03 June 2007

Body and Blood of Christ 2006

09/06/07 16:45

Body and Blood of Christ, 2006 (Year B)

Every year, we celebrate this feast and focus on the Body of Christ. Today, I want to focus on the blood of Christ.

In Easter, I love getting people wet. But there is a reason: Water reminds us to be faithful to our
baptismal commitment and promises. That’s also why we bless ourselves with holy water as we enter church.

How would you feel if instead of water, I blessed and bathed you in blood? That’s what Moses did in our first reading to the people of Israel. Let’s read it aloud:

• Exodus 24:7-9 – Part 1 says we will do ALL that the Lord asks us to do.
• Moses seals the people’s promise by blessing them with the blood of the sacrificed animals.

Why blood? It symbolizes the life force. Without blood, we are dead.

• Deuteronomy 30:15-16 – I set before you life or death, good or bad. Choose life!

• Water also is a symbol of life. Without water, we die of thirst. Water in baptism = new life in Jesus.

• Bread and wine in the Eucharist: also symbols of life, and more than mere symbols – we believe that at the Mass, the Spirit of God actually changes bread and wine into Jesus’ body and blood, and so we ingest God, we ingest Jesus – we become fed and nourished and strengthened and transformed.

Blood also symbolizes sacrifice – that there is a cost to being in a covenant commitment with God.

Let’s look for a moment at these two words: COVENANT and SACRIFICE.

COVENANT: A commitment between two parties, an agreement, a pact.

• Today, the most common example is a Marriage Covenant.
• Show picture of Golden Gate Bridge – bridges exist to connect two sides and to span a river or canyon. A covenant is like a bridge – it connects two parties.
• Show 2nd picture of a bridge to nowhere. Ask: “What’s wrong with this second bridge?”

o Often people’s faith is like this 2nd bridge – uncompleted, or disconnected.
o We go to church, bless ourselves, go through the motions – but we forget why.
o That’s why we have feasts like today’s feast – to remind us, to provide us with an opportunity to renew our commitment and our covenant, to renew our vows.

♣ Couples do that – renew wedding vows – at anniversaries.
♣ Israel did that – they gathered to remember and to renew and to recommit.
♣ Politically, we teach children to do it – saying Pledge of Allegiance.

♣ It’s easy to go adrift without renewal ceremonies. Story of young man, active in church as a teen, in youth groups and retreats. But now, he’s almost 30, living with a girlfriend but not married, using drugs, and he never goes to church.
• Lots of people stray, fall away – because they forget to stay connected. The bridge falls into disrepair and becomes disconnected.

SACRIFICE: All covenants, all commitments require sacrifice.

• Today, we celebrate Father’s Day. Give applause to our dads.
• To be a good dad, or a good wife or husband, requires sacrifice and faithfulness and dedication and perseverance. 
There are lots of covenants in the Old Testament – God and Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. They all required sacrifices.

• The Israelites would sacrifice an animal, cut it in two and pass between the parts.
• This was to symbolize the seriousness with which they took their commitment. They were saying, in effect, “I promise to be faithful to this covenant, but if I fail, if I am unfaithful, they may what has happened to this animal happen to me.” Wow!
• Are we that serious, that passionate, that committed to our faith and our covenant with God?

But now, let’s look at the new covenant of Jesus, the one under which we now live.

• Jeremiah 31:31-32 – a new covenant written in the heart. We live in the age of the Spirit. No more animal sacrifices.
• Hebrews 9:11-12, 15 – Jesus is the final High Priest. He went into the Temple to offer the ultimate and final sacrifice, himself, on the cross – to rescue and save us from sin and death, so we could become children of God and part of God’s family, God’s adopted kids – not just outsiders or servants or slaves.
• We remember every Sunday – Mark 14:22-24: This is my body, this is my blood, of the new covenant.

Two critical points to understand here:

1. Jesus is the Lamb – the final sacrifice. That’s why we no longer have live animal sacrifices here at church and on this altar on Sundays.

2. Jesus’ blood is both divine and human.

• Two parties to each covenant. Both expected to do their part.
• Jesus takes both sides – he is divine, so he speaks the part of God. But he is fully human, so he also takes our part. So:
o Jesus is the bridge that connects us to the Father.
o Jesus is the bridge that crosses over the river of sin for us.
o Imagine buying a car. We agree to make payments, the dealer agrees to give us a car to drive. But what if someone freely offers to pay for the car for us. Now it’s a gift. All we have to do is accept it and trust in the bridge.
o That’s our part of the new covenant. We aren’t perfect. We can’t live up to our part of the covenant. But we don’t have to, because Jesus did it for us. All we have to do is accept the gift, hop on the bridge, let Jesus support us and carry us into the waiting arms of the Father and over the canyon of sin and death.

