B Cycle – Feast of Corpus Christi 24

Heb. 9:11-15

Over the past three weeks we have celebrated three feast days, Pentecost, Trinity Sunday and now the Body and Bood of Jesus Christ.  Are they connected? Is the Chruch uncovering something we need to pay attention to because we so casually live out our faith.  Yes, and whatever the Church is trying to say does not seem to make a difference because we are seeking more than understanding.  We could give you all the theology behind each feast day in a homily. That may possibly be informative to some, boring to others and in the end, it leaves you wanting more.  It will take more than theology to change a person’s heart.

Especially in today culture where more Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist than those who believe it is the body, soul, and divinity of Christ.  Words describing the host and cups of wine will not change that, but an experience of Christ can change that. 

What we celebrate today is not a reminder of what took place at the last supper. It is not symbolism or a reenactment of that moment when Jesus took bread and declared it His body or the wine and declared it His blood.  No, making real what is being declared by our priests as they call down the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.  It is Christ, we take into ourselves and ask that presence to change us.  Yet our approach often seems to be on automatic pilot as we approach Christ. We should approach Him declaring what it is we need from Him.  Lord, I want to see.  Lord, I want to be healed.  Lord, I want to be cleansed and restored to those I love. 

I remember a conversation I had once with a lady who was chastising the decision to continue offering the Blood of Christ during the flu season.  Reminding me of the seriousness of the flu and how easily it is transmitted.  She did not like my response which was to remind her how Jesus healed all diseases, touched the lepers who were unclean and said, “do you think a virus could live after being exposed to Jesus.”  She let out a huge gasp and told me my faith was naïve. 

Yet we maintain from the beginning of Christianity it was the very Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.  Take the time to read the writings of the early apologetics, who were educated men from the fields of philosophy, science, and rhetoric. They were c called “cannibals” by the Roman’s. Yet they wrote in defense of their belief in the Eucharist as the very presence of Jesus Christ.  They were bold, putting their beliefs ahead of their lives, writing in such a manner the Romans could verify if they took the time to examine the evidence. 

These last three feasts are one solid message to us who call ourselves Catholic.  We have the expression of God being love in the Trinity. Love cannot be self centered but is always other centered.  We find that love manifested between the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. That love is the author of our lives who calls us forth and declares us worthy of His love. Pentecost is the gift the Holy Spirit upon us and the birth of our spiritual life. The beginning of our ability to pray, to worship, to trust and to change our hearts from self to others. Without the Spirit we will never grasp the power of God’s love for us and His absolute unconditional forgiveness of all our sins. 

Corpus Christi is the promise of daily restoration by the very presence of Jesus before us.  We are the woman caught in adultery as we declare ourselves unworthy.  We are the woman at the well being told in Him is all we seek all we must do is to ask. We are the prodigal son, seeking to be slaves in our fathers’ house while he is rejoicing over our return and offers us more than we deserve.

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. We are looking at the very person John the Baptizer pointe to as our priest elevates the consecrated host.  He looks upon us as we look upon Him and what He sees is worth every ounce of blood He shed on the cross.  What we need to believe is not that we are unworthy but that we are to receive the gift of life from God who is love.   Those early Christians understood this reality and lived it. They understood for the law dictated the sacrifice of a lamb or bulls for the cleansing of their sin.  They were taught sin was forgiven by the shedding of the blood of the animal. 

Paul in his letter to the Hebrews points to this reality in today’s second reading.  He wrote, “For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God” (Heb.9:13-14).  

Nothing more needs to be said beyond what Paul said: Jesus died for us to be reconciled to God. We come together to celebrate this Pascal Mystery and the culmination of that celebration is our ability to receive Him in word and sacrament. Then allow His presence within us to change us into disciples.