THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST
14 JUNE 2020
After
Moses had led his people into the Sinai Desert, they found themselves in a
hostile and deserted place. There was no
food and no water. Moses showed them
manna, which was the resin of a tamarisk tree or the secretion of an insect
found on it. They had never known this
food and named it manna, which in Hebrew means “what is this?” Moses also struck thin rock formations in the
desert to reveal water concealed from human sight. Moses told the people that manna and water
were gifts from God. Manna and water
became their food and drink as God tested them and taught them through
adversity how to behave not as slaves, but as free people.
Centuries
later, Jesus of Nazareth led a large crowd of people to another hostile and
deserted place. He fed them with five
loaves and two fish, not to satisfy their physical hunger, but to reveal to
them the truth about his identity. He is
the living bread come down from heaven, the Incarnate Word of God dwelling in
their midst. He gives them his flesh to
eat and his blood to drink, promising eternal life to those who respond. Just as manna was something completely new,
so this gift of his flesh and blood was completely new and unexpected.
The Lord is
leading us these days into new and uncharted territory. He is leading us out of our isolation from
this pandemic. We are taking baby steps. For those who gather for Mass, we must wear
masks, refrain from any kind of singing, and keep social distancing. We are trying to figure out how to open up
our parish ministries and school in a gradual way to keep everyone safe. We are emerging from this pandemic with a
clearer awareness of sins that divide us in our culture, especially the sin of racism. We are trying to learn how to handle this sin
against the dignity of the human person.
In these
new and uncertain times, we become more grateful for the gift of the Lord’s
Real Presence in the Eucharist.
Especially after having been deprived of the Eucharist for over two
months, we can better appreciate the importance of this gift. We are in intimate communion with the Lord when
we receive his real presence. Saint Paul also says that participating in the
Eucharist also strengthens our communion with each other. That is why we process together as we
approach the Sacrament. In more normal
times, we raise our voices in song as we join the Communion procession. As Saint Augustine remarked, we say “Amen” to
the Body of Christ, because we are saying “Amen” to who we are – Christ’s Body
on this earth.
Walter
Ciszek was a Jesuit priest who served as a missionary to the Soviet Union in
the middle of the last century. He was
imprisoned in a Siberian gulag, where he was not allowed to celebrate the
Sacraments. In his memoir, He Leadeth Me, Father Ciszek recalls
that the faithful would wait until the noon break to gather. “In small groups the prisoners would shuffle
into the assigned place, and where the priest would say Mass in his working
clothes, unwashed, disheveled, bundled up against the cold. We said Mass in drafty storage shacks, or
huddled in mud and slush in the corner of a building site foundation of an
underground. The intensity of devotion
of both priests and prisoners made up for everything; there were no altars,
candles, bells, flowers, music, snow-white linens, stained glass or the warmth
that even the simplest parish church could offer. Yet in these primitive conditions, the Mass
brought you closer to God than anyone might conceivably imagine. The realization of what was happening on the
board, box, or stone used in the place of an altar penetrated deep into the
soul.”
We
celebrate this same Mystery at this altar.
As the Lord feeds us with his flesh and blood, we trust that he forms us
more completely into one Body, testing us, and teaching us how to behave as
truly free people learning to trust in God’s love.
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