"CORPUS CHRISTI"

HOLY EUCHARIST      "Corpus Christi"

INTRODUCTION:    “Eucharist” itself means Thanksgiving. There couldn’t be a better way of thanking God than by celebrating the Eucharist. Every Mass is a Thanksgiving Mass. No sacrament contributes more to our salvation than this, for it purges away our sins, increases our virtues, and is the pledge of eternal life.

The most Holy Eucharist is the Real, Substantial and Personal presence of Jesus Christ under the symbol of food and as Head of the community.

Let us begin the Eucharistic Lord’s celebration with profound sorrow for our sins and failures.

THE HOMILY

Let me relate an incident in the life of Mother Teresa. On one occasion she was visiting in South America and was walking towards a poverty stricken village, accompanied by a few of her sisters and some press photographers - since by then she was quite famous. As Mother approached the edge of the village, the children out to meet her, screaming with delight, holding and kissing her hands, dancing round her as she walked on. The poor village elders waited to greet her. The press reporters exchanged glances and speculated what these people would ask of her:  some tins sheets for their shanty houses, bags of broken wheat and milk powder, used and oversized clothes from Germany ? So they were flabbergast when Mother reached the group and they extended their hands and said:  “Mother, give us God. Mother, give us God !”

Some years ago, I spent a month in Nainital, staying in St. Francis’ Church, overlooking the lake. One morning, after Mass I stood outside the church by the railing of the church property. Two senior school girls, apparently Punjabi Hindus, walked right up tome and said, “Father, please open the church; we want to see God.”  Their request sounded very sincere, and the point is that it seemed to echo the request the poor of that South American village made to Mother Teresa: “Mother, give us God.” Let’s admit it: under the refinery of riches and the rags of poverty there is a hunger for God, of which the hunger for material bread is but a pale reflection.  God knows about this hunger; he placed it there deep in the pit of our beings. The hunger for divine reality is somewhat continuous with but of a much higher nature than our hunger for food and drink, our craving for appreciation and affection, our desire for immortality. The Holy Eucharist reminds us of that mystery within us that we must always keep open and alive and not smother by gluttony for material food, drink and worldly pleasure.

You must know this beautiful little verse

addressed to the Holy Eucharist:

“Heavenly sweetness unalloyed

Who eat thee hunger still;

Who drink of thee still feel a void

Which only thou canst fill.”

We have all, I’m sure, savoured that sweetness when we received our dear Lord in Holy Communion, and shall continue to do so. Which reminds me of a story in the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. One day at the height of his power as Emperor of France he was at table with his generals. One of them asked him, “My Emperor, what was the happiest day of your life.” Napoleon raised his head and began to think. His generals were hazarding their own guesses: could it be the great victory of the battle of Austerlitz; could it be the day he took France by the force of his personality after his escape from the island of Elba; or was it the royal day of his coronation when he grabbed the crown from the hands of the archbishop and place it on his head ? “H’m” mused Napoleon, “the happiest day of my life ?” “Yes, I remember. It was the day of my First Holy Communion.”  My dear friends, I sincerely feel, that with all his pride and arrogance, that beautiful answer was his entry ticket to heaven when he died on St. Helena.

Let us now focus a little on our dear Lord Jesus himself. When cruel men were weaving the darkest plots against him, he was busy giving them the most precious gift he has. When they were only thinking of setting up an infamous cross to kill him, he was only thinking of setting up an altar to sacrifice himself daily for us. When they were preparing to shed his blood, the same Jesus Christ offered us his precious Blood as the drink of immortality, consolation and happiness. My dear friends, if you are in difficulties and sorrow, he will comfort and lighten your heart. If you are ill, he will heal you or strengthen you.

If the devil, the world and the flesh are battling against you, he will give you the weapons for resisting and winning. If you are poor, he will share his wealth with you for time and eternity. Allow yourself to be wrapped around by his love, and you will see what a loving God can do.

 And I get my cue from St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor of theology, who stated that a clear sign of one’s predestination was a special love of the Holy Eucharist. In other words, if over the years you have developed a loving habit of spending some time every day praying before the Blessed Sacrament, let me assure you that you are marked out for heaven; you’re probably there already; your life on earth is only a shadow, and death makes no difference.

To the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well, Jesus said, “I have water you know not of, springing up unto everlasting life.” And the woman said, “Sir, give me this water.” To the people on the hillside he declared, “I am the Bread of life.” And they said, “Sir, give us this bread.” On the Feast of Tabernacles Jesus stood up in the Temple and cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.” And to him we reply, “Lord, slake our thirst as only you can.”

St. Thomas Aquinas wrote a good amount of Latin poetry extolling the Holy Eucharist, which is still sung in the original. One such is the “Adoro te devote,” the final verse of which goes like this:

“Jesu quem velatum nunc adspicio

Oro fiat illud quod tam sitio

Ut te revelata cernens facie

Visu sim beatus tuae gloriae.”

And that could be our prayer, if you don’t mind my translation:

“Jesus, whom now veiled I see,

I pray that what I so thirst for will be

That I may see thy countenance unfolding

And may be blessed thy glory in beholding”.