Today we celebrate the feast of the Body of Christ. This sacrament is central to us as Catholics. If we ever have to think of what makes us Catholics, or what we would miss were we not Catholics, the Holy Eucharist comes foremost to our mind. We cannot imagine not having Jesus present to us in the Holy Eucharist. We cannot imagine not being able to receive Jesus in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist – not just as a memorial, not just as a symbol, but receiving Jesus Himself as he spoke in today’s gospel.
“If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (6:53). Some try to water these words down by saying Jesus is speaking in poetic language, such as when we call Jesus the Lamb of God. But no, Jesus means what he says. “He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has life eternal, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink” (Jn. 6: 54-55).
No symbols here. In fact, the Jews then present, hearing these words, knew precisely that Jesus meant them and they were scandalized. Blood was forbidden to eat in Jewish law. They walked away. Jesus could have watered down what he said; but he didn’t, he couldn’t, for he meant what he said. He even challenged his apostles: “Will you, too, walk away?” What a gauntlet to throw in the face of those he had been cultivating at great effort for three years.
Do we understand how the bread becomes the Body of Christ at Mass, and the wine Jesus’ sacred blood? No. We use a strange word, “transubstantiation,” coming from theologians in the Middle Ages. But this word does not explain anything: for we’re dealing with a mystery: and mysteries cannot be explained.
When we speak of the Holy Eucharist, we can only speak of what it means in our life. It means sacrifice, as Jesus sacrificed himself in dying for us on the cross. It means all the things Jesus said and did in his life – forgiveness, love, mercy, service. In saying “Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus is saying “Live in your lives what you see me doing in the Eucharist -- dying to myself that you may have life. So are you, my followers, to die to yourself that you may give life to your brothers.”
- “A mother was preparing the family’s favorite Sunday morning breakfast,
pancakes. Ryan, age six, and Dan, age four, began to argue over who would
get the first pancake. Mom saw this as a ‘teachable moment.’
“You know, boys, if Jesus was here, he would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake, I can wait.’”
Ryan turned to Dan, and with all the authority of an older brother, said, ‘Dan, you be Jesus.’” [i]
- Pastor William L. Stidger tells the story of a man in his congregation who
served in the Navy during World War II. One night, this man was running his
transport across the Atlantic when he noticed the white trail of a torpedo
coming toward him. His ship was manned by hundreds of soldiers; the
potential loss of life would have been devastating.
Nearby, another smaller ship had also seen the torpedo coming. This captain of this small vessel maneuvered his ship between the transport and the torpedo. The explosion destroyed his ship. All those aboard died.
The man who told this story ended it by saying, “Pastor Stidger, the skipper of that other ship was my best friend.” Slowly, he remarked, “You know, there is a verse in the Bible which has special meaning for me now. It is this: “Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’” [ii] - Pastor Edward Chinn writes, “In India there is a cemetery where the bodies of American soldiers are buried. Over the entrance to the cemetery are these words: ‘Tell Them We Gave Our Todays for Their Tomorrows.’” [iii]
- A cable channel features a show called “The Ten Most … .” One particular
show featured the greatest natural wonders of the world. Among them were the
giant redwoods of California. At hundreds of feet in height, they are the
largest living organisms in the world.
Redwoods, or sequoias, are also the oldest living organisms on the earth. “The General” is thought to be the oldest tree, at about 3000 years of age. It is amazing to see or stand next to a living thing that not only was alive when Jesus was, but was also alive during the age of King David and the prophets. To touch this ancient, living thing is to be awestruck by history. To stand next to it is to feel very small.
The taller the building, the deeper the foundation. We must assume that the tremendous height of the redwood means that the root system must be equally as deep in order to balance the tree. Surprisingly, the roots are very shallow. A single tree’s roots are so shallow they cannot support the tree’s height. So how do these trees stand?
