Sunday, June 11, 2023

Homily for Solemnity of Corpus Christi

Homily for the Solemnity
of Corpus Christi

June 11, 2023
John 6: 51-58
Villa Maria, Bronx[1]
St. Francis Xavier, Bronx

“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day” (John 6: 54).

Window originally in the chapel of
St. Joseph's Novitiate, Newton, N.J.
Now in the provincial house chapel.

Why does the Church command us to come to Mass on Sunday?  Is it just to keep us from sleeping in?  or going to the beach early enuf to beat the traffic?

Sleep and recreation are 2 of life’s goods, for sure.  We need sleep for health, and thus for a good life.  We need recreation for health of both body and mind.

But there’s more to life than sleep or recreation.  Jesus calls our attention to eternal life.  The Son of God came among us as a human being, in our flesh and blood, and in our flesh and blood he rose from the grave to live forever.

That “forever” life is what he wants to share with us.  He starts doing that even while we live our limited, mortal lives by giving us his own living flesh and blood, the same flesh and blood that rose from the grave and ascended to the right hand of the Father:  “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (6:56).  Our transformation begins with our consuming the Eucharist—the true flesh and blood of Jesus our Savior.

That’s why we need to come to Mass on Sunday.  It’s only because of the celebration of the Eucharist that we have access to the Lord’s body and blood—an access that watching Mass on TV doesn’t allow.  On TV we’re cut off from the Lord, who is his own lasting gift to us:  “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (6:51).

At the Last Supper Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his apostles, saying, “This is my body” (Luke 22:19).  Not a symbol, not a representation—but “my body”; “my flesh is true food” (John 6:55).  Likewise, he gave the cup of wine to them, saying, “This is my blood” (Mark 14:24).  Then he said, “Do this in memory of me” (1 Cor 11:24-25).  This is what we do.  Actually, it’s what he does; he is the priest who changes bread and wine into his body and blood when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist.

He does this so that “whoever eats this bread will live forever” (6:58), as he lives forever.  We are what we eat:  the living body and blood of Christ.  “In his Easter Sermon 227, St. Augustine exhorts: ‘If we receive the Eucharist worthily, we become what we receive.’  And in receiving Christ, we become one body in him, and through him, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Through receiving the Eucharist, we enter a unique and personal relationship with the Trinity and with one another, the Body of Christ.  We become what we eat.”[2]

Some of you, maybe many of you, know that our bishops have organized a Eucharistic revival for our country, a 3-year program who purpose is to foster a personal encounter with Christ in the heart of every Catholic—the Christ whom we encounter in the Eucharist.

That’s why it’s imperative for us to come to Mass—so that Jesus may feed us, Jesus may give us his own eternal life.



[1] Homily much adapted for the sisters.

[2] Sr. Joan L. Roccasalvo, C.S.J. ,“The Way of Beauty: You are what you eat,” May 2, 2012: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/52131/you-are-what-you-eat.

 

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