Body and Blood of Christ, 2012

MARK 14:12-16; 22-26

I DON'T KNOW IF ANY OF YOU HAVE SEEN THE MOVIE “THE AVENGERS”. WE SELDOM GO TO MOVIES, BUT WE ALLOWED OURSELVES TO BE TALKED INTO TAKING SOME OF THE GRANDCHILDREN TO THE THIS ONE. IT WAS LOUD, HAD LOTS OF ACTION; IT WAS A REAL VISUAL TREAT SHOWING WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH COMPUTERS THESE DAYS; AND THERE WAS ENOUGH HUMOR TO KEEP US OLD ADULTS AMUSED AS WELL AS THE KIDS. THE STORY IS THAT IRON MAN SAVES NEW YORK FROM AN ATOM BOMB BY GRABBING THE BOMB AND FLYING IT HIGH INTO OUTER SPACE, WHERE IT EXPLODES. UNFORTUNATELY, IT CREATES A PASSAGE THROUGH WHICH COME SOME PRETTY AWFUL ALIENS, INTENT ON TAKING OVER THE EARTH. DESPITE DESTRUCTION OF BUILDINGS AND SHOOTING OF RAY GUNS THAT VAPORIZE EVERYTHING IN SIGHT, AND DESPITE SUPERHEROES GETTING SLAMMED INTO BRICK WALLS, NOBODY GETS HURT, NOT EVEN ANY OF THE BYSTANDERS, AT LEAST SO YOU CAN TELL. THE SUPERHEROES ARE ALL HAVING A TERRIBLE TIME AND IT LOOKS LIKE EARTH IS GOING TO BE TAKEN OVER BY REALLY UGLY MACHINES, BUT AT THE LAST MINUTE, THEY DECIDE TO WORK TOGETHER, AND ONCE THIS HAPPENS, THE SPACE MONSTERS ARE HANDILY DEFEATED AND THE HOLE IN OUTER SPACE CLOSED UP.

TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE FEAST OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. ALTHOUGH WE CELEBRATE THE HOLY EUCHARIST EVERY DAY, AND MOST OF US GET TO MASS ON SUNDAYS, THE CHURCH INVITES US TO CONSIDER THIS SACRAMENT IN GREATER DEPTH ONE DAY EVERY YEAR. AND THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS WE COULD TALK ABOUT. BUT I WOULD LIKE TO THINK ABOUT ONE THING TODAY. WE CALL THIS SACRAMENT THE EUCHARIST, THE TABLE OF THE LORD, THE SACRED MEAL, BUT TODAY WE WILL THINK ABOUT ONE OF THE NAMES FOR IT, HOLY COMMUNION.

WE BELIEVE AS CATHOLICS THAT RECEIVING THE BREAD AND WINE, OR EITHER, IS THE SAME THING AS RECEIVING JESUS. WE BELIEVE, IN FACT, THAT THE ELEMENTS OF BREAD AND WINE BECOME JESUS, SO THAT DESPITE THE APPEARANCE, THE UNDERLYING SUBSTANCE CHANGES. AND AS WE RECEIVE THE BODY AND BLOOD INTO OUR OWN BODIES, WE BECOME LINKED WITH JESUS IN A MOST INTIMATE WAY.

AND THERE IS ANOTHER MYSTERY HERE. JESUS, NOW RISEN FROM THE DEAD, BODY AND BLOOD, SOUL AND DIVINITY, CANNOT BE DIVIDED, CANNOT BE SPLIT UP AND PORTIONED OUT; SO WHEN I RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION, IN A VERY REAL WAY, YOU, AND ALL OF US WHO RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION, PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, STEP OUT OF TIME AND SPACE AND BECOME ONE; THERE IS ONLY ONE JESUS.

AND THE THIRD POINT IS THAT UNLIKE WHEN WE EAT ORDINARY FOOD, WHICH IS CHANGED INTO OUR BODIES, WHEN WE CONSUME THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS, WE TAKE IN HIS LIFE, WE BECOME PART OF HIS BODY, THE MYSTICAL BODY.

OTHER CHRISTIANS BELIEVE OTHER THINGS ABOUT THE EUCHARIST. OUR ORTHODOX BROTHERS AGREE WITH US, BUT DON'T TRY TO EXPLAIN HOW IT HAPPENS. LUTHERANS BELIEVE THAT THE BREAD AND WINE REMAIN, BUT JESUS BECOMES PRESENT; AND MANY CHRISTIANS SIMPLY SEE HOLY COMMUNION AS A SYMBOLIC ACTION. BUT JESUS DID SAY, “THIS IS MY BODY” AND HE DID SAY, “UNLESS YOU EAT MY FLESH AND DRINK MY BLOOD, YOU SHALL NOT HAVE LIFE IN YOU.” WE CATHOLICS, I GUESS, HAVE ALWAYS TAKEN HIM AT HIS WORD.

BUT WHY? WHY DID JESUS DO THIS?

