Corpus Christi Sunday — 2020/06/14

First Reading — Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a
Second Reading — 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
Gospel — John 6:51-58

The feast day formerly called Corpus Christi — and widely still called that — occurred on June 14 this year. In the Roman calendar, it is the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but the bishops of the United States decided that it was so important to the faith of the people that they transferred it to the Sunday following Trinity Sunday so that all Mass-goers would share the celebration.  During my sophomore year at Georgetown, I was living in a dorm adjacent to the quadrangle where Dahlgren Chapel was. One day a freshman asked me if I went to Mass every day. When I said, “No,” he was amazed, and asked how I could fail to take advantage of the opportunity just outside my door to participate in the sacrifice by which we are redeemed and receive Jesus himself into my body and soul.

Church law requires us to attend Mass every Sunday (or the vigil Mass on Saturday) unless we have serious reason to miss — or we have a dispensation because of a pandemic or the like. But when we realize what a privilege it is to be able to participate in Mass and receive Jesus in Communion, the obligation will not feel like a burden. We want to be there, law or no law. Some of the reasons are found in our readings for today. I say some of the reasons because the Eucharist is so multifaceted, so meaningful, that one could speak for hours without exhausting the topic. But here are some things which the readings tell us.


Manna  When Jesus says he is the true bread which came down from heaven, he is reminding his hearers of what we hear in the first reading. After the Israelites had left Egypt, they wandered for forty years in the desert. What we heard today is part of Moses’ speech to them just before the end of their journey, as they were at the Jordan River, just east of Canaan. Twice he tells the people not to forget  all that the Lord has done for them, and twice he reminds them of the miraculous food God provided for them, a food called manna, which had never been known before. They were absolutely dependent on God for their existence in the desert and fir their arrivsl st the promised land.


Bread of Life  It is the same with us. Jesus tells us that his flesh is true food, and his blood true drink. This is a food previously unknown. Cannibals can eat someone’s body once, but Jesus’ body and blood are made available over and over to the whole world. But unlike the manna in the desert, which sustained physical life, this food gives eternal life. We need this food to reach end end of our journey, life in God’s presence. It’s important to note what Jesus says about those who have the eternal life conferred by eating his flesh and drinking his blood: he will raise us on the last day. We will have a bodily resurrection. People sometimes wonder how this is possible, but we should realize that our bodies are not the same aggregation of atoms and molecules through our life. Atoms come and atoms go,but we are the same person. And the God who created the whole universe can seurely recreate or bodies and join them to our souls.

We sometimes use the phrase, “Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity” to emphasize how completely we receive Jesus in Communion. Jesus only speaks of flesh and blood, but the fact is that it is impossible to separate them from his soul and divinity: in him humanity and divinity are inseparably joined in one person. We receive the entire Jesus in Holy Communion. And this is also why we receive his blood as well as his flesh in the sacred host: the two are inseparable joined in Our Lord’s risen body.


One Body  St. Paul draws out one consequence of our consuming the body and blood of Jesus. We are made one. The Eucharist creates unity among us, creates community. This isn’t just with our fellow parishioners. We are one with the Church around the world. We need to live that basic unity even if we legitimately disagree about questions which the Magisterium of the Church hasn’t settled, or if we disagree about secular issues. The Body and Blood of Christ make us one.

Our unity is necessary because, like the Israelites in the desert, we can’t make it alone. We don’t consecrate the Body and Blood of Christ ourselves; we need the ordained priesthood. We support one another in our difficulties and celebrate our joys. We need to be in community. We need others, and they need us.


There is much more that could be said about the sacrament of the Lord’s Body and Blood, but what we have in these scriptures make clear what a privilege it is, what a joy it should be, to be able to participate in the Mass and receive the sacrament. It makes us a community, it sustains us on our way to heaven, it gives us resurrection and eternal life. How could anybody prefer something else? We should always remember what God has done and continues to do in this wonderful sacrament.

