Corpus Christi

The Body of Christ. God shows His love for us by taking on the accidental forms of bread and wine in the Eucharist. When we partake of the gift of His body and blood, we are invited to experience a joy beyond all imagination. We are given the opportunity to accept this joy by expressing our love for God. Finally, we are called to radiate this joy and bring others to the light of God's presence.

At the moment of consecration, bread and wine are transformed into Christ's body, blood, soul, and divinity (1). The miracle of the consecration is difficult to grasp since our senses perceive bread and wine. This is what we mean when we say that God's form in the Eucharist is "accidental": bread and wine do not contain God in their nature. His presence is not an essential part of bread and wine, and yet God chooses to reside under these forms in the consecrated Eucharist.

Even the grandest philosophical explanations of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist may still leave us doubting the power of this sacrament. We might be able to understand that God is present in the Eucharist from a philosophical standpoint, but perhaps our hearts haven't accepted this reality. Understanding the consequences of Christ's true presence in the Eucharist is a helpful way of connecting what is known by the intellect to what is understood by the heart. In reflecting on the Eucharist, Pope St. John Paul II said, "In that little Host is the solution to all of the problems in the world." Every hurt, every injustice, every human weakness is perfected by the presence of God in the Eucharist. The proper response to this reality is profound joy. What other natural response is there when we have received the grace to conquer all of our problems, limitations, and fears?

Perhaps our response is to have no response at all: to receive the Eucharist out of routine and to leave Mass only to be overwhelmed by worldly concerns the moment that we exit the church doors. If God gives us the grace to overcome all of the difficulties in our lives, then why do we still struggle? Why is it that we receive Communion every Sunday and still experience sin, difficulty, and sadness? God will only help us if we lovingly accept His presence. Love is not a feeling. It is not a warm fuzzy affection that we feel in our heart like when we think about our wives or our children. These are feelings of consolation, but love is something entirely different. To love is to will the good of the other. The definition of love implies action on our part. We can't simply think good thoughts about someone and watch him fall into ruin. How can we will another's good if we refuse to help him where we can? Love is demonstrated through appropriate action.

While it's easy to understand love in the context of human relations, defining love for God can be more complex. Thankfully, Christ gave us a clear idea of what it means to love God when He said,  
"He that hath my commandments and keepeth them; he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him (2)." We love God by keeping His commandments. God desires a relationship with us. He becomes present in the Eucharist and wants to dwell within us, bringing us every good grace and blessing. However, God will only reside in us if we open our hearts to Him through love by following His commandments. The goal is not for us to begrudgingly follow a set of arbitrary rules. Rather, we are called to follow the teachings of Christ and His Church with joy, knowing that doing so will bring us freedom and greater union with God.

If we are dedicated to following these precepts, we can hope that our love for God will become a light for others. Receiving God isn't just about us. As children of God, we are called to bring the joy of His presence to others.  Jesus instructs those who possess the joy of God's presence to "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven (3)." Christ calls for the children of God to practice generosity. This spirit of charity to which Christ calls his children is something far greater than addressing human or temporal needs. Jesus calls us to use our joy to lead others towards the truth of God's love for us. Jesus expressed the gravity of this mission when he said, "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink of his blood, you shall not have life in you. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day (4)."

The choice to accept Jesus by receiving His body and blood in the Eucharist comes with the highest stakes imaginable: receive Christ and be saved or reject Him and be lost for all eternity. We can experience true joy by accepting the gift of God's presence in the Eucharist. This joy can only be felt if we love God by following the teachings of Christ and His Church. Once we attain this joy we experience the light of God's presence, which we can then share with others. This is why evangelization is so important and all too often misunderstood. Yes, we need to tell people about the good news of Jesus Christ and His Church, but before we look outward, we must turn inward. We have to ask ourselves whether we truly love God and whether we are courageous enough to be lights for others, beacons of joy in a world of darkness.

Questions for reflection:

Do we feel true joy in our hearts that comes from our deep relationship with God? If not, have we examined our conscience and considered whether we are striving to love God by keeping His commandments?

Do we strive to share the joy of living in God's presence with everyone that we meet?

Do we strive to understand Christ's teachings and those of His Church?

Do we strive every day to fulfill these teachings, realizing that they will not only bring us authentic happiness but everlasting life?

Do we accept the fact that we are only saved by receiving Christ's body and blood?

Do we ensure that we are properly disposed to receive the Eucharist by being free from mortal sin, by striving to remain focused at Mass, and showing reverence in church?

Do we thank God for the gift of His presence by spending a few moments in silent prayer after Mass instead of rushing out the door?

Is the Eucharist the center of our lives?

Do we reject the notion that we can be saved by any other means other than Christ's body and blood?

Do we recognize that no matter how nice we are or how good of a person we are that we cannot have salvation except through Christ and His one true Church?