How do we respond?

• Life or death? Healing or sickness? St. Paul offers a stark warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27-29 about not eating and drinking the body and blood of Christ unworthily. Many people misread and misunderstand this passage. Where is the Body of Christ? It is us, our brothers and sisters!
o Our part of the covenant is to live in relationship with God, connected, not a broken bridge. And we show our love of God by our love for others.
o “Unworthily” means harboring anger, resentment, hatred, bitterness. Not forgiving. Refusing to love someone or to be reconciled.

• Romans 12:1-2 – Be transformed. Offer yourselves as living sacrifices. Don’t let the world conform and squeeze you into its mold.
• Story 1: Young couple about to get married. But doctors discover he is dying unless he gets a kidney transplant. It turns out she is of the right blood type to become a donor. Does she donate? Yes. Why? Because of love. The two got married on Feb. 14, St. Valentine’s Day. But now – here’s the challenge. It’s easy to offer one of our kidneys to save the life of one of our kids, or our brothers or sisters, or a parent, or a boyfriend or girlfriend, or our best friend. What if a prisoner, a thief or even a murderer, needed a kidney transplant, and we didn’t even know the prisoner – would we donate? Some very few would say, “Yes.” Most people would say “No.” But what should we say?
o Jesus gave his life not just for his family and friends, for all of us.
o We are called to imitate Jesus.
o Faithfulness to the covenant of God requires radical love for others – because all of us are tied together by the body and blood of Christ as spiritual brothers and sisters.
• Story 2: Little girl in Vietnam, injured by a bomb, needing a blood transfusion. They find a donor in a little boy. But doctors don’t speak the language well. They finally make it clear that they need his blood to save the little girl’s life. He agrees. But he is trembling with fear. The doctors are worried but can’t communicate with him. Finally, they find a nurse who speaks Vietnamese. She discovers that the boy thought he had to give all of his blood to save the life of the little girl – in other words, that the doctors were asking him to sacrifice and die to save the life of the girl!

Renewing the covenant. Do you want to do so?

How?

• Love God. Promise to feed yourself spiritually on a regular basis, so you don’t grow weak or drift away from the Lord, as happened to the young man whose story I told at the start.
o Pray, attend Mass, classes, reading, retreats…
• Love your neighbor. Serve others.
o Forgive. Seek reconciliation.
o Develop an attitude of service and sacrifice – giving of time and talent.
o Learn to become more compassionate.
o Learn to become more generous.

Where? At home, work, in community, everywhere.

Examples:
• Donate blood next Sunday. Bloodmobile is at our church.
• Attend Thursday night’s Social Justice Action meeting here in the church to push for better parks and recreation programs for our kids.
• Help with the Summer Children’s Bible Camp.

Jesus is the bridge, but we need to hop on the bridge if we are to successfully cross to the other side, where the Lord waits for us with outstretched arms, promising us fullness of life in abundance!

Body and Blood of Christ 2005

09/06/07 16:44

Body and Blood of Christ – May 29, 2005

How to Experience the Power of the Eucharist

Everybody, flex your muscles! How many here want to be strong? How many here prefer weakness? Nobody, right? Everybody wants strength. But strength is not just physical. There is also emotional strength, strength of character, strength of conviction and values, spiritual strength.

How many here want to be strong spiritually?

That’s what we are going to talk about today – How to Experience of the Power of the Eucharist – How to Be Strong Spiritually – as we celebrate today’s Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

By the way, “Eucharist” is just another word for “communion” or for “the body and blood of Christ” – it’s a Greek word that really means “thanksgiving” or “to give thanks.” Anybody here today thankful? Let’s give God a big round of applause to show our gratitude and our thankfulness for His many blessings!

Now let’s turn to your handout. We are going to look at three very important ways we can start to experience God’s power in our lives through the Eucharist. First, the Eucharist offers us an opportunity to REMEMBER. At the Last Supper, when Jesus was celebrating his Last Supper with His disciples – and this was the very first celebration of communion, or the Eucharist – Jesus told his disciples, “Do this IN MEMORY of me.” Remember. Don’t forget.

Now what is that we are to remember when we go to communion? On your handout, three things are listed.

• First, remember slavery and freedom.
• Second, remember testings and blessings.
• Third, remember that relationships trump material things.

Let’s look at these, one by one.