Redwoods grow close together so that their roots can intertwine. Being locked together, the forces of nature cannot topple them. Should a redwood be left standing by itself because of cutting or the deaths of other trees, the lone giant will itself topple. The trees simply cannot stand alone. [iv]
The need for the Holy Eucharist for Catholics is seen in this anecdote from prison life.
- It is Easter Sunday at a prison. More than 10,000 political prisoners are
detained here by the country’s repressive and cruel regime. A group of
prisoners want to celebrate the Eucharist, but they have no bread, no wine,
no cup, no service book, no Bible, no priest.
The non-Christian prisoners offer, “We will help you. We will talk quietly so you can meet together and not draw the attention of the guards.” One of the Christian prisoners says to the others. “We have no bread, not even water to use as wine, but we will act as though we have.”
And so he begins to lead the others through the liturgy, surprised at how many of the words he remembers, having heard them so many Sundays since he was a child. When he gets to the words Jesus said at the Last Supper, he turns to the prisoner next to him. He holds out his empty hands and says, “This is my Body, which is given for you.”
And so they go around in the circle, one by one, each man turning to the next, opening his palms and repeating Jesus’ words: “This is my Body, given for you” [v]
- “One Sunday a father had arranged to pick up his children after church. He
yelled from the car window ‘Is the service over?’
“Someone yelled back: ‘Well, worship is over, but the service is just beginning.’ That’s why the priest says at the end of the Mass, ‘The Mass is over; go in peace to love and serve the Lord.’”
- One soldier of the Argyll regiment was in a work detail on the railway. The day’s work had ended; the tool were being counted, as usual. As the party was about to be dismissed, the Japanese guard shouted that a shovel
was missing. He insisted that someone had stolen it to sell to the Thais.
Striding up and down before the men, he ranted and denounced them for their
wickedness and their ingratitude to the Emperor. As he raved, he worked
himself up into a paranoid fury. Screaming in broken English, he demanded
that the guilty take one step forward to take his punishment. No one moved;
the guard’s rage reached new heights of violence. “All die! All die!” he
shrieked.
To show that he meant what he said, he cocked his rifle, put it on his shoulder and looked down the sights, ready to fire at the first man at the end of them. At the moment the Argyll stepped forward, stood stiffly to attention, and said calmly, “I did it.”
The guard unleashed all his whipped-up hate; he kicked the helpless prisoner and beat him with his fists. Still the Argyll stood rigidly to attention, with the blood streaming down his face. His silence goaded the guard to an excess of rage. Seizing his rifle by the barrel, he lifted it high over his head and, with a final howl, brought it down on the skull of the Argyll, who sank limply to the ground and did not move. Although it was perfectly clear that he was dead, the guard continued to beat him and stopped only when he was exhausted.
The men of the work detail picked up their comrade’s body, shouldered their tools and marched back to camp. When tools were counted again at the guard-house, no shovel was missing. [vi]
We now continue our Mass and pray Jesus to give us that spirit of self-sacrifice he had for us.
[i] “You be Jesus … “ Connections June 2, 2002, Cycle A, (Celebration, 115
East Armour Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64111-1203).
[ii] Wayne H. Keller, Emphasis, Nov./Dec., 1998, pp. 41-42.
[iii] The Rev. Edward Chinn, D. Min., “Why Do We Remember our War Dead?”
Religion in Daily Life, May 24, 2001. EdwardChinn@earthlink.net.
[iv] “Fr. Edward F. Steiner, “Body and Blood of Christ,” The Priest 58 (5):
22 (The Priest, 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington IN 46750) June 2002.
[v] Nora Gallagher, “Pentecost: We have the Spirit, we are the body,”
Episcopal Life, June 2000, as quoted in Connections “Given for you, for you
to give …”
[vi] Ernest Gordon, Miracle on the River Kwai.
(Comments to Jerry at padre@tri-lakes.net. Jerry's book, Stories For All Seasons, is available at a discount through the Homiletic Resource Center.)