JESUS BECAME A HUMAN BEING 2000 YEARS AGO IN PALESTINE FOR ONE REASON, AND THAT WAS TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN GOD AND MAN, AND MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR HUMAN BEINGS TO ENTER INTO THE LIFE OF GOD HIMSELF. HE FOUNDED THE CHURCH, HE TAUGHT, HE HEALED, AND HE SUFFERED AND DIED FOR THIS PURPOSE. AND HE USHERED IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD, WHICH HE TOLD US WAS NOT LOCATED FAR OFF IN THE SKY SOMEWHERE, OR AFTER DEATH, BUT IT WAS RIGHT HERE, AMONG US. OUR MOTHER MARY DESCRIBED THE KINGDOM; IT WAS WHERE THE MIGHTY WOULD BE PULLED DOWN AND THE WEAK AND SUFFERING WOULD BE RAISED UP; JESUS COMPARED IT TO A BANQUET TO WHICH EVERYONE WAS INVITED; AND IN FACT EVERY TIME CHRISTIANS ENACT THE EUCHARIST, WHATEVER ELSE THEY BELIEVE ABOUT IT THEOLOGICALLY, THEY SEE THIS AS LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT BANQUET, WHERE EVERYONE IS CONTENT, WHERE ALL THAT DIVIDES US, ALL THAT HURTS US, IS FOREVER FORGOTTEN.

AND AFTER JESUS DIED AND ROSE FROM THE DEAD, THE TINY CHURCH BEGAN TO GROW, AND BY FITS AND STARTS BEGAN TO REMAKE THE WORLD. BUT SOMETHING SEEMS TO HAVE GONE WRONG. WE CATHOLICS MAKE UP ENOUGH OF THE POPULATION OF THIS COUNTRY, AND IN FACT, OF MANY COUNTRIES, SO THAT IF WE WORKED TOGETHER AROUND THE PRINCIPLES THAT CHRIST LGAVE US, WE COULD CHANGE THE WORLD, WE COULD USHER IN HIS KINGDOM. IT'S NOT PIE IN THE SKY. ALTHOUGH I THINK JESUS KNEW IT WOULD NEVER BE FULLY REALIZED IN THIS LIFE, HE DID EXPECT THAT HIS PEOPLE WOULD NEVER STAND BY AND WATCH PEOPLE STARVE WHEN THEY COULD HELP IT. HE DID EXPECT THAT HIS PEOPLE WOULD NOT ALLOW INNOCENT BABIES TO DIE, SOMETIMES BECAUSE THEY WERE MEMBERS OF THE SEX WHICH THE PARENTS HAD DECIDED THEY DID NOT WANT. HE DID EXPECT THAT HIS PEOPLE WOULD DO EVERYTHING THEY COULD TO MAKE A BETTER WORLD, RATHER THAN GET DISTRACTED BY POLITICS, OR EVEN DIFFERENCES IN RELIGION. AND WE AREN'T DOING A VERY GOOD JOB.

BEFORE THEY JOIN FORCES TO BATTLE THE ENEMY, THE AVENGERS ARE PROUD OF THEIR INDEPENDENCE. EACH OF THEM HAS NO NEED OF ANYONE ELSE, AND EACH REVELS IN HIS OR HER OWN POWER. BUT THE REALITY IS THAT EVEN WITH GREAT POWER, NOTHING SERIOUS WILL BE ACHIEVED UNTIL ALL BAND TOGETHER, UNTIL ALL REALIZE THEIR INTERDEPENDENCE. AND ONLY THEN DO THE TIDES OF BATTLE TURN, AND THE POWERS THAT BELONG TO EACH ACTUALLY MEAN SOMETHING.

JESUS GIVES US, THE MEMBERS OF HIS BODY, THE TASK OF BUILDING HIS KINGDOM. THIS IS WHAT WE ARE FOR, THIS IS OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE. JESUS GIVES US THE THINGS WE NEED TO DO THIS. OUR BAPTISM IS OUR COMMISSION; WE BECOME PART OF A LARGER PURPOSE. OUR CONFIRMATION EQUIPS US WITH POWER, WITH THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. OUR EUCHARIST IS OUR FOOD AND DRINK, WHICH STRENGTHEN US AND INDEED TRANSFORM US SO THAT OUR EVERY ACTION TRANSCENDS SPACE AND TIME, SO THAT WE BECOME POTENTIAL HEIRS OF HEAVEN AND MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE THE RIGHT TO SIT WITH MARY AND THE SAINTS IN THE HEART OF THE TRINITY. AND EVERY TIME WE RECEIVE THE EUCHARIST, WE ARE THUS TRANSFORMED.

SO LET US TODAY THINK THROUGH THE IMPLICATIONS OF WHAT WE EAT AND WHAT WE DRINK WHEN WE PARTAKE OF THIS SACRAMENT. AND LET US NEVER TAKE IT FOR GRANTED AGAIN.