1. First: Remember slavery and freedom. The roots of Jesus’ Last Supper and the Eucharist go back thousands of years before Jesus, to the time of Exodus in the Old Testament, when the people of Israel were living as slaves in Egypt in the time of Pharaoh, and when God told Moses to lead the people to freedom. That’s when they crossed the Red Sea. That’s when they began to celebrate the annual Passover meal, which Jews still celebrate today – and which Jesus was celebrating with his disciples at his Last Supper, which was our first celebration of the Eucharist. That’s why our first reading today tells us: Be careful not to forget the LORD, your God, by neglecting his commandments and decrees and statutes… lest, when you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses and lived in them, and have increased your herds and flocks, your silver and gold, and all your property, you then become haughty of heart and unmindful of 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 saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock [16] and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers, that he might afflict you and test you, but also make you prosperous in the end. – Deuteronomy 8:11-15

Are there still things that enslave us today? Of course! Sometimes, they are things of our own making – drugs, booze, putting money and material things before God and other important values like our marriages or time with our children. Sometimes, they are things beyond our immediate control – prejudice, racism, discrimination, poverty, injustice. There are many modern-day Pharaohs – inadequate affordable health care for our families and children; low wages that force many parents to work two or three jobs, just to pay the rent or put food onto the table; unfair mistreatment of those who are in our country without documents; discriminatory treatment in our criminal justice system when one is poor or of a different race or ethnic group.

I want to invite some of our children up front. [Invite children up. Separate them somehow – boys, girls; tall, short; somehow discriminate. Then give one group a holy card as a gift. Leave the other group out. Ask: Is this right? But the world is unjust. Jesus wants all of us to be included and to be equal. In the end, give all the kids a holy card.]

2. Second: Remember testings and blessings. Many of us here have had to enduring trials and sufferings in our lives, and those may not have been easy. We still carry the scars and the hurts. Read with me the next section from our first reading today, from the Book of Deuteronomy: "Be careful to observe all the commandments I enjoin on you today, that you may live and increase, and may enter in and possess the land which the LORD promised on oath to your fathers. Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert, so as to test you by affliction and find out whether or not it was your intention to keep his commandments. He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers, in order to show you that not by bread alone does man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD. – Deuteronomy 8:1-3

Remember the difficulties you’ve gone through in life. This helps us become more loving and compassionate toward others in need. And remember how even in the midst of trials and tribulations, God somehow was able to transform tragedy into blessing. Remember that God’s ultimate plan for us is that we live for Him, not selfishly for ourselves – that we do not depend on bread alone, but on God and on God’s Word. That leads us to our third point:

3. Remember: Relationships trump things. Ultimately, our faith is not about how many new toys we can buy and acumúlate, or about how much vacation and pleasure we can accumulate here on earth. God is most interested in right relationships – that we have a right relationship with God; that we have right relationships with other people, including our immediate family and friends, but also with all people everywhere; and that we are in right relationship with ourselves. Eucharist, communion, is about living in right relationships with God and others and ourselves – being connected, being reconciled, being at peace.

On your handout are two action steps for us, when we learn to remember and to live as true Eucharistic people:

1. Never forget the poor and the needy.
2. Never forget to give thanks to God for the blessings in our lives.

Now let’s turn to the second major insight about Eucharist, which is written on your handout -- Eucharist is a Symbol of God’s Power when there is Unity.

How many here would agree that a crowd of people is more powerful than just one person? There is power in unity. [You may want to ask a few kids to help illustrate this – have one kid try to lift another, then have a bunch of kids work together to lift the other kid]

That’s why, in our second reading today, Saint Paul tells us: “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” – 1 Corinthians 10:17

Last month, I saw this principle put into action firsthand. A delegation of about 20 of us from the Coachella Valley and the Inland Empire traveled to Sacramento to push the governor and the state assembly to provide affordable health care for all children in California. We were joined by people from other churches, all throughout the state of California – 4,000 people altogether. Do you think the governor and the politicians listen when we are united – when there are thousands of people gathered together, pushing in unity for a common cause? You bet! Watch this video – [show a portion of the video on the Sacramento gathering]

Eucharist means remembering – remembering our past, remembering our future; remembering why we are here; remembering our slavery and suffering, but also the blessings, and how God wants to free us; remembering to always put people and relationships ahead of money and material possessions and things. And Eucharist means unity – standing together, because we are all one family – brothers and sisters to one another. We are the Body of Christ. Our action step here is solidarity – to become active, not just on the sideline as spectators. We need to read, to know the issues, to vote, to participate in society, to get active and serve in our churches and in our communities, especially to volunteer so that we can help the poor and the marginalized.

Finally, Eucharist is a celebration and a banquet. Jesus tells us in our gospel today: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven … Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." – John 6:51, 58

Eucharist, communion is meant to strengthen us and to give us life. We are to be contagious Christians – filled with the joy and the life that comes from having the Spirit of God leaping up from within us.

