01 June 2024 – Corpus Christi (The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ) (Year B) (Sunset Mass)

by Fr Simon Labrooy

So brothers and sisters, the focus of the Eucharist before 2nd Vatican Council was the sacrifice. So for those of you who are on the other side of 60, you will remember that the priest was facing the altar. You remember that? And the emphasis was always on the sacrifice of the Eucharist. And there was this railing, the railing where you can’t come in. Only the priest and the servers can cross the altar railing. And so focus was on the sacrifice.

And after Vatican Council II, the shift took place to the focus on the meal. So now everybody is included to the meal. So out went the altar rails and we could come into the sanctuary area, the lay could do the Reading, so on and so forth.

And after Vatican Council II, we were lost because we do not know which direction to take, whether the sacrifice or the meal.

But in actual fact, brothers and sisters, we cannot separate both. We cannot separate the sacrifice and we cannot separate the meal because this is the theology, the aspect, of the Eucharist. Without the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, without the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, there is no Eucharist.

And the Eucharist, the pastoral aspect of the Eucharist is all of us are included to the meal. So that is just the background, the context.

So on this Sunday when we celebrate Corpus Christ or the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, our prayerful remembrance will be on the presence of the Eucharist, both in our daily prayer, in our prayer at the Mass and of our expression of our faith. So that will be.

The Gospel Reading that we have today comes from the very end of Mark’s Gospel. The first remarkable thing about the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist is this: It comes at the end of the public life of Jesus.

It can be found also in Matthew Chapter 26 and Luke Chapter 22 and also mentioned in Saint Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, the first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 11.

But John’s Gospel is different. John’s Gospel has the Last Supper but not the institution of the Eucharist. We will remember that on Holy Thursday, there is no institution of the Eucharist but the washing of the feet. Remember that, right?

So again. The pastoral aspect towards the Eucharist: We receive Jesus, we are sent to be like Jesus.

The second thing that is important in the Theology of the Eucharist is that there are many aspects to this. Of course I mentioned just now the meal and the sacrifice. But then again, there is a very strong emphasis on the covenant, the bonding, the relationship between God and us, Christ and us.

And the First Reading, we had the whole description of the covenant between God and us. And it appears and Jesus says in the Gospel: The blood of the new and eternal covenant will save us.

So, the notion and understanding of a covenant with a people is very important in the Theology of the Eucharist.

There is also the element of sacrifice which I mentioned just now, the blood of the covenant, the sacrificial Lamb, the Passover Lamb. Now for the 1st century Jew, when John the Baptist pointed ‘There is the Lamb of God‘, they knew that is the Lamb that is going to save us, going to save them. They knew it because their mind and their thoughts went back to the Exodus experience where the lamb was slaughtered and the blood pasted on the doorpost of the houses and the Spirit of God passed over their home. You remember this, you will remember this, right?

So when the 1st century Jew, who was expecting a Messiah to come, was pointed to the Lamb of God, they knew exactly that Jesus is now going to be the Messiah. Of course, Jesus took a different approach to salvation, to saving us. 

So Jesus the new Passover Lamb. That is the second thing.

However, one aspect that is worth looking at is the hospitality of the meal. The hospitality of the meal. The welcoming of the Eucharist.

Why?

Because it is of massive importance when we come as a people of God to understand how deep the hospitality of the Eucharist is actually.

It is written in the biography of Einstein, Albert Einstein. He died in 1955. Very interesting read. If you can get the biography, read it. That towards the end of his life, he questioned. He said: Now I understand that there is only one question that matters. And for him, it was: Is the universe friendly? Is the universe friendly?

For us as Christians, at some time in our lives, we are drawn into a place where we sometimes say: Is God actually friendly? Is my God actually friendly?

We are drawn into a space. Is there a place for us in the kingdom of God?

Whatever our condition may be, we ask ourselves: Is there a place for me?

So let us look at this. In the Jewish context in which the Word of God was shaped, the understanding of a ‘meal‘ has a significant way of portraying that relationship. To share a meal in the Jewish culture was a sign of bonding. A sign of bonding, the Last Supper, Jesus shared a meal with His disciples.

A sign of bonding. A sign of belonging. A sign of acceptance. To somehow call a person by name and share a meal had a great impact in the Jewish community.

