Homily: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

I've embedded a video of my homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. This homily was preached on the Saturday vigil of the Solemnity, 22 June 2019. The posted text of the homily follows the video.

Readings: Gn 14:18-20; Ps 110; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Lk 9:11-17
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Today we celebrate the beautiful Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. We used to call it Corpus Christi -- the Body of Christ -- and many of us will probably continue to call it that, if only out of habit. But the Church, in her wisdom, changed its name to reflect more accurately the reality of what happened at Calvary and the Last Supper, and what will soon happen here on this altar. Though the Blood of Christ was always implied in was never particularly affirmed in this particular feast. Now it is, and this is good. Yes, it's good to celebrate this feast, but really at every Mass we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ.

Some years ago in my previous parish on Cape Cod, I was enjoying the coffee hour after the 9 o'clock Mass. As I admired a new mural of the Last Supper in the parish hall, a parishioner standing beside me said, "Wouldn't it have been wonderful to have been there?"

Of course I agreed with her. Who wouldn't? But in truth we don't have to imagine. Because every time you and I participate at Mass, we are, in essence, truly present with Jesus, and with Peter, John, James, Matthew, with all the Apostles in that upper room in Jerusalem. But that's not all. We're also truly present at the foot of the cross.

Now how can this be? How can we be in the upper room and on Calvary when we're obviously gathered together here in this little corner of Florida 2,000 years after the events we commemorate? Quite simply, because Jesus promised us that this is true. And then He sealed that promise -- God's New Covenant - with His own Body and Blood and confirmed it with His Resurrection.

As St. Paul reminded us in the second reading, he "received from the Lord what He handed on to" us, and "Every time...you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes" [1 Cor 11:23,26].

For it was on the Cross that Jesus gave all of humanity its greatest gift. Through His death, and the shedding of that precious Blood, he redeemed us from our sins and opened the gates of eternal life. Now that's quite a gift!

And at the Last Supper, that very first Mass described by Paul and in each of the synoptic gospels, Jesus anticipated His sacrificial death on the cross the following day. And by doing so, He gave us another gift, the Eucharist.

Do you recall the words? They're the same words that Father Cromwell will utter a few moments from now.

"This is my Body which will be given up for you."

"This is the chalice of my Blood, the Blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins." [Lk 22:19-20].

Notice that Jesus didn't say, "This is bread and wine, symbols of my body and blood." 

No, He was quite explicit. "This is my body...This is the chalice of my blood." And with these words, Jesus fulfills the promise He made to the disciples almost a year before when He told them:

"Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him" [Jn 6:54-56].

Many of the disciples left Him and that point. Weak in faith, they were unable to accept such a teaching. Only the Apostles and a few faithful ones remained. Why? Peter answered this when he said:

"Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." [Jn 6:68].

And yet the Apostles really didn't understand these words until much later, until after the events in the upper room and on Calvary and at the tomb. Only then did His promise, and His command "Do this in remembrance of me" [Lk 22:19] reveal His intention, His gift of the Eucharist, the sacrifice of the Mass.

The Mass is not simply a memorial, like a tombstone. Neither is it merely a repetition of the sacrifice on the Cross. As St. Paul told us, Jesus died "once for all" [Rom 6:10]. His sacrifice on the cross is sufficient for our salvation. 

The Mass is a unique kind of memorial in which Jesus is again present just as He was on the Cross - just as present as you and I are here today. It's the sacrifice of Christ offered on the Cross and remaining ever present.

Indeed, the sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Mass are a single sacrifice. The work of our salvation is still being carried out through each Mass, through the power of Christ's death, through the power of the Resurrection.

As the Second Vatican Council instructs us: the Eucharist is a cornerstone of our faith, "the source and summit of Christian life." But how many Catholics today truly believe this? 

Before we moved to The Villages 15 years ago, my wife, Diane, taught fourth grade at our local parish school in Massachusetts. One day, during a lesson on the New Testament, she asked her class to name some of Jesus' miracles. Lots of hands immediately shot up. One by one the children spoke of Jesus curing lepers, the blind, the lame. One mentioned the multiplication of the loaves and fishes; another the miracle of the water and wine at Cana. And one child brought up the miracle of the Resurrection.

But then one boy said, "Every day, all over the world, Jesus performs a miracle when acting through his priests he changes bread and wine into his Body and Blood." How did Jesus put it? 

"Father, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike" [Mt 11:25].

We can, in fact, be more certain of the real presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist than we can of anything in our lives. Not because of the faith of the Church, or the faith of the priest, or even our own faith; but because of our Lord's promise made 2,000 years ago. As man he promised, and from heaven as the Son of God he keeps his promise. The Eucharist is and remains his gift.

How sad for those who deny the Eucharist, and reject his gift, his promise, his love. For out of His love He provides for His continuing presence among us, letting us share in its fruits. 

The Eucharist turns us from sin and intensifies our attachment to the things of God, and God Himself.

It plunges us into the life of Christ, deepening our commitment to his Church and its work.

Through this communion we are one with all who are in Christ, especially the suffering and the poor, who become the object of our special love. 

So, even as we celebrate the bread and wine transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ, we celebrate its transforming power in our lives. We celebrate the desire to serve that was born in our hearts: a desire that has brought us to the present moment, a desire to be a true Christian, another Christ in the world.

"Do this in memory of me" [Lk 22:19].

As Jesus gave up his life for us, so too must we, his disciples, give up our lives in service to him and to our brothers and sisters.

St. Ignatius of Loyola called the Holy Eucharist the greatest proof of God's Love. Remembering that love, we might well ask ourselves:

What should I do for Christ, who gave everything for me?