This bread is different from others. The food we eat regularly – the tacos and enchiladas and chile rellenos and chocolate cake – they enter into our stomachs and are transformed into bone and muscle and blood and skin. But when we eat of Jesus’ Body and drink of Jesus’ Blood in the Eucharist – they do not become a part of us. Rather, we become a part of God. The Eucharist transforms us into the Body and Blood of Christ, so that we are able to go out as Christ’s missionaries and have an impact on the world – so that we can go out from behind the walls of this church and do the work that God has given us to do, so that we can become the arms and legs and feet and hands of Jesus, united in building God’s Kingdom in the world.

So the action steps here are simply these:

1. Partake of the Body and Blood of Christ frequently, and with reverence and faithfulness;
2. Become a Christian whose life reflects the joy and peace and happiness of Christ, living inside of us.

One warning, from Saint Paul in his 1st Letter to the Corinthians – but a warning that often is misunderstood: “Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord. A person should examine himself, and so eat the bread and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. – 1 Corinthians 11:27-20

Some quick points to help clear up the confusion:

1. How to receive communion. With reverence and respect. This is holy ground. [Go over the how… also the importance of silence and meditation]
2. Confusion over confession – lots of people say, “I can’t go to communion because I haven’t gone to confession.” {Explain the penitential rite, the Lord’s Prayer and the Sign of Peace at Mass]
3. The most important point is this – Am I loving my neighbor? Am I seeking forgiveness and healing and reconciliation? The famous British author C. S. Lewis once wrote: “Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”

I want to conclude with a simple story. A team of Russians and Americans were on a common expedition. Among their cabin foodstuff was Russian black bread. It was tasty but hard on the teeth. It happened during a meal that an American bit into a piece and snapped a tooth. He threw the bread overboard and growled: “Lousy Communist bread.” The Russian countered: “Is not lousy communist bread. Is rotten capitalist tooth.”

If we do not experience the transforming power of the Eucharist it is probably not on account of a lousy Eucharist but on account of our rotten faith.

Do we truly want to experience the real transforming power of the Eucharist in our lives? Do we want to be instruments of God, his emissaries and missionaries, who are called to have an impact in transforming our world? Do we want to be strong spiritually? It requires that we remember why we are here; that we are united together as the Body of Christ; and that we celebrate with joy that God is at the center of our hearts and our lives, filling us with His life and transforming us from the inside out.

Body and Blood of Christ 2004

09/06/07 16:44

Body and Blood of Christ (June 13, 2004)

The first line in today’s gospel says, “Jesus took the apostles away, off by themselves, and talked to them about the Kingdom of God.” So today, as we celebrate this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we’re going to talk about God’s kingdom.

On your handouts, it says, “God’s Upside Down Kingdom.” That’s because Jesus turned things upside down when he spoke about the kingdom of God. Instead of a kingdom based on power and might, he spoke of a kingdom of love and peace, where everyone was invited and included.

Jesus’ world – and the world of the Bible – was dominated by mighty kingdoms, mighty and powerful empires. In Jesus’ Day, the Roman Empire ruled in Palestine and throughout much of the known world. They ruled, often ruthlessly. On the roads outside of Jerusalem, Roman soldiers often crucified hundreds of people at a time – a public display of Roman might and a warning to all that Rome tolerated no dissent.

The story of the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament – is dominated by powerful and ruthless kingdoms and empires. The Book of Exodus is the story of Hebrew slavery under the powerful pharaohs of Egypt. 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings tell of how mighty empires from the East – first Assyria, then Babylonia, then Persia – conquered and ruled the Jewish people and carried many of the Jews off into exile. Later books of the Old Testament like 1 and 2 Maccabees tell of the conquest of Alexander the Great and his Hellenistic Greek successors. Then come the Romans.

Do we have modern-day kingdoms and empires today? They may go by different names, but in some sense, empires continue to exist and exert their power and influence. Many would claim that the United States is the most powerful Empire in the world today. We certainly control the most powerful army in the world. Or what about the “kingdom” or “empire” of Hollywood and the influence of television, film and the mass media? What about the influence and power of the internet?” Or the power and influence of multinational corporations like Enron and Exxon and McDonalds and Nike?

Last week, I attended a weeklong summer class in theology at Claremont School of Theology, and we talked about the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. In the afternoons, we watched and critiqued several films. I want to show you two clips from two different films that we watched, and I want you to critique each of them. Which of them best represents the Kingdom of God and which of them represents the Kingdom of this World?

