passion. Do I appreciate the ‘bread from heaven’ that Jesus offers us?”