The splendor of our Lord Jesus is on display at every Mass. Let us become excited once again that God shares himself with us in the Eucharistic Jesus.
A homily from the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
Exodus 24:3-8, Psalm 116, Hebrews 9:11-15, Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
These readings are available at the USCCB website.
I want to share something with you that will seem off-topic, but I promise you I’ll tie it into today’s readings. Many years ago, my wife Pat and I took a job transfer to Alaska. Our house was near a road called Like Otis Parkway, and that was the road we took to the mall, to the high school, and to our children’s swimming lessons. From the intersection of Lake Otis Parkway and O’Mally Road you could on a clear day see the tallest mounting in North America. I first heard it called Mr. McKinley, but now I think we hear it called by its Athabascan name, Denali which means the Great One. People travel thousands of miles to see it, and only 30% are successful. The mountain is so large that it has its own weather system, and it is shrouded in clouds two-thirdsof the time. I could sometimes see it as I drove around town running errands, even from 140 miles away. I probably saw it a few times each month.
And that was the problem. The first time, I was extremely excited. The second time, a little less. I saw it once on a clear winter day. I can still see that image today. I also looked up and saw it and was unimpressed. It was after all part of the scenery in the drive to the mall. I became commonplace. I am sure that I saw it more than once and took absolutely no note of it.
This Is My Body; This Is My Blood
Today, on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, we hear an account of the first Eucharist “This is my body…This is my blood”[1] We will hear the same scripture in a few moments during the Eucharistic Prayer. We hear this every week, and maybe that is part of the problem. In our own way we may at the corner of Lake Otis and O’Malley looking at the greatest mountain in the hemisphere without really being impressed.
At each Mass, Jesus comes to join us, he is really hear. The bread and wine actually become the Body, blood, soul, and divinity of God. We experience the source and summit of our Christian life![2] Think about it for a minute. Jesus – the second person of the Godhead – becomes physically present to us. He literally comes into our bodies through the Eucharist!
The Eucharist is absolutely foundational in our lives! This is a special gift that God makes available to us. The Eucharist, as we Catholics believe it to be, is such a special gift!
Reviving our Excitement
I said earlier that only about 30% of the people who travel to Alaska to see Denali actually see it. Coincidently, in a survey conducted about five years ago, only 30% of Catholics said they believed in the real presence – that the bread and wine were really the body and blood of Christ. Our post-modern thinking that dismisses what we can touch or measure has shrouded this mystery in clouds. This is why we launched a Eucharistic Revival. We are in year three of the Revival now, and we have made great progress. More recent surveys now show that two-thirds of Catholics now believe in the real presence. Honestly, I think that if we really, truly understood what God is doing for us and how he is transforming us through the Eucharist, this church would be filled to overflowing with every Mass.
Every week we see Jesus in the form of bread and wine. This is a special gift that God makes available to us.
The Significance of Procession
In keeping with longstanding custom, at the end of Mass today we will make a procession with our Eucharistic Lord. As Mass comes to an end, Father will carry our Eucharistic Lord in the monstrance from the church. We will all walk together and follow him across the street to an altar of repose that we have set up in another building. We will sing our closing hymn, spend a few minutes with Jesus in the Eucharist before Benediction.
Why would we do such a thing? The answer is simple. The Eucharist is that powerful. The Eucharist is that important. By walking behind our Eucharistic Lord carried in the monstrance, we show both the this is Christ and that we follow him! Our city deserves to see how important our Lord truly is. We should reflect the Eucharistic joy that Christ gives us!
As processions go, ours will be small, but important. Even now, there are four Eucharistic processions in progress making their way to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. From the four corners of our country, our Eucharistic Lord is being carried to the Congress. The northern procession started from Lake Itasca, Minnesota; the western procession began in San Francisco California; the eastern procession began in New Haven, Connecticut; and the southern procession that began in Brownsville, Texas is now in Galveston at St. Mary’s Cathedral Basilica.
On a side note, there is still room for you at the big Eucharistic Congress this summer in Indianapolis. You, too, can be there for the great celebration!
Don’t let the fact that Jesus is constantly here for you in the Eucharist allow the sacrament to become “ordinary”. Don’t take it for granted. Embrace the Eucharist as central to our entire being! It is the source and summit of our entire Christian life. We receive nothing less than the body, blood, soul, and divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ at every Mass.
The splendor of our Lord Jesus is on display at every Mass. Let us become excited once again that God shares himself with us in the Eucharistic Jesus.
[1] Cf Mark 13:22,24
[2] Cf Lumen Gentium 11