The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

Corpus Christi

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June 23, 2019

Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 110; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11-17

Today, we celebrate the centrality of the Eucharist as that action of Jesus that nourishes and sustains us. It is a symbol of our unity, and it is far more than a symbol because it is the reality of our unity. After we receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, we not only experience union with God, we are to experience union with our brothers and sisters in the faith. That union is an experience of increased compassion and concern for each other. We are assured that when we gather, Jesus will feed us with the Bread of Life and from the Cup that saves us.

I have a question for you: In our current context within the church, how well is the church feeding you? Is the quality of worship we provide like a good nourishing, rich, tasty meal or is it much more like empty calories from a fast food joint? I need you to tell me what you want from the church that will be satisfying for you as you face a turbulent, sometimes confusing world, and I want you to let me know if we are performing to the standards you need for an engaging worship atmosphere, for an inspiring education, for moral guidance on complex decisions, and for providing hope to carry on for just one more week. If we are not inspiring you and providing you with spiritual consolation, then we are failing, and we need to do better.

We need you to assess our styles of worship and spiritual leadership, the music we choose to enhance the celebration, the words we use in our homilies that are designed to raise your spirits and put you in contact with God. If we are flat or emotionless, then teach us to mirror the styles of the congregation. You should not leave mass just having visited the service. We have to give you more because it is about the salvation of souls.

Mostly, we need to care for you appropriately, the same way that God cares for us. If we are people of prayer who care for the Lord and work to improve our relationship to the Lord, then it also has to translate to how well we care for you. Your stories of loss, suffering, and grief should break our hearts as we behold your stories in reverence. We ought to celebrate your joys and big moments with you. We are to be in your lives as because we give glimpses of God’s mercy when we show up for those big moments.

Liturgy is about taking all the stuff of our week, the highs and lows, the shadows and darknesses, and bringing them into church so God can sanctify them. We present them to the Lord in our prayer, who hears us and blesses our offerings. Our offerings are our prayers, silence, inward groaning, petitions, and our actions for the whole week. When we offer the Lord our gifts, which include the bread and wine, the Spirit descends upon them, and makes them more than what we offer. He makes our offerings into the Body and Blood of Christ, which we then consume. After we eat, we give thanks and praise as we are fortified to go out into the world because our body and soul has been renewed by God. In this way, the Eucharist is first and foremost an action. We are fortified to face the world with renewed vigor.

What are we sent to do? To bring others to Christ, to see God’s action in the world, to bless and sanctify those whose lives we encounter, and to give others a glimpse of salvation. We seek union with our brothers and sisters and union with God. We seek those who are yearning for God’s place in their lives. The Eucharist we consume connects us to the larger world around us, and through our actions, that come from a power greater than us, we behold God’s mysterious ways to reconcile and restore us to God’s own heart.

        

Scripture for Daily Mass

First Reading: 

Monday: (Isaiah 49) The LORD called me from birth, from my mother's womb he gave me my name. He made of me a sharp-edged sword and concealed me in the shadow of his arm. He made me a polished arrow; in his quiver he hid me.

Tuesday: (Genesis 13) So Abram said to Lot: "Let there be no strife between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land at your disposal? Please separate from me. If you prefer the left, I will go to the right; if you prefer the right, I will go to the left." Lot looked about and saw how well watered
the whole Jordan Plain was as far as Zoar, like the LORD's own garden, or like Egypt.

Wednesday: (Genesis 15) When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. It was on that occasion that the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: "To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River the Euphrates.

Thursday: (Genesis 16) Abram's wife Sarai had borne him no children. She had, however, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar. Sarai said to Abram: "The LORD has kept me from bearing children. Have intercourse, then, with my maid; perhaps I shall have sons through her.

Friday (Matthew 7) When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Saturday (Acts 12) n those days, King Herod laid hands upon some members of the Church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also. –It was the feast of Unleavened Bread.

Gospel: 

Monday: (Acts 13) John heralded his coming by proclaiming a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel; and as John was completing his course, he would say, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. Behold, one is coming after me;
I am not worthy to unfasten the sandals of his feet.'

