|
Homily for the Solemnity of
Corpus Christi - Year A - Jn. 6:51-58
by
Canon Dr. Daniel Meynen
" Jesus said: «I am
the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this
bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the
life of the world is my flesh.»
" The Jews then disputed
among themselves, saying, «How can this man give us his flesh to
eat?» So Jesus said to them, «Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you
have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has
eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is
food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent
me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live
because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such
as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for
ever.» "
Homily:
" «I am the living
bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he
will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of
the world is my flesh.» "
In this year dedicated to
the Eucharist by Pope John Paul II, the solemnity of Corpus Christi has
a special importance. For us, it is an opportunity to try to understand
a little better what the Eucharist is in the life of the Church and of
the world.
The Council of Trent, in
the 16th century, defined the number of sacraments recognized by the
Catholic Church. There are seven: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist,
marriage, holy orders, penance, and extreme unction. Today, these last
two sacraments are referred to by names that are a little more
appropriate: we call them reconciliation and the anointing of the sick.
All of these sacraments
exist only within us, in our soul, in the spiritual soul of everyone
who receives them. But there is an exception to this rule: it is the
Eucharist, which at first exists outside of us, before we eat it, under
the form of bread, or before we drink it, under the form of wine. This
is where the difficulty lies, and above all this is what makes it a
great mystery!
During the Eucharistic
celebration, the priest takes some bread and says, speaking in the name
of Christ, and in his person: "This is my Body." Then he takes a cup
filled with wine, and says, similarly: "This is the cup of my Blood..."
This is what we call the consecration of the bread and wine into the
Body and Blood of Christ. So, after the consecration, what we see is no
longer bread or wine, but rather the Body and Blood of Christ.
All the difficulty is
there, all the mystery is there! What we see is not bread, what we see
is not wine! We can discuss this in every possible and imaginable way,
but in the end we will always come to the same conclusion: what we see,
what we touch, what we smell, what we taste, and even, in a certain
measure, what we hear, is neither bread nor wine, but rather the Body
and Blood of Christ!
Why? Because Christ, who is
God, said so, through the person of the priest: "This is my Body...
This is my Blood..." Let us not forget: Christ is God, and God is never
wrong. When he says something, it is true! When he says that what we
see is not bread, but the Body of Christ, we must believe it!
We are not the masters of
the Eucharist, the Church is not the master of the Eucharist: the
Church received the Eucharist from the Lord's hands. By giving his Body
and Blood to his disciples, the Apostles, on the evening of Holy
Thursday, Christ gave them, at the same time, the power to perpetuate
his Eucharistic memorial. By this very fact, we can say, in a certain
sense, that the Church - in the person of her ordained ministers, who
are the bishops and priests - is unceasingly receiving this power from
her Lord.
Indeed, we must not believe
that it is sufficient to be ordained a priest in order to be able to
celebrate the Eucharist. The sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ
must always be celebrated in obedience to Christ, receiving from him
all power over his Body and Blood; an obedience that is not just an
empty word, but one that is made concrete by fidelity and submission to
the Roman Pontiff, the representative of Christ on earth.
Nothing is more beautiful,
nothing is greater, nothing is more complete than the celebration of
the Eucharist! When we celebrate the Eucharist, already the Lord comes
to judge the world, already he resurrects us, already he welcomes us at
his feet and draws us into his Sacred Heart, in order that by partaking
of his Passion we might continue his Work of Love and Peace! May the
Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the "woman of the Eucharist" (H.H. John Paul
II, Encyclical on the Eucharist, "Ecclesia de Eucharistia"), help us to
live this great mystery a little better each day!
To order the weekly homily immediately, click here |
||