CLIP ONE – Opening scene of darkness from movie “Bladerunner: The Director’s Cut”
CLIP TWO – Closing scene from movie “Pieces of April”

One scene shows a lot of darkness, fiery smoke pouring into the sky, dreary rain. In a sense, that is what is happening in our world – ecological destruction, pollution, a mechanical society of darkness where people lose their humanity and their dignity and rights. It’s sort of like the book “1984” or Huxley’s “Brave New World.” Quite a few people think we as a society and as the human race are racing toward self-destruction. And these are not necessarily just the religious kooks on the far right who talk about Armegeddon and the rapture and the “Left Behind” series of books or the “DaVinci Code.”

The other scene shows a young woman who has been ostracized by her family, but now she is trying to make amends and invites them to her tenement apartment for Thanksgiving dinner. At first, they don’t want to come. They are not terribly happy that she, a white girl, has chosen an African-American young man as her boyfriend. Nor do they like the fact that she is living in a very poor section of New York City. She has been estranged especially from her mother and from her sister. But in this scene, we see healing, reconciliation – as the family gathers around the table for Thanksgiving dinner. And notice that, ironically, all the neighbors show up also – some are Hispanic, some black, some Oriental, some old, some young, men and women and children….

God’s upside down kingdom is sort of like that – maybe a bit chaotic and mixed up, but where everyone is invited. It is like a banquet, a feast.

Let’s look at our gospel story. In the time of Jesus and the Bible, prophets would often speak and teach, but then they would act out their message symbolically. In a sense that is what Jesus is doing here with the feeding of the 5,000. He has just finished teaching them about the Kingdom of God. But now he is going to show them a visual of the Kingdom of God.

Let’s read the story together. Note especially that Jesus graciously welcomed the people. The Kingdom of God is a place of welcome and hospitality. Let’s read the story -- Luke 9:10-17 (Message)

Now note the key points that are listed on your outline:

• Life is often messy. Jesus and the disciples were not planning to feed 5,000 people that day! How would you respond if 5,000 people suddenly showed up at your home tonight for dinner? But sometimes, the unexpected happens, and we must cope as best we can.
• Many people are hungry – spiritually but also physically. Jesus talked to them about the Kingdom, but he also healed them and fed them. In other words, he took care of all their needs, physical and spiritual. In God’s Kingdom, all are cared for.
• Nobody is excluded. Everyone is fed. Jesus cares for everyone and for all kinds of needs.
• Jesus invites the disciples to dare to dream big, and not to give up too easily or to think that anything is impossible – even feeding 5,000 people with a few loaves and fishes.
• Jesus urges the disciples not to get discouraged or to give up. Sometimes we get discouraged and we give up too soon – on ourselves and on others.
• Jesus tells us that we are God’s answer – we are the hands and feet of God in the world. The disciples were the ones who were to feed the 5,000, not just Jesus by himself.
• Finally, when we are faithful, God blesses and there is an abundance – leftovers in plentiful supply.

Now turn to page 2 of your handout. What are obstacles to building God’s Kingdom?

There are physical obstacles. People are trapped at an existence level – just trying to survive and not starve to death. Millions of people in poor countries around the world in Asia, Africa and Latin America are trapped at this level.

In this country, not many people are trapped in the existence level. Almost everyone has some food to eat. Not too many people are literally starving to death in our country. Most of us are at the success level. That means we have options. We may not be rich, but we have enough material wealth to be able to decide if we are going to eat at McDonald’s or Carl’s Junior, to buy a blue shirt or a red one, to drive a Nissan or a Honda. The problem is that many Americans get trapped spiritually at this materialistic success level. We become so enthralled with new “toys” and new play things that we neglect the spiritual. And this can become a real obstacle to us experiencing God’s Kingdom.

The third level is the significance level. Here, we are not stuck just focused on ourselves and on our immediate families, or on our own immediate needs. We want our lives to count for something greater than ourselves. We want to give back, not just take. This is the level God wants us at. This is the level where we will be able to work together to build God’s kingdom.

Look at the verses, some of Jesus’ words. In the Our Father, Jesus urges us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” (Luke 11:3) God wants to give us our existence-level needs. Next, Jesus says, “Seek first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things will be given to you as well. (Matthew 6:33) In other words, don’t get stuck in the rut of living at the success level, the level of our materialistic society. Shoot for the maximum, for God’s Kingdom, and don’t settle for the minimum. Finally, in Matthew 4:4, Jesus tells us, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” In other words, God wants us to live on the higher plane of the spiritual level, the significance level, and not just focused and preoccupied with bread alone.

