**Fr Tom began the homily by leaving the sanctuary for a short time**
Well, that was a bit weird, wasn’t it? That’s not the way I usually start a homily here. I bet some of you might have been wondering whether I was feeling OK. I don’t know exactly what was going on in your mind, but I imagine it was a bit confusing, maybe even a bit uncomfortable. What do we do, now that Father isn’t here?
My presence with all of you is important for Mass. And your presence here with me is so important, too. It is a good thing for us to be present here together. As we all experienced during the height of the pandemic, nothing quite compares to being present here in church. Sure, you can watch Mass on TV, an ipad, or your phone. But it isn’t the same. Presence is important.
And that is truly what we celebrate on this specific Feast, Corpus Christi. It is the opportunity to remind ourselves why, Sunday after Sunday and day after day, we gather to celebrate the Eucharist. Why is it worth celebrating? Is it worth celebrating? I believe, in my bones, that the answer to this question is a resounding ‘yes!’ And I pray that God helps your heart today to resound with that same answer.
When I was a seminarian, I had the great privilege to attend World Youth Day, a gathering of Catholic young people from all over the world which happens every couple of years. It was the Summer of 2013 and World Youth Day was taking place over a five day period in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I got to attend with a group from Michigan. (I know, I know. There are great Catholics even in that State Up North! Just kidding.) It was an amazing opportunity to connect with Catholics from all over the world. One of the experiences I especially remember was the prayer vigil the night before the last day. It was a massive gathering on Copacabana beach in Rio. But my story of that night begins in the morning.
Our group was torn about what to do the morning before the vigil. Some of us wanted to go and try to get into the Mass with Pope Francis in the city center, but others wanted to go and stake out our place on the beach to reserve it for the gathering that evening. We ended up compromising and splitting into two groups–one went to the beach, the other went into the city center. I went with the group into the city. Long story short about our adventure in the city–we didn’t get into the Mass with Pope Francis, but we did get to see him up close and personal for the first time in the Pope-Mobile. He had just recently been elected pope and I can tell you that it was an electric moment.
After we got back from the city center, though, we still had to find the rest of our group at the beach. How hard could it be? I thought to myself. As it turns out, when 3 million people are gathering on a beach–pretty stinking hard! I actually wandered through the crowds on my own for the entire afternoon searching for our group and never finding them. I talked to countless English speaking groups, but none of them seemed to know where our small group was camped out. At that time, I just had a little non-smart phone with a Brazilian SIM card and it wasn’t working very well. Finally, I got a text from some people at the hotel where we were staying nearby. They had met up with people from our group who could lead us out to our spot on the beach! The lost were found, Alleluia!
By now, it was evening. We made our way through the crowds and finally arrived at the spot our group had been saving on the beach since that morning. Right when I got there, something remarkable happened. There was adoration with exposition happening on the beach. So Jesus in the Eucharist had been placed out in a gold sunburst stand and people were silently praying. But just as our group was being reunited, Matt Maher, one of my favorite Catholic musicians, came out onstage with his guitar. Instead of facing out towards the people, he knelt down and faced the Host in the Monstrance and sang the song, “Lord I Need You.” It was an incredible moment. I knelt down on the beach along with the great multitude and sang my heart out.
In that moment, three million hearts were united not just in praising a symbol. A symbol doesn’t move millions. That night, our hearts and mouths rang out because we knelt before a Person–the Person of Jesus Christ, who came into this dark world to bring light to all of us in the shadow of sin and death. He came never to leave us again. Our Savior knows how much we need Him, so He left us with the ultimate gift–Himself–His presence with us hidden under the simple appearances of Bread and Wine.
And I know this reality is hard. It has challenged people ever since Jesus spoke to the crowds in Capernaum about gnawing on His flesh and drinking His blood. It disturbed and confused many of them. A lot of them walked away. If we look around our church, there are open spots in these pews. How many of our children, friends and parents have walked away? But the Lord doesn’t walk away. He doesn’t abandon us. In fact, even when we walk away from Him, He never stops pursuing us! Maybe even some of you here struggle to believe that what the Lord said could actually be true: “This IS my body, this IS my blood.” I pray that this day, God opens up your heart to accept this profound reality that your eyes and senses cannot see but is very real. If you are in that spot, take a moment right now to lift up an honest prayer from your heart, the same prayer of the blind man Bartimaeus who, when Jesus asked Him, “What do you want me to do for you?” responded, “Master, I want to see.” Let the blind man’s words be your prayer, right now: “Master, I want to see.”
