June 3, 2024
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi (Year B) on June 2, 2024 at the Paulist Center in Boston, MA. It was his last homily as Director of the Paulist Center. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Exodus 24:3-8; Psalm 116; Hebrews 9:11-15; and Mark 14:12-16, 22-26.
The full title of today’s celebration is “the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.” That’s especially important to remember this year, when all of our readings today talk about blood.
Today, many of us most commonly see blood in action movies and TV shows. But 3200 years ago, our Jewish ancestors thought about blood very differently. The early Israelites saw blood as sacred. Blood was the source of life. So many of the covenant laws between God and the Israelites – about the treatment of animals, about food, about ritual purity, and about health – revolved around the belief that all blood belonged to God. So, when we hear about the Israelites being sprinkled with blood to signify their acceptance of God’s covenant, let’s not think of violent movies. Let’s think of purification and sanctification. In Eucharist, we celebrate that we are Christ’s Body and Blood, sent to purify and sanctify the world.
Lord Jesus, you feed us with your Body and Blood. Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, your Blood is the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, your Holy Spirit is the life source that flows through the vine and the branches. Lord, have mercy.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
Our reading from Hebrews today made reference to the rituals associated with Yom Kippur as it was practiced for a thousand-year period that ended a few decades after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. Yom Kippur was the day for the nation of Israel and all individual Israelites to atone for their sins. On that day, at the door of the tabernacle of the Jerusalem Temple, the high priest presented two goats to the people. He then slaughtered one of the goats, called “The Lord’s Goat.” Then he entered the holy of holies – the only moment of the year that anyone stood before the ark of the covenant – and sprinkled the lid, called the “mercy seat,” with the blood of the Lord’s Goat. Later in the day, the high priest confessed the sins of the people and symbolically placed them on the head of the other goat, called the scapegoat. The scapegoat was then sent off into the wilderness, carrying away the sins of the people, never to be seen again.
So, with all that in mind, let’s pray again with part of the Hebrews reading:
When Christ came as high priest
of the good things that have come to be,
passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle
not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation,
he entered once for all into the sanctuary,
not with the blood of goats and calves
but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
For if the blood of goats and bulls
and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes
can sanctify those who are defiled
so that their flesh is cleansed,how much more will the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God,
cleanse our consciences from dead works
to worship the living God.
Does this make more sense now?
What does this have to do with the Eucharist we gather to celebrate every week? The first Christians decided that their weekly gatherings after Jesus’ ascension would focus on his actions recounted in just five verses of Mark’s gospel. Jesus’ actions included these words: “Take it; this is my body.” “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for the many.”
Every time we gather for Mass, we place all of who we are – our hopes and our dreams, our talents and our failings – on the bread and wine on the altar. And then, through a miracle of God, they are transformed into the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, our High Priest who has permanently entered God’s sanctuary. In our singing the great Amen together, we assent once again to the covenant that God has made with us.
When I distribute communion, I hold the host quite. That’s because when I proclaim “the Body of Christ,” I’m acknowledging that not only is the host the Body of Christ, but also the person receiving the host is the Body of Christ. I want to make eye contact with you when I say, “the Body of Christ.” For me, the hardest part of this weekend will be looking into your eyes in that sacred moment and realizing that I no longer have the weekly privilege of acknowledging Christ’s presence, God’s life force, within you.
Over the past 23 months, as I have placed my hopes and my dreams, my talents and my failings with yours on [pointing] this altar, I have experienced God’s life force through you.
- You have supported me, especially after my 3rd week on the job when Fr. Chuck, our associate director, needed to take a medical leave. I could have not have functioned as both the sole priest on staff and the acting superior for the residential Paulist community without so many of you stepping forward!
- You have shared with me. Granted, the sharing in Boston has been more intellectual than anywhere else I’ve ever served, but you have invited me to wrestle with all kinds of new pastoral issues!
- You have challenged me to consider how I can reflect God’s all-embracing love and mercy in every act, in every word, and in every gesture.
- Many of you have witnessed the promises I made in good faith, but I later discovered were beyond my abilities to fulfill. For any way that I have hurt you or offended you, I am sorry.
- You have informed me on issues of peace, charity, and justice.
- You have formed me as a pastor and director.
- You have transformed me in my understanding of who God calls me to be.
This weekend is not “goodbye,” as much as, “until we meet again, thank you for allowing me to be part of your lives.” As you all gather around [pointing] this altar, and I gather with others around an altar 850 miles to the west in Chicago, we will continue to be united, along with all the saints and angels in heaven…because God will make it so. God will gather what has been scattered each time we share in the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, I will miss being in physical proximity to each of you. You are forever in my prayers.
Today and every Sunday, we take the Cup of Salvation and call upon the name of the LORD. And as the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ once more touches our lips, we are purified. We are sanctified. We, with God’s life force already coursing through our veins, receive the source of life again. We are infused with the Holy Spirit. We receive the grace to continue to live out our covenant with God and with one another.
As the people responded to Moses after reading the covenant to them, may we respond likewise: “All that the LORD has said, may we continue to heed and do!” Amen? Amen!