How can we help build God’s kingdom? Three steps:

1. The Kingdom of God begins with a change of heart. None of us can make another person turn to God. Pressure or guilt or a sense of duty and obligation – none of this will work. We have to fall in love with God. That’s the first step. Leo Tolstoy, the famous Russian novelist, once lamented, “Everyone wants to change the world, but nobody wants to change themselves.” Jesus said, “Let the children come to me… for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” We must have the hearts of children.
a. There are some obstacles, roadblocks to a change of heart, and we should note them and avoid them at all cost. Fear. Some people are so locked into their lifestyle that they fear anything new or different, so they refuse to take the leap of faith that would provide them with real fullness of life. Anger – that can interfere with us turning our hearts toward God. Laziness – we procrastinate and postpone and put off. Perfectionism – some of us think that unless we are 100 percent perfect, we cannot follow God. And alternative medicines – some of us, instead of turning to God for help and strength and relief, turn toward unhealthy alternatives – drinking, drugs, etc.
2. Second, the Kingdom of God demands growth. We need to always be learning, always growing more mature in our faith, not staying stuck in spiritual infancy and immaturity. Proverbs 15:4 says … In Mark 4:30-32, Jesus compares the Kingdom to a tiny mustard seed that grows and becomes the largest bush of all.
3. Finally, the Kingdom of God requires generosity – and kind, generous spirit and heart. In Matthew 10:10 in the Message paraphrase, Jesus says, “You don’t need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment.”

Where can we find God’s kingdom? It is under construction, all around us, not yet completed but already begin, in us who are true followers of Jesus. Jesus tells us in Luke 17:20-21, “The kingdom of God is among you.”

How does this relate to our feast today of the Body and Blood of Christ? Because if the Kingdom of God is among us, it is among us who are the Body of Christ. This Feast is not just about Jesus being present in a real and authentic way in the elements of bread and wine which we use and consecrate during Mass in the celebration of the Eucharist – though he is really and truly present in the Mass, in the Eucharist.

But this food from heaven which feeds and nourishes us spiritually as we partake of communion at Mass transforms us and makes us into the very Body of Christ on earth, the Body that has been given the task of making God’s Kingdom present and real.

As Saint Augustine said so well, “If you want to understand the body of Christ, listen to what the apostle Paul says to the faithful: ‘You are Christ’s own body, his members.”

Together, as that living Body of Christ, let us strive to build God’s upside down kingdom!

Body and Blood of Christ 2003

09/06/07 16:42

The Body and Blood of Christ
June 22, 2003 (Year B)

Outline

I. Introduction

A. This is an old feast going back to 13th century.
B. Start by looking at some slides: Birthday, Trophy, Wedding, Baptism
C. Commonality: All are festive celebrations – Mass is a Banquet, a Fiesta
D. Getting ready
i. Buy birthday cake, gift, wedding dress, baptism candle
ii. Joke: Lazy priest who said he wrote homily from time he walked from rectory to church. Exasperated people, after a month, offered to buy him a new home – 10 miles away!
iii. We all get lazy – Mass is just a requirement – but today is chance to get ready.

II. Look at sheet

A. Welcome to Banquet! – Everyone is invited, and it is a feast!
B. Reconnecting when life feels disconnected
i. Example of cell phone disconnection in middle of a conversation
ii. Mass each week helps us reconnect to God and others

III. Three steps for reconnecting and getting dressed for the banquet

A. Covenant
i. Baptism and Marriage (in slides) are covenants – agreements, commitments, promises
ii. Step 1: Right relations require connecting to God
iii. Exodus 24:3, 7-8 – Moses and people enter into a covenant in which they agree to do ALL that God asks of them
iv. We are asked to give our ALL to God.
v. Study: What do people in America most like to hear?
1. “I love you”
2. “I forgive you”
3. “Come, it’s time to eat”
4. Jesus says to us:
a. Slide of rainbow – Noah, ark, covenant – “I love you”
b. Slide of blood donor – Blood is life, sacrifice, giving – Jesus says: “I forgive you”
c. Banquet – food, eating – Jesus says, “Come, eat!” and feeds us spiritually with his Body and Blood
B. Communion
i. Right relationship NOT just with God but with other people – eating together
ii. Examples of NOT living in community and communion:
1. Church in Corinth torn by competition and division
2. Church in South in 1950s, all-white, excluded blacks and all other newcomers. Today, thriving restaurant – and everyone is welcome!
3. Story of tour of heaven and hell. In hell, everyone is starving because of 5-foot-long forks, spoons, etc. In heaven, same 5-foot-long utensils, but everyone is fat and contented – in hell, selfishness; in heaven, sharing and feeding one another
iii. Invite children forward, divide by boys and girls, give all candy to girls and just a few pieces to boys. Show that world is full of haves and have-nots. Christians are to share.

