The Body and Blood of Christ

Homily
THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST
10 June 2007

Luke 9: 11 - 17

[Luke 9:11] (Jesus spoke to the crowds of the reign) of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured.
[Luke 9:12] As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, "Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here."
[Luke 9:13] He said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." They replied, "Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people."
[Luke 9:14] Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of (about) fifty."
[Luke 9:15] They did so and made them all sit down.
[Luke 9:16] Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
[Luke 9:17] They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.
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1. Introduction

What is a Christian?

Is a Christian someone who believes that Christ is God? Yes, of course--but a Christian is much more than that. After all, Satan believes that much.

Is a Christian someone who, believing that Christ is God, faithfully observes the Ten Commandments and, if a Catholic, faithfully believes in what the church teaches and observes the precepts of the church? Yes, but a Christian is more than that.

Is a Christian someone who, besides all these things, performs good works according to his state of life? This is certainly true, but what a Christian is, is even more than that.

In today's feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ, we have a perfect setting for meditating on the answer to the question, "what is a Christian?".

2. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a Recapitulation of Salvation History

Each day of our lives, we recapitulate our own natural history: we can regard the day as a lifetime in miniature. we awaken, we eat and drink, we work, we love, we play, and then we sleep, in the expectation of rising again the next day.

In a similar fashion, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass can be regarded as a recapitulation of salvation history, from the promise to our first parents of a redeemer, through Pentecost and continuing past Pentecost.

2.1 The Liturgy of the Word

During the Liturgy of the Word, and especially during the readings from the Old Testament, we meditate on the pre-dawn twilight of our salvation, as God gradually reveals His truth and love through His prophets and through His providential care for the first Israel.

2.2 The Liturgy of the Eucharist

During the Liturgy of the Eucharist, we remember the dawn of our salvation, as the Eternal Word becomes man in Jesus Christ, like us in all things save sin. He grows in wisdom, grace, and strength before God and men. He suffers His passion, is crucified, rises from the dead, ascends into heaven from where He bestows the Holy Spirit on the children of adoption.

The separate consecration of the Body and Blood of Christ constitutes a mystical separation. It is a true sacrifice. It makes present to us the one sacrifice offered on Good Friday, and with equal force makes us mystically present at Calvary with Mary and John.

At the elevation of the sacred species, we are mystically present as the resurrection of Our Lord at the first Easter. The elevated Host blazes forth to the world the Light of the Eternal Word as the rising sun of the dawn of salvation.

2.3 Holy Communion

As we receive communion, we meditate that as Easter is the dawn of our salvation, so is Pentecost its high noon. Our Lord comes to us, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, and becomes one with us. During the time that He is sacramentally present after communion, which is approximately ten minutes or so, we recall the time between Easter and the Ascension when the risen Lord was with the apostles in Glorified body, teaching them and preparing them for the descent of the Holy Spirit.

When the sacramental presence of Jesus has come to an end, we remember the ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit. We appropriate to the Holy Spirit the power of the Blessed Trinity to dwell in the souls of the just. So Jesus remains with us, in His divinity, united to us with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

The power of the Holy Spirit has brought forth Christ by transubstantiating bread and wine. Through the power of the same Spirit, in the Sacrifice of the Mass and in the worthy reception of Holy Communion, He has transformed us further into Christ, so that we approach St. Paul's goal that "it is not I that live, but it is Jesus Who lives within me".

2.4 The Dismissal

The dismissal is a new beginning. At the dismissal, we are sent forth back into a hostile world by Jesus, Who commanded:

[Luke 10:3] Go on your way; behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves.

Finally, it is at the dismissal that we can present an answer to the question, "what is a Christian?". To this end, we consider the following two statements made by Jesus:

[John 14:9] Jesus said to (Philip), "whoever has seen me has seen the Father."

[John 20:21] (Jesus also said), "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

Since as the Father has sent Jesus, so Jesus sends us, and since Jesus says, "whoever has seen me has seen the Father":

A Christian, then, is a person who can say, "whoever has seen me has seen Jesus".

For the Christian to be able to say this in truth, Jesus must be in him and he in Jesus, just as Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus.

[John 17:22] And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one,
[John 17:23] I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.

This is the unity that is strengthened by participating at Mass and worthily receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion.

3. Conclusion

Today we celebrate the infinite love that has given us the Body and Blood of Our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ. The Holy Eucharist which has been given to us is threefold: it is Sacrifice, it is Sacrament, and it is Presence.

Let this be our prayer each time we participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, partake of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, and adore Jesus in His most august presence in this Sacrament:

O Holy Spirit, almighty and eternal God, I ask you so to transform me through the Holy Eucharist that, when the Father looks down upon me, He will see not me, but Jesus only.

I ask further that when anyone asks me to show him Jesus, I can reply to that person in truth that when he sees me, he sees Jesus.

Divine Paraclete, I ask all this of You Who together with the Father and Jesus live and reign, one God, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen