This Sermon is prepared by
Rev.Fr.Peter Jayakanthan sss
Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament
Corpus Christi Catholic Church,
Houston, Texas, US
The Most Precious Body and Blood of ChristWho is the Eucharist……Awesome!EX. 24: 3-8, HEBREWS 9: 11-15, MARK: 14:12-16, 22-26Dear Sisters, Brothers and Children, A very happy feast of Corpus Christi. It is the feast of the Church, it is the feast of Christian community, it is the feast of every parish and it is the feast of God in Person. Pope St. John Paul II affirmed that “The Eucharist builds the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist.” It explains the real living presence of our Eucharistic Lord with us and in us. We are called to proclaim the living presence of Jesus in our streets, neighborhoods and to the world. our procession may be a moment of witness to our faith history and inspiring occasion for one another.Dominic Tang, the courageous Chinese Archbishop, was imprisoned for twenty-one years for nothing more than his loyalty to Christ and Christ’s one, true Church. After five years of solitary confinement in a windowless, damp cell, he was told by his jailers that he could leave it for a few hours to do whatever he wanted. Five years of solitary confinement and he had a couple of hours to do what he wanted! What would it be? A hot shower? A change of clothes? Certainly a long walk outside? A chance to call or write to family? What would it be, the jailer asked him. “I would like to say Mass,” replied Archbishop Tang. The Vietnamese Jesuit, Joseph Nguyen-Cong Doan, who spent nine years in labor camps in Vietnam, relates how he was finally able to say Mass when a fellow priest-prisoner shared some of his own smuggled supplies. “That night, when the other prisoners were asleep, lying on the floor of my cell, I celebrated Mass with tears of joy. My altar was my blanket, my prison clothes my vestments. But I felt myself at the heart of humanity and of the whole of creation.” In 1431, England, St. Joan of Arc was asked about her last preference of the meal before her execution in the burning fire; she asked for Holy Communion, the Eucharist. What is in the Eucharist? What is special in going to Holy Mass, it is long, not interesting and not new? The feast of Corpus Christi challenges us to ask not what is Eucharist, rather, who is Eucharist? Yes, It is the Real Presence of the Lord coming to be among us, as we adore Him and coming into us through Communion to be part of us. This Presence of Jesus Our Lord is the fulfillment of ultimate sacrifice and Covenantal love. All three readings of today speak about the final sacrifice and fulfillment of Covenantal love. It shows the history, it unfolds the mystery, reveals the story of covenant, sacrifice and love which was expressed and proved in blood. The readings speak of this Covenant of Blood. The Hebrew tradition believed that life resides in the blood; thus was Bloodshed, poured out, and sprinkled. The initial Covenant was made with chosen individual people like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the first reading we read that God decided to make His Covenant the first time with the people through Moses the leader. It was the chosen sacred community that experienced the union of Yahweh through His expression. Moses sent young men who might have been born at the time of their liberating Passover, who offered the sacrifice of animal, as an expression of thanksgiving. They also continued to offer sacrifice for the reparation of their sins. They believed in the effects of this sacrifice by burning it, pouring it out, or shedding its blood. The reason behind this is that we send the best to heaven, and the best will return to us. The second part of this sacrifice involved the eating of some of the animal or drinking its blood. So, Moses’ action of sprinkling blood on the altar and the people expressed the desire of God to share the lives of the people and the eagerness of the people’s participation in the presence of God. So the altar is the Presence of God, burning the entire victim is an act of adoration and praise, the eating, drinking and sprinkling of blood bound them to the Lord. The Feast of Atonement means at-one-with the Lord through this sacrifice. Sacrifice continued day and night, the Temple priest worked as a mediator, animals were constantly killed… the smell of Jerusalem was felt before one can see Jerusalem from afar. But, there was no involvement or spiritual feeling of encountering God; rather it became an empty ritual. In the Gospel, Jesus’ actions speak more than words: taking, giving thanks, breaking and giving to eat and drink. These actions reveal the true, real and the final sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. He is the High Priest, the Mediator the One who offer, He is the Victim, His Blood and His Body are broken and shed for the liberation and salvation from sin and various slavery. What are the differences between the Old Covenant and New Covenant? The Old was an imperfect one….the New was the perfect sacrifice…. The Old resulted in outward cleansing…..the New involved the internal supernatural cleansing... Animal sacrifice did not accomplish anything….Jesus’ sacrifice changed the history of humanity. Animals were taken and forced to be killed, the sacrifice of Jesus was voluntary and willing… Animal killing was part of the Levitical Law, Jesus death was a total act of love… Moses was the mediator of the Sinai Covenant; Jesus is the Mediator of the Eternal Covenant…. The Greek meaning of Covenant is (diatheke) “last will or testament,” it gives the two meanings of one who initiated the covenant and final proof of His act. How does this leads to real presence in the Eucharist and today’s feast. The Lord, who chose and made a Covenant with His People, was eventually remembered in ritual killing of animals and meaningless sacrifices. Their act was not connected to their life, religion, faith and worship were lifeless, and the People of one nation were divided. Political power and religious authority was dominated with legal structure. Jesus’ Presence comes to us in the Eucharist to be part of us and among our community. The love of the lord remains forever. The Lord who is present with us in Eucharist, comes to us in Eucharistic celebration needs to be worshipped, adored and proclaimed publicly in the streets, in the neighborhood and in the society. He unites us, He sustains us and He activates us. In the year 1263 a priest from Prague was on his way to Rome on a pilgrimage seeking strength, as he was having doubt about his vocation, He stopped at the Catacomb of St. Christina at Bolsena, Italy, which is 70 miles away from Rome, and celebrated the Eucharist. As he raised the Host during the Consecration, the bread turned into Flesh and began to bleed; the drops of the Blood fell on the corporal, the small white cloth on the Altar. The following year, Pope Urban IV commissioned the Feast of Corpus Christi ever since this Miracle. I was thrilled, enriched and renewed as I was present in that miraculous place May 2011! We have many Eucharistic miracles that continue to occur in the Church even today. This affirms that the Eucharist is an everlasting Presence, where we need to adore His Presence, to break and to eat from the altar; it is the constant reminder of His complete love and utmost sacrifice. Here is the experience of Fr. Rossica from the Eucharistic Congress in 1998 at Quebec city: “One day The young taxi driver, an Algerian Muslim man, asked me from where I came, and then spoke to me about the congress, having encountered so many of the delegates on the streets of Quebec City. When he learned that I was from English-speaking Canada, he lit up! “What are they giving you people to eat these days?” he asked me. I looked puzzled and asked him to explain and he did so in impeccable English! He said: “I have never seen so many happy people in Quebec City since I emigrated here 10 years ago. There has to something in the food and drink. It must be awesome!” Non-Catholics wonder and see us crazy people for longing for the Real Presence of The Eucharistic Lord. To them I will offer the response of taxi driver, which I experienced once, once while offering Holy Communion in a Eucharist for young people, a young girl responded after receiving The Body of Christ…not Amen…rather ‘Awesome’… yes Holy Eucharist IS awesome, truth that can only be experienced and lived. When you carry the Eucharist within your heart, mind and soul, you are walking with Jesus along the journey to heaven, our eternal home. How awesome to have the King of Heaven, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, be our Guest --Amen. 
|