C. Thanksgiving
i. “Eucharist” means “thanksgiving”
ii. Jesus himself gave thanks and blessed, even at Last Supper when about to die
iii. We need an attitude of gratidude
iv. Examples of thankfulness:
1. Invite Eucharistic Ministers and other liturgical ministers to stand for applause
2. Children who just made their first communion – applause
3. Priest applauds people for their love and support

D. Closing
i. Jesus sang as he ended Last Supper
ii. We end in song – “Ven, Ven al Banquete” or “Come, Come to the Feast”

Full Text

A story is told of a priest who would brag to his congregation that he could prepare his homily in the time it took to walk from his rectory to his church. Do you know what happened? After about a month of listening to his homilies, his parishioners offered to buy him new home -- 10 miles away!

Preaching takes work. It takes preparation. But coming to Mass is not just the work of the priest – all of us should prepare. We are being invited to Jesus’ own party – his own banquet – and we should come ready. Today, we’re going to talk about how.

This is the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. This feast day goes back to 13th century. It is pretty old. But when we talk about the Body and Blood of Christ, we’re talking about more than just going to Mass – more than just going to communion – more than just a sacred host in the tabernacle and a chalice full of the precious blood. We’re talking about the banquet of life itself.

Look at your sheets. It says: “Welcome to the Banquet!” Jesus is the host, and all of us are invited! That’s good news! But we have to come prepared.

Anyone here like parties and celebrations? Before going, we usually get ready. Depending on the occasion, we may get dressed up. Or if it is a dance, we’ll wear our dancing clothes. If it’s a sporting event, we’ll wear shirts and hats that promote our favorite team. Jesus wants us to come to his party well dressed – prepared – and I’m not talking about externals, I’m talking about being prepared spiritually. Today, we’re going to look at three ways to do that.

The subtitle on your sheet says, “Reconnecting when life seems disconnected.” Anyone here have a cell phone? Has it ever gone dead on you in the middle of a conversation? You’re talking to someone one second, then – all of a sudden – nothing. Isn’t that frustrating? And life can be like that, too. We can feel like we’ve fallen into a hole or a rut, that we’re just going through the motions, that we’re not making any headway. Jesus invites us to this banquet so we can get reconnected – plugged back in – back on track. But how?

On your sheet, it says that the Christian life is really about just one thing: RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS. If we can just get all of our relationships right, get them going in the right direction, then our lives will be happy. Right relationship with ourselves, first of all. And right relationships with other people and with our world. And most important of all – the foundation that holds the other two kinds of relationships together on solid ground – a right relationship with God. That’s what this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ is all about.

I’ve brought some pictures just to show you how important healthy relationships are. Here’s the first picture – of a birthday. Anyone here like birthday parties? That’s because they are relational events – we celebrate with other people.

Next picture: A trophy. Anyone ever win one of these? Doesn’t that make us feel proud. God is throwing a party for us. God is inviting us. God is giving out trophies – He wants us to be spiritual winners.

Next picture – a wedding. This is certainly a relational event. At it brings us to the first of three steps if we are to prepare for attending Jesus’ banquet. On your sheet, it says: STEP ONE: COVENANT.

That’s what marriage is. It’s a covenant, a lifelong agreement, a full commitment, giving of oneself to another person for the rest of life. And when we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we celebrate our covenant and our commitment to Christ. That’s the first step in preparing for the banquet. That’s the first step in reconnecting when our lives start to feel disconnected.

One more slide – of a baptism. This is where our Christian covenant began. This is where we (or our parents, if we were babies) made a promise, an agreement, sacred vows – to become a lover and a follower of Christ. We got married spiritually to Jesus. At least, that’s what baptism is supposed to symbolize. Sometimes it’s just an empty ritual or an excuse for a family party. Today, if you’re life feels off track and disconnected, and you want to reconnect, here’s your first step: RE-COMMIT YOURSELF TO BEING A TRUE FOLLOWER OF JESUS. Rededicate your life to him. Or if you’ve never, ever dedicated your life to him before, now – today – is the time to make that step of faith and that commitment. Jesus invites you.

Let’s read a little bit more about covenant. It’s on your sheet, from today’s first reading, from the Old Testament and the Book of Exodus: When Moses came to the people and related all the words and ordinances of the Lord, they all answered with one voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has told us….” Taking the book of the covenant, he read it aloud to the people, who answered, “All that the Lord has said, we will heed and do.” Then he took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you…” -- Exodus 24:3, 7-8

The first step is clear: RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS require CONNECTING TO GOD.