Tuesday: (Matthew 7) Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces. Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the Law and the Prophets.

Wednesday (Matthew 7) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thursday (Matthew 7) When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Friday (Luke 15) What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, 'Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.'

Saturday (2 Timothy 4) I, Paul, am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.

Saints of the Week

June 24: Nativity of John the Baptist (first century) was celebrated on June 24^th to remind us that he was six months older than Jesus, according to Luke. This day also serves to remind us that, as Christ is the light of the world, John must decrease just as the daylight diminishes. John’s birth is told by Luke. He was the son of the mature Elizabeth and the dumbstruck Zechariah. When John was named, Zechariah’s tongue was loosened and he sang the great Benedictus.

June 27: Cyril of Alexandria, bishop and doctor (376-444), presided over the Council of Ephesus that fought Nestorian the heresy. Cyril claimed, contrary to Nestorius, that since the divine and human in Jesus were so closely united that it was appropriate to refer to Mary was the mother of God. Because he condemned Nestorius, the church went through a schism that lasted until Cyril's death. Cyril's power, wealth, and theological expertise influenced many as he defended the church against opposing philosophies.

Friday: The Sacred Heart of Jesus is set on the Friday following Corpus Christi. The heart of Jesus is adored as a symbol of divine, spiritual, and human love. Its devotion grew during the Middle Ages and was transformed in the 17th century when Mary Margaret Alocoque and her Jesuit spiritual director, Claude La Colombiere, reinvigorated the devotion.

June 28: Irenaeus, bishop and martyr (130-200) was sent to Lyons as a missionary to combat the persecution the church faced in Lyons. He was born in Asia Minor and became a disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of the Apostle John. Irenaeus asserted that the creation was not sinful by nature but merely distorted by sin. As God created us, God redeemed us. Therefore, our fallen nature can only be saved by Christ who took on our form in the Incarnation. Irenaeus refutation of heresies laid the foundations of Christian theology.

Saturday: The Immaculate Heart of Mary began as a devotion in the 17th century. In 1944, the feast was extended to the Western Church. Her heart signifies her sanctity and love as the Mother of God.

June 29: Peter and Paul, apostles (first century) are lumped together for a feast day because of their extreme importance to the early and contemporary church. Upon Peter's faith was the church built; Paul's efforts to bring Gentiles into the faith and to lay out a moral code was important for successive generations. It is right that they are joined together as their work is one, but with two prongs. For Jesuits, this is a day that Ignatius began to recover from his illness after the wounds he sustained at Pamplona. It marked a turning point in his recovery.

This Week in Jesuit History

·      Jun 23, 1967. Saint Louis University's Board of Trustees gathered at Fordyce House for the first meeting of the expanded Board of Trustees. SLU was the first Catholic university to establish a Board of Trustees with a majority of lay members.

·      Jun 24, 1537. Ignatius, Francis Xavier, and five of the companions were ordained priests in Venice, Italy.

·      Jun 25, 1782. The Jesuits in White Russia were permitted by the Empress Catherine to elect a General. They chose Fr. Czerniewicz. He took the title of Vicar General, with the powers of the General.

·      Jun 26, 1614. By a ruse of the Calvinists, the book, "Defensio Fidei" by Francis Suarez was condemned by the French Parliament. In addition, in England James I ordered the book to be publicly burned.

·      Jun 27, 1978. Bernard Lisson, a mechanic, and Gregor Richert, a parish priest, were shot to death at St Rupert's Mission, Sinoia, Zimbabwe.

·      Jun 28, 1591. Fr. Leonard Lessius's teaching on grace and predestination caused a great deal of excitement and agitation against the Society in Louvain and Douai. The Papal Nuncio and Pope Gregory XIV both declared that his teaching was perfectly orthodox.

·      Jun 29, 1880. In France the law of spoliation, which was passed at the end of March, came into effect and all the Jesuit Houses and Colleges were suppressed.