And if you are in that place of struggle, it may be because you’ve never really looked into the rich history that we have as a church which supports our belief in Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist. I encourage you and challenge you to study that rich history. I have made a page on our parish website with some great resources for digging deeply into our reasons for believing Jesus truly is present with us.
Today’s readings show how ancient this belief is in Jesus’ real presence. God always knows what He is doing. Long before Jesus was born, we hear in the book of Genesis about Melchizedek bringing a great offering to Abram. What does he bring? Bread and wine. You think that was a coincidence? I don’t think so! God knew that these simple gifts that Melchizedek gave–wine, a symbol of joy; and bread, a symbol of nourishment–were a foreshadowing of the ultimate gift that Jesus would give us, once again using…bread and wine. In the Eucharistic prayer you will hear me pray today, we remember the unfolding of God’s great plan and Melchizedek’s part in it:
Be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance,and to accept them, as once you were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant Abel the just, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.
We see how important the Eucharist was even from the earliest days of the Church by what we hear in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, which actually predates the Gospels. Before Matthew, Mark, Luke or John wrote anything about the Last Supper or Jesus’ preaching about the gift of His Body and Blood, Paul was passing along that teaching. He says to the Corinthians:
I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,
that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over,
took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me.”
In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
“This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
Already, Paul is handing on that great treasure to his fellow disciples: that great gift that Jesus gave at the Last Supper and commanded us to do in remembrance of Him, not just as a way of remembering a past event, but in such a way that we are drawn, by His power, back to that event.
This is the power which we celebrate today, the power of Jesus risen and alive, truly, fully, and really present with us here through the Eucharist. Everything we do is for the sake of what happens here, not for the sake of what we receive here, but Who we receive here.
In the miracle of the multiplication that Jesus performed in the Gospel, He knew exactly what He was doing. He fed a multitude of people by taking, blessing, breaking and distributing simple gifts which were multiplied by His power. What happens all over the world at every Mass? Everywhere in the world, Jesus’ heart burns for more and more people to come to His altars, where He takes, blesses, breaks, and gives simple gifts which are transformed by His power not just to fill our bellies, but to fill our souls to overflowing, just as the baskets were filled to overflowing that day.
The Lord wants to fill us to overflowing with the same food that nourished and gave power to the great saints–Mother Teresa, John Paul II, St. Therese of Lisieux, Padre Pio, St Faustina, St. Benedict, St Francis, St Claire, and countless others. I pray that we see today, either for the first time or even more deeply, that Jesus truly is present here, that He wants to feed us with Himself so as to be present to us in the most intense way possible: by reversing the course of natural food and consuming us as we receive Him. All that we do, all of this beauty, all the work we put into what happens here is because of WHO we meet here. At this moment, we join countless others all over the world who are also gathered for Mass right now. We join countless religious sisters and brothers who right now are on their knees in adoration before Jesus in the Eucharist, praying for all of us. Let us join them in their prayer.
As most of you know, I like to end my homilies in a moment of prayer. I want to invite you all today to join me in that prayer, but in a different way than usual. I want to invite you all to join me in doing what Matt Maher did with 3 million young people on Copacabana beach. Let’s kneel and sing a song of prayer to Jesus in the Eucharist.
As Catholics, I think it is all too easy to treat songs in a merely functional way. Recently I heard a priest say that we think of hymns as a thing to do while father is making his way from point A to point B. And he is exactly right, in my opinion. But truly, the songs we sing are meant to be prayers, a moment of worship for God who is present with us. So, in the midst of Jesus’ presence with us here in the tabernacle, let’s take a moment of prayer in song together. Try to make the words of this song the prayer of your heart. If you have a bad voice, that’s OK. God gave it to you, just give it back to Him. Let’s take a few minutes to pray together. Please kneel if you are able.
+ Lord, I come, I confess
Bowing here I find my rest
Without You I fall apart
You’re the One that guides my heart
Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You
Where sin runs deep Your grace is more
Where grace is found is where You are
And where You are, Lord, I am free
Holiness is Christ in me
Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You
So teach my song to rise to You
When temptation comes my way
When I cannot stand I’ll fall on You
Jesus, You’re my hope and stay
Lord, I need You, oh, I need You
Every hour I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You
You’re my one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You
My one defense, my righteousness
Oh God, how I need You +