We will see, you know, when Jesus breaks the bread and has the meal with sinners. He invites them into a relationship. He invites those who were sinners, simply meaning those who were struggling in life, to have a relationship with him.

So there is a marvelous passage in Chapter 14 of Saint Luke where Jesus says: When you have a meal, don’t invite your friends, don’t invite your family because they can repay you. They might invite you back and you will be repaid. Invite the blind, the lame, the crippled. Invite the outcast who cannot pay you and then you will be blessed.

That is what Jesus says about that meal.

So when we come to look at the hospitality of the Eucharist, we look at the text of today’s Gospel.

If you read immediately ahead of this text which we have about the institution of the Eucharist, the Last Supper, it will tell you that Judas goes and decides to betray Jesus. The chief priests agree to pay Judas some money. And then Judas will go for the Last Supper.

Jesus also knows that Peter will deny Him and that the Apostles will abandon Him.

And so, does He invite them to share in the Eucharist at the Last Supper? Yes! He invites them. He invites Judas. He invites Peter. The weak disciples, He calls them. He calls them by name, to share the meal and to belong to the table of life.

However, that is Jesus’ standard. But our standard could seem to be more demanding than the standard of Jesus.

Stories. Stories we will remember. I would like to tell you a story.

In one of my parishes twenty over years ago, I remember encountering this man. You know like most of the Catholic parishes, there is always an Apostle in the parish. This Apostle, we shall call him, tries to save himself and he tries to save everyone else.

Now this Apostle, we call him, noticed that there was a man, a sinner. He comes for Mass every morning but he does not receive the Eucharist. He comes for Mass every morning but does not receive the Eucharist.

And one day, this Apostle, we call him, went to this man and said: I see you coming for Mass everyday. Why are you not receiving the Eucharist?

And this man was quiet.

And this Apostle, as we call him, approached me.

‘Father‘, he said. Let us call this sinner, Joe. 

‘Father, did Joe come to see you for confession? I told him to go for confession so that he can receive the Eucharist.’

You have that kind of people in our parish, you know, sometimes. Right? You either want to strangle them or you hang them. Okay. Right?

So I said: ‘That is not a good question to ask. It is not a good question.’

Then he went off. A month later, he comes back.

‘Father, did Joe come for confession?‘

‘It is still not a good question.‘ I told him. Then he went off.

Anyway, a few weeks later, Joe comes for confession.

And he says: ‘Father, I am dying to receive the Eucharist but I cannot.‘

And I asked him: ‘Why can’t you receive the Eucharist?‘

And he says: ‘Father, I have this profound relationship with this woman. I am a widower and I am not married to her and I have this profound relationship with her.‘

And this man, Joe, is in his 70s. And I guess this profound relationship does not mean saying the rosary at night. I think it is more than that.

So, I asked him: ‘What do you want to do?‘

He said: ‘Father, I would like to receive the Eucharist. But how can I receive the Eucharist?‘

I said: ‘Then make a confession.‘

‘What about the woman?‘ he says.

‘I don’t know. I don’t want the woman. You can keep her.‘

But he said: ‘What am I to do with her?‘

I said: ‘Joe, make a confession. Make a general confession and receive the Eucharist. And when you receive the Eucharist, you will find a way to deal with what you are going through. You are trying to deal with something without Jesus and you cannot do that. You cannot do that.’

And so Joe knelt down and he made a long confession. And the next morning, he went for the Eucharist and of course, I don’t know what happened after that, but I know that he went back stronger, able to deal with whatever he is going through.

We are all sinners. The question now, the question is: How hospitable are we to the other Catholic who is sitting next to us, who is wanting to be a part of our community?

So Albert Einstein asked ‘How friendly is the universe?‘. We have to ask ourselves how friendly am I as church where we celebrate together the body and blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, whose body and blood saved us?

And we are receiving the Eucharist right? In a few moments we will be receiving the Eucharist and we are coming as sinners, you know. And I am celebrating the Eucharist as a sinner with you. But of course, Jesus in the person takes over but we have our own burdens that we are carrying. And we cannot carry the burden without the presence of the Eucharist in our lives.

All right, brothers and sisters?

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