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Reflection for Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi 2022

Eat, Drink, Be Mine.

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

I am so thankful you have chosen to worship with us this Sunday as we reflect, in this Octave of Corpus Christi, on Jesus’ command to eat His body and drink His blood. We rejoice in the very reality of His self-giving that makes us His.

The Rabbi of Jerusalem once visited the pope in Rome:

My dear brothers and sisters, the funny tale about the Rabbi and the Bishop of Rome is related to place and nearness. 

God had once set His singular dwelling in the midst of Israel. In fact, He was so close to His people that we dwelt in a tent alongside them. It was not until the time of King David that it was determined Israel would build a Temple for God, a more permanent dwelling. It took around 400 years to get to that point. That work was completed by King Solomon.

What did not happen though was the thing God really wanted, which was not a physical building in which to dwell. He did not need that. David’s predecessor Saul learned that lesson by his own disobedience and that of his soldiers. In 1 Samuel 15:22 we hear: Obedience is better than sacrifice, to listen, better than the fat of rams. The prophet is telling Saul that the attitude of the heart (the whole self) in relation to God is more important than external things like sacrifices and buildings.

King David himself writes in Psalm 40 and 51 respectively: Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, and You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You take no pleasure in burnt offerings.

Israel knew that God desired to live completely within them, but they kept it external.

Jesus came among them, the God-man, to reveal the presence of God completely, to make His Father known, and to call people into the Kingdom. He repeats His Father’s earlier call to Israel in full reality of presence — I want to be among you, within you, and I want you to be part of me.

As St. Paul tells us, I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over He repeats the key words of Jesus repeated by the Church all through history — This is My body, This is My blood. 

Jesus not only left us His words, His gospel way of living, but in His example, instruction, and command His very presence — the totality of His being body, blood, soul, and divinity — so that His singular dwelling would be in the Church — that is — in us.

We fulfill what Israel did not, having Jesus — God Himself — dwelling within us. He is no longer in a tent in the camp, or in one special building. We are His place, we are His. Let us celebrate that now and always rejoicing in Jesus’ precious gift of self, bearing and sharing Him with joy before all.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi 2020

Enough for me.

“Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”

Thursday, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Today is the Sunday within the Octave, the eight-day period that began Thursday which we spend in celebration of Jesus’ wonderful gift to us. 

Is Jesus’ gift enough?

The Russian poet and singer-songwriter Bulat Okudzhava  wrote ‘The Prayer of François Villon,’ in Polish, Modlitwa François Villona. Its words are those of a person who prays that the Lord will grant gifts to all who ask, and after doing so would leave just a little for him. Its first stanza:

“As long as the world’s still turning, As long as the air’s still sweet, Lord, won’t you give to all of us Whatever it is we need. Give a mind to the wise one, To the coward a swift horse, Give some gold to the happy man, And don’t forget about me.” As the song ends, he repeats “Give a little to everyone, And don’t forget about me. Dajże nam wszystkim po trochu. I mnie w opiece swej miej.”

Is Jesus’ gift enough?

This song strikes home in its melancholy. Is God generous enough to leave just a little for me? Will He remember me in the midst of all the woe and strife in the world? Will my prayer rise up before Him? Will He reach out to me?

St. Thomas Aquinas answered that question as he contemplated the great gift of the Eucharist and our sharing in it. The bread, broken, fractured for us. The wine poured out. In each particle, in each droplet, the fulness of Jesus resides. No person receives more or less of Jesus. All receive equally. There is enough for all. Aquinas also echoes St. Paul in pointing out that while all receive the fulness of Jesus, it is the state of our heart that matters most.

Is Jesus’ gift enough? Yes. Is it enough for me? That is the real question. The state of our hearts in their attitude toward God, the state of our lives in their imaging of Jesus’ way, and our relationship to others shows whether what we have received is enough for us. It is not a question of God’s giving, but our receiving. If we have taken the gift seriously it has changed our hearts. The state of our heart matters most.