Good Friday — 2016/03/25

Good Friday is the only day when we don't have a Mass. There is a liturgical service, but we do not consecrate bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ. At the service, we do, however, receive Communion using hosts (altar breads) which were consecrated at the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday. In a way, this underlines our belief that Jesus' sacrificial death on Calvary was made present in sacrament in the offering of his Body and Blood to the disciples at the Last Supper and is made present to us sacramentally at every Mass. The consumption of the consecrated elements from yesterday's Mass signifies the identity of both events. Today we are commemorating the same event we commemorate at every Mass.

The service begins simply, in silence. The clergy and ministers enter the sanctuary in silence, and after a few moments of silence, the priest begins with the opening prayer. There is no greeting or penitential rite, as at Mass. After the liturgy of the Word (the scripture readings and homily) instead of the preparation of gifts and Eucharistic Prayer, containing the consecration, there is a rite of veneration of the cross. Then comes Communion, using the hosts reserved from Thursday, folllowed by two concluding prayers and a silent departure.



As on Holy Thursday, our first reading is from the Hebrew Scriptures. This time it's from Isaiah (Isaiah 52:13 — 53:12). This is the fourth and longest of the Servant Songs: a passage about a servant of the Lord who is led like a lamb to the slaughter — bearing our guilt as he is tortured and killed — but who ultimately has life and takes away the sins of many. Many of the phrases are familiar to those who know Handel's "Messiah" since the libretto uses many of the traditional texts used in the Church. Of course, we see this passage as fulfilled in Jesus. It is his sufferings and death which take away our sins.


The responsorial Psalm — verses from Psalm 31 with a refrain from verse 6: "[Father,] into your hands I commend my spirit" — is a meditation on the mind of Jesus as he undergoes his passion and death. It is a prayer for deliverance as well as one of confidence in God.



Next, the Epistle to the Hebrews (4:14-16; 5:7-9) speaks of Jesus' obedience the the Father as the thing that makes him the source of salvation for all who obey him as well as our eternal high priest.



The gospel reading is the Passion according to St. John — John 18:1—19:42 — which shows Jesus who willingly going to his death on the cross to accomplish the purpose for which he came into the world. (The synoptic Gospel accounts of the passion are read on Palm Sunday year by year.) Pilate clearly believes that Jesus is undeserving of death, but ultimately can't withstand the pressure of the priests and the crowd. I'll just point out the passages which are directly referred to in this gospel.

• 18:14 — Caiaphas' prophecy that Jesus would die for the people is at 11:49-50.
• 18:32 — Jesus' indication of how he would die is found in 3:14, 8:28, and 12:32, all of which speak of his being "lifted up" — like the bronze serpent Moses lifted up in the desert (Numbers 21:49) — and drawing all men to himself.
• 19:24 — the dividing of garments and casting lots is a quote from Psalm 22:19 — the Psalm whose opening words are quoted by Jesus in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34 (implying he prayed the whole psalm).
• 19:36 — not breaking a bone is a commandment given the Israelites concerning the passover lamb — Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12 — which indicates the identification of the paschal lamb as a type (prefigurement) of Jesus by the first Christians.
• 19:37 — looking on the one they have pierced refers to Zechariah 12:10, which tells of grief over the death of the one they have thrust through.

Jesus' sufferings and death, willingly accepted, bring the human race redemption from sin.

2015/09/06 — 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Isaiah tells us that healings of the deaf and of the mute are part of the Messianic Age. Jesus performs such a healing and knows that if it becomes widely known, people will realize that he is the Messiah.
In the second reading, we have an instruction from James on proper treatment of the poor among us.


Our first reading — Isaiah 35:4-7a — has been understood by Christians from ancient times to the present to be fulfilled in Jesus. The God who comes to save us is, of course, none other than Jesus himself. For that reason, this passage is also part of the first reading on the Third Sunday of Advent in Year A. The healings prophesied were all performed by Jesus. Matthew 9:27-30 tells of the healing of two blind men, and another two at 20:29-34.  Mark 10:46-52 tells of Jesus giving sight to Bartimaeus. Today's gospel passage — Mark 7:31-37 — is an account of the healing of a deaf man who was also unable to speak. We read of paralytics being healed in Matthew 9:2-7 and John 5:5-9. Jesus himself summarizes his healing work in response to a question from John the Baptist. The question is whether Jesus is the promised Messiah, and Jesus points to the healings as proving that he is. Matthew 11:2-5.

