The Solemnity of Corpus Christi

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

June 11, 2023 – Flandreau, SD

Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a

1 Cor 10:16-17

Jn 6:51-58

       O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All Praise and all Thanksgiving, Be Every Moment Thine!

       Jesus Himself in the Gospel teaches us about the Bread of Life. He says, “I am the Bread of Life,” and puts all His listeners, including His faithful disciples, in crisis. “Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

       In our first reading for the feast of Corpus Christi, from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy, we read:

       “Do not forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery, who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its seraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground, who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers.”

       The Eucharist brings to its fulness the paradox of what Israel experienced out of Egypt and living in the desert. God keeps His People company. He shares the fulness of Himself with them and sustains His people who cling to Him on water from the rock and manna gathered daily, very meager fare indeed.

       As I am sure you are aware, the Catholic Church in the United States and in our diocese has undertaken a campaign to restore the faith of Catholic people generally in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist. According to some rather reliable surveys and statistics, only a small percentage of people today who claim to be Catholic profess that they believe in the miracle of transubstantiation. Very few Catholics today believe that while keeping their outward appearance, taste, and smell, the bread and wine, through the words of consecration by the priest are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ. The doctrine of the real presence proclaims that in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by the power of God at the Lord’s command the priest through the words of consecration makes Christ truly present Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. In this great Sacrament the Lord Jesus feeds us with Himself and remains present on our altars for as long as those elements, bread and wine, remain. Through the worthy reception of Holy Communion we are really and truly fed with Christ and He dwells in us as in a temple. Catholic people, like Israel in the desert before us, like those who heard Jesus’ words recorded in John’s Gospel Chapter 6, find ourselves totally dependent of Christ’s word.

“Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

       Don’t get the impression that we are any worse, any less believing, than have been other Catholics in the course of history. The experience of Israel’s testing in the desert and repeated doubts in the teaching of Christ over the course of 2000 years of Church history are our common experience. Ultimately, lack of faith in Christ’s True Presence, the rejection of Jesus’ claim to be the Bread of Life, that we are to eat His Flesh and drink His Blood, is not something just of our day. These doubts, this crisis of faith plays no small part in the Protestant revolution of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, and other 16^th Century reformers. The origins of our feast today meant to vanquish any doubt that Christ is really and truly present under forms of bread and wine are even earlier than were the stubborn doubts of the reformers. The feast of Corpus Christi goes back to the 13^th Century and arises almost simultaneously in France and Italy. The great St. Thomas Aquinas at the pope’s request composed the office for the feast with its beautiful hymns.

       John Chapter 6 is long, but most instructive and supportive of our faith, the true faith. Let me share just four more verses from that Gospel!

‘When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” ’ [Jn 6:60-64] NRSV, Catholic Edition Bible (p. 2900). Catholic Bible Press. Kindle Edition.

       Processions are a big part of how we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi. They are meant to be a public witness out in the street to our faith in Christ, True God and True Man, Who feeds us with His very own Body. Besides enjoying our procession for all it stands for, I would ask of you a special favor as the Church campaigns to renew our faith in the true Presence of the Lord Jesus, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist. It is a time to say, “I believe!” And to sing, “I believe!” too. But do something more today and from now on. Take on works, take on acts of reparation, to try to make amends for our own failings in the past and for the ongoing failures of Catholics, who may be too casual about receiving Our Lord in Holy Communion, who may be careless about receiving Him. Who may not consciously prepare for Holy Communion or may be outright sacrilegious in receiving Him when they know they are unworthy because of their sin or for having failed to keep the Communion fast.

Make amends! Make reparation for your own sins and carelessness as well as for that of your fellow Catholics by doing penance. Our cultivating a sense of reverential fear is an obligation because Jesus is God and no one has loved us with such a perfect love, despite our unworthiness.

When you are walking in procession think about your attitude toward Jesus Who gives Himself to feed us and carry us in the midst of life’s hardships.

O Sacrament Most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All Praise and all Thanksgiving, Be Every Moment Thine!

PROPERANTES ADVENTUM DIEI DEI