Let us, as we fall in worship before this great gift, receive Jesus as enough for me and live in Him. Let us then carry His fulness into the world and to our eternal reward.

Christian Witness, Homilies, PNCC, , ,

Reflection for Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi 2018

Bread for the
journey.

While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many.

Some of us may have heard of, or may have even read Henri Nouwen’s “Bread for the Journey.” You can often find quotes from this book on church websites or in bulletins.

Henri Nouwen was a professor at Harvard University and Yale University before becoming the senior pastor at the L’Arche community in Toronto, Canada. L’Arche is a community of people with disabilities living together. Nouwen was a prolific writer and wrote numerous books on spirituality and daily living. Bread for the Journey is one of his most well known. It is a book centered on Jesus Christ as savior, teacher, creator, and peace giver.

Why is it such a popular book? Why does its title ring true for so many Christians?

One term we hear from time to time is way-bread, the Way-bread of the Altar. What a beautiful term. On the night that Jesus was to be arrested, before He was to be killed, He gave us Himself as way-bread.
As prefigured in the journey of Israel, across the dessert, to the Promised Land, where God gave them Manna, bread for the journey, so now Jesus has given us bread for the journey.

We so need this bread, and Jesus gave it to us. We need strength for the journey. We need Him to be part of us; strengthening us, reinforcing and building up what the world tries to tear down.

We hunger for that, both spiritually and physically. In receiving, we recognize that He really fills us for the journey.

Every week we pray, shortly after the Our Father, in the words of St. Paul: “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” Our answer, for the journey, is Yes, yes it is. We have Him fully with us, Body, Blood, Soul, Divinity – fully on-board for the journey.

Nouwen’s title tings true because when we receive, we are receiving everything we could possibly need. The greatest gift! Bread for the journey.

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Reflection for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2015

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Let us seek
His wisdom.

Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns; she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine, yes, she has spread her table. She has sent out her maidens; she calls from the heights out over the city: “Let whoever is simple turn in here; To the one who lacks understanding, she says, Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed! Forsake foolishness that you may live; advance in the way of understanding.”

Jesus was really putting it all out there: “the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

The people listening to Him went from confusion to serious concern: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

How indeed! To keep properly Kosher, that is to observe Kashrut, the body of Jewish law dealing with what foods can and cannot be eaten and how those foods must be prepared and eaten, these people could not possibly consume human flesh nor drink blood. Not consuming blood is strictly prohibited in the Torah (see Leviticus 7:26-27 and 17:10-14). The Torah states that one must not eat blood because the life of the animal (literally, the soul) is contained in the blood.

Therein is the wisdom of what Jesus is saying to us, the key to His love for us. His earthly mission and His everlasting desire are to give Himself for and to us. He gives us His soul – His lifeblood.

Some of us may have donated blood at work, church, or in our community. What a wonderful gift to give. We can draw a comparison between our gifts of life giving blood to what Jesus has done for us in His flesh and blood. We can perceive the great wisdom of His gift.

While our gift can only help a few people and as a rule only those who have compatible blood types, Jesus gave His blood for each of us. Jesus’ blood reaches people of every blood type – of every race, rank, class, tribe, and tongue. Our giving of blood is a donation while Jesus’ gift was a complete sacrificial self-giving. When we give blood we do so in sterile conditions under medical supervision. Jesus’ gift was drawn-out, tortuous, and painful. Our donated blood is very expensive for those who may receive it. Jesus’ blood is free to all who claim Him by faith. If our blood is not used, it expires in a little over a month. Jesus’ blood is as effective today as it was when it was given at the cross. One pint of our blood can save up to three lives. One drop of the Jesus’ blood has saved the world (John 3:16).

By giving us the gift of His flesh and blood He fully gives Himself to us. The wisdom therein is that through His gift we have His soul in us and inherit eternal life. Ever seek His wisdom.

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