Do we understand that ecumenism is about uniting non-Catholics to the One True Church; that the goal of ecumenical outreach is to bring nonbelievers home to the Catholic Church (5)?

Do we understand that it is an error to believe that God wills the diversity of religions (5)?

Do we earnestly pray for those who are have rejected God by practicing a faith other than the Catholic faith or by claiming to be Catholic without accepting the Church's doctrines in their entirety?

Do we offer up our daily sufferings, big and small, in reparation for the countless offenses and sacrileges against the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ?

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Quotations and Ciatations:

(1) Fourth Lateran Council, c. 1; Council of Trent, sess. 13, c. 4

(2) John 14:21

(3) Matthew 5:15-16 

(4) John 6:53-54 

(5) Declaration of the truths relating to some of the most common errors in the life of the Church of our time. Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke et al. 2018. http://www.ncregister.com/images/uploads/Declaration_Truths_Errors_final_version_clean.pdf

Images:

(1) Corpus Christi Procession. Oil on canvas by Carl Emil Doepler. Accessed via Wikipedia. 

Jubilee

Due to tornado damage in Jefferson City, officials repackaged the two-day State track meet into a single in Columbia.  Following the final 400-meter event in Missouri heat and humidity, I raced to St. Meinrad, Indiana, home of the Benedictine Archabbey and seminary where I’d once studied.  The aftermath of glowing fireflies smeared my buggy windshield.  My wife and I arrived late at the abbey’s guest quarters.  Tomorrow, we’d celebrate five jubilarians, two of 25 years and three of 50 years.

            I’d traveled to celebrate Fr. Eugene Hensell OSB in thanksgiving for 50 years of service.  My favorite, yet extremely challenging scriptures professor, Fr. Eugene introduced himself as a teacher who’d “turn my world upside down.”  And that he did.  So much so, that my only year in the seminary has been and continues to be one of the most impactful years of my life.  He let me know he was not teaching to bring me prosperity or to give me answers, but to assist me along my journey to live in paradox, to discover mysteries along the way, and to build relationships in community and with the Father.  He served as my spiritual director while in attendance.  His wisdom continues to offer me guidance with essential questions in his letters and conversations.

            Rising early, I stroll the Archabbey-Seminary grounds.  From the guest quarters, I wander through the cemetery.  Perfectly aligned homogenous stone crosses mark where former teachers, woodworkers, printers, farmers, all brothers laid to rest in simple pine boxes.  Several names I’d recognized had been called home by the Father.  Some I recalled their struggles with aging, others their labors, but all I pictured moments of thoughtfulness and compassion.  Where does the time go?

            Nestled in Hoosier National Forest, St. Meinrad, a township of fewer than two hundred resides along the northern border of the Appalachians where poverty claims so many.  Our Lady of Einsiedelm monastic chapel towers over a vast forested valley.  A Benedictine offshoot from Einsiedelm, Switzerland, St. Meinrad Archabbey has educational roots across the country.  I escape the gnats, rising heat and humidity.  The monastic chapel offers a refreshing cool breeze.  I jot notes on the back of a State track schedule.  (Matthew Kelly recommends recording one influential point from Mass each time one attends.  I confess, I’ve torn the occasional page from a missalette for notes.)   

A grandfather escorts his inquisitive granddaughter around the brightly colored church.  I overhear a visitor speaking of his recent layoff from work he’d taken great pride.  Discreetly, elder monks maneuver their scooters near the altar. 

  

No cameras, no fanfare, no program.  The essence, gratitude, recollections, resonance is celebrated in the Eucharist in unity with guests.  Gregorian chant ushers the community of monks to their places.  Facing each other, they sit for the initial reading.

The gospels during Holy Week and during the Easter season come from John’s farewell discourse.  First there is the shock … Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, announces he will be leaving soon, … many betray him.  The Passion quickly follows, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.  Jesus reveals the gift of the Advocate.

This Jubilee Mass is the Sunday before the feast of the Ascension. 

“I have told you this while I am with you.  The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you.  Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:25-27)

Jesus had just walked through a locked door, delivered peace, offered forgiveness, bestowed the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Before Jesus leaves for his kingdom, he tells his disciples to go and be my witnesses.  Jesus then departs with the door forever ajar.

 

“Pray for me that God may put his word on my lips, that I may courageously make known the mystery of the gospel; that mystery for which I am an ambassador.  Pray that I may have courage to proclaim it as I ought.” (Ephesians 6:19-20)

An ambassador he is.  And proclaim the Word, he has.  Congratulations!  50 years jubilarian!  Very unassuming, more embarrassed than jubilant, Fr. Eugene’s smile opened beneath his gray beard.  “One of the advantages of getting old.”  He meets people where they are.  The last time we met and I’d invited him to a meal, Eugene selected, of all places, a Denny’s truck stop just off I-64.