But if the healing of the deaf man shows that Jesus is the Messiah, why does he he tell the witnesses not to tell others about it? This is what is often called "the Messianic Secret." The problem is that the general expectation of the Messiah was that he would be a military-political leader who would restore the independence and glory of Israel: a restoration which would likely involve the military expulsion of the occupying Romans. The revelation of what his Messiahship really is was only possible with his death and resurrection. Meanwhile, some publication of his miracles served to create enough of a following that the authorities were concerned, as at John 11:45-53. Note especially v. 48: "If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation." Jesus needed disciples but not a mass movement.

But there is more to consider than the literal healing of the deaf man. The way Jesus acts — not simply speaking a word, but engaging in symbolic actions — puts us in mind of the sacraments, where something physical has a meaning beyond itself. There is the Bread of Life, which looks like bread, but Jesus says he gives us his flesh for the life of the world. Water, together with the Holy Spirit, gives the rebirth by which we enter the kingdom of heaven. These bodily healings by Jesus point to spiritual healing. In this life, Jesus does not heal every believer's physical illness or suffering. But he can heal spiritual blindness, lack of faith; deafness, failure to understand what he says; lameness, failure to put faith into action; muteness, failure to witness to our faith. He comes to save us above all from the sinfulness which separates us from God.

The literal fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecies in verses 5-6a tells us that Jesus is the Messiah. The Messianinc Age has begun. Whether the prophecies in 6b-7 about the abundance of water are figurative or something that will happen literally in the future is not certain. At this point we know that one level of fulfillment is reading water as symbolic of the Holy Spirit giving life to believers, who would be spiritually dead without the gift of grace.

Verses 4-5a are included (along with much more from Isaiah) in Handel's "Messiah." The first 22 seconds of this video give the musical setting.

The responsorial psalm — Ps 146:6-10, with 1b as the responsory — makes reference to the healing of the blind and the coming Messianic Age, but it also turns our attention from what the Lord does for us to what he does for those in need. In that way it prepares us to hear the second reading.


James 2:1-5 is that second reading. It is a straightforward call to show no favoritism toward the rich during church gatherings, i.e., worship. The tendency to show favoritism which the early Christians had to be warned about is still a danger. The first four verses of the readings call for equal treatment of the rich and the poor, but the final verse adds a new element: God has chosen the poor. We are reminded, perhaps, of Jesus' saying that it is difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. Mark 10:23(-27) To become rich usually requires conscious effort, which can easily amount to serving mammon, which is incompatible with serving God. Luke 16:13-15 (The last line in the passage from Luke —"what is of human human esteem is an abomination in the sight of God" — is even more more powerful than what we hear from James.) Thus, the poor are said to be the ones God chooses because they are free from the preoccupation with money which would hinder their attention to God.

As Brad S. Gregory pointed out in chapter 5 of The Unintended Revolution, greed — avarice — has become so pervasive in Western culture that we don't even notice it in ourselves and society. We see nothing problematic in trying to get richer. We expect pay raises and cost-of living increases in benefits. The economy must grow. The stock market must increase in value. Why isn't enough to stay where we are? Why is it intolerable even to lose income or net worth as long as we still have enough for our real needs?

We can apply this teaching more widely in our lives. The tendency to judge by appearances seems natural (at least for fallen nature), and it can lead both to undue respect for those who appear respectable and undue disrespect toward those who appear less respectable. We tell ourselves, "You can't tell a book by its cover," but we do it all the time.


The call for us is, first, to recognize Jesus as Messiah. Then we would do well to ask God to show us what spiritual healing we need. Is our faith weak? Do we need to grow in our knowledge and understanding of the faith? (Have we progressed beyond what we could grasp as children?) Do we live in accordance with our faith? Do our lives sometimes fail to witness to it? Do we show partiality the rich and "respectable?" Are we uncomfortable when poor people approach us? Do we show partiality against the poor, the needy, those who aren't elegant. Do we pursue money? And, of course,  we should pray for healing for all who are ill in body, mind, or spirit.