Eugene travels extensively after years of service teaching scriptures in theology.  Serving as seminary president/rector, he instructed, informed, counseled, and directed students.  His body may have slowed, yet this theologian remains deliberate on God’s calling and commitment.  Against many odds, he’s persevered with wisdom and gratitude delivering thoughtful, challenging retreats. 

Many describe Eugene as a prophet, skillfully turning one’s perspective upside down and then re-righting the ship to new revelations stimulating growth; encouraging one to reevaluate, strengthen their commitment to God in tending to his people and His creation. 

Far from hell and brimstone, Eugene’s delivery is an unsettling, pervasive whisper of thoughtful, enduring hope.  Often in the storms of life, well beyond one’s comfort zone, his words shock an arrhythmic soul, resetting its beat with some nurturing.  He blesses one upon their journey revived, refreshed. 

Fr. Eugene gives me a more profound appreciation for our own shepherds that should not be conserved for jubilees.  With courage and gratitude daily, Fathers Stanger, Dieckmann, and Burkemper usher the baptism of the Holy Spirit through locked doors.  They teach, guide, and encourage us to be the eyes, hands, feet, heart of Christ; delivering peace, offering forgiveness, mercy.  They remind us as we ought to be disciples and witness. 

The door is ajar!  The Advocate is upon us!

The father who knows best looks to the Father who knows all!

The Root of All Evil

Money seems to be one of those things that dominates our attention and our lives.  Most of the people reading this blog are the bread winners of the family, and there is a lot of pressure, stress and fear in owning that responsibility.

We live in one of the most prosperous times in the history of the world, with more convenience and abundance than ever.  So where is our collective sigh of relief?  Why does money still dominate so much of our thoughts and actions?

I believe it’s because we have believed in something that wasn’t true.  If you want to be happy, you need to work yourself to the bone and achieve material success.  Productivity and hard work has it’s rewards.  We might have heard  “Money can’t buy happiness”, but we never really believed it.  We push our kids to be successful in school so they can get a good job and be on their own.  When they achieve or fail at this life challenge, we as parents either beam with pride, or feel the shame of the “unproductive” basement dweller who still is on the payroll.

Then we spend a majority of our lives, fighting and climbing, upgrading and expanding in an effort to bask in the glory of the American Dream.

Don’t get me wrong, I love this country, but their is a part of a capitalistic society that can cloud our judgement and direction in life.   If you don’t get this right, your American Dream can become a prison.

I remember Fr Tim Bannes telling me that the meaning in all of our lives, is to know and receive God’s love and to share it with others.  That’s it.  If we do that well, our lives will be filled with joy and purpose.  Every other endeavor is a side quest. 

So I look at these two pictures and I wonder, which one of them is more able to know and receive God’s love and share it with others?

 

The answer is, I don’t know.   There are people with material wealth who don’t have God’s peace, and there are people on the margins of society who have an abundance of love to share with those around them.  However, I’ve also met some rich people who have amazing faith lives and have spread that joy with everyone they’ve come into contact with.   And of course there are people with very little financially that are selfish jerks.

So I think the lesson here is that it doesn’t matter.  Money isn’t the root of all evil.  It has nothing to do with good or evil.  Having more than you need makes your life easier, but not more peaceful.  If we know and acknowledge that, then we won't try to solve the world's problems, as well as our own, with money.

When I went to Haiti, the first thing I felt was sorry for them.  I wanted to buy everyone an air conditioner and an XBOX.  I was going there with the disoriented thinking that they can’t be happy, because they have so little.  By the end of that trip, part of me was envious of the people I had met, who were able to enjoy a simple life.

One year at youth group, we took a few dozen boys to a charity walk/run event with kids who have severe handicaps.  Later that night, around the fire, I asked the boys what their experience was like.  Most of them talked about how sad it was, and how thankful they are for all of the blessings they take for granted.  Then one kid spoke up, “You know, this might sound crazy, but I don’t think it’s sad at all.”  Everyone started booing and jeering this heartless comment, but I said, “Hold on, let’s hear him out.”  He continued, “Well I spent time with Charlie and at first all I could see was how his body didn’t work.  I play varsity soccer and I assume that in order to have a valuable life, your body has to be able to do certain things.  However, if I’m honest, I’m not that happy.  I’m lonely and sad a lot, and searching for meaning.  Charlie is always smiling.  Everyone lights up when they are around him.  He has a love and joy radiating from him that I don’t think I’ve ever known.  At the end of the race when I was with his family, I prayed to God to be more like Charlie.”

There it is.  For the first time in this kids life, he was seeing someone, not through the eyes of the world, but through the eyes of Christ.  You can have more money than anyone else, or you could be barely getting by.  You could have the body of an olympic athlete, or be confined to a wheelchair.  It doesn’t matter.  Anyone in any situation has the invitation be filled with God’s love and enjoy the sense of purpose that comes from sharing it.

Paul tells us in Philippians 4 “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

So if you have more than you need, share, whether you have an abundance of time, money or faith.  Share with them, not out of your pity, but out of your love.