Now I was reading last week that there are three things that people like to hear most. Do you want to know what they are? First, people like to hear someone tell them: “I love you.” Second, people like to hear people tell them, “I forgive you.” And third – any guesses here? – people like to hear, “It’s time to eat!”

Did you know that in this covenant that God wants to make between us and himself, these are the exact three things he wants to offer to us, also. And I have some slides to show you this, also.

First, Jesus tells us, “I love you.” On the screen is a rainbow – in the Old Testament, this was the sign God gave as his part of the covenant, to say to all humankind, “I love you.”

Next is blood. Blood represents life. The covenant that we just read in Exodus was sealed in blood. Jesus died and shed his blood out of love for us – to give us new life, to free us from sin and death, and to forgive us so that we could have a new beginning. We just have to climb into the boat with him, sign on the dotted line and accept his offer to covenant with us.

This third picture is my favorite: Food! A banquet. And this brings us to the second step if we are to reconnect our lives: COMMUNION. Let’s read a part of our gospel together: On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"—Mark 14:12

That word should conjure up all sorts of positive images – food, eating, a party. But notice – the party that Jesus organizes is not a do-it-yourself affair. Jesus invites us to live connected and in relationship with others – in community and in communion with others, growing spiritually, companions one to anther. That’s why Jesus formed us as the church, to be the Body of Christ.

So we see that Step 2 if we are to reconnect our lives --► RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS require EATING WITH OTHERS.

Pope John Paul II put it this way: “It is not enough just to receive the Body of Christ. We must become the Body of Christ.”

Now there’s a big problem in the world in this regard, and it is this: Not every wants to share food with others. Some are excluded. Some are given less than their fair share.

Not too long ago, I read about a church in the South that didn’t want to allow any new members in. They were afraid that newcomers would spoil everything they had worked so hard to build. And this was in the days of the civil rights movement – they especially did not want to allow blacks into their all-white church. Do you know what happened? That church died. Today, that church building is a successful restaurant – and do you know why? Because at the restaurant, everyone is welcome!

Back in the days of the early church – one church in Corinth was sort of like that. Only the rich and wealthy were allowed to partake of the communion banquet. The poor were left out in the cold. And St. Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, condemns this scandal.

The same happens today, unfortunately. Let me demonstrate. I need all our kids to come up here around the altar.

[Activity with candy: Divide kids into groups. Give one group all the candy. Give the other group just a few pieces of candy. Show that the world is like this – rich nations versus poor nations, and in our country, wealthy versus poor.]

Let me show you another slide: Milk and honey and bitter herbs. Again, food. But these are symbols from the Old Testament, the first covenant that God made with the people of Israel. And for God, this was serious business. The milk and honey symbolized the promised land, those who worked to bring people together, who helped the poor and the downtrodden. But the bitter herbs represented the suffering and the oppression of the poor. God tells us we must see that every human person is stamped in the image of God – that all of us are brothers and sisters, that we are all one Body connected to one another.

So now we come to our last step in getting our lives back on track and reconnected: THANKSGIVING, GRATITUDE – and, it should also say here, GENEROSITY, which always flows automatically from a grateful, thankful heart.

--► RIGHT RELATIONSHIPS require an ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

On this feast, this banquet of the Body and Blood of Christ, it is interesting to note that the very word “Eucharist” means, in Greek, “Thanksgiving.” This is a banquet to give thanks to all the ways that God has blessed us, and continues to bless us, and uses us to bless one another.

In our Gospel, Jesus is at his Last Supper. He is about to die on the cross. But still, he gives thanks.

While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many….” Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. – Mark 14:22-24, 26

I’d like us to pause for a moment and – in the quite of our hearts, say “Thanks” to God.

I would like to invite all who serve as Eucharistic Ministers to stand – thanks to you! And if there are any children here who made their first communion this year, please stand. Thanks to you! And if all of you, the people of God, the Body of Christ, would stand – I want to say thanks to you! You make serving my job of serving you as pastor so much easier because of your marvelous love and support.

Eucharist, communion, this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ – it’s about a lot more than just receiving communion on Sunday. It’s about being connected, about being in a healthy relationship with ourselves and with others and with God. It’s about be serious about our commitment and our covenant with God, and its about eating with one another and helping one another by sharing what we have and sharing of ourselves, and its about living with an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness that leads us to every greater joyfulness and generosity.

Notice that our gospel ends by saying that Jesus and his disciples sang a song. That’s what people do at a banquet. They sing. Please, as we close today, just listen to this song – and even join in at the refrain – the words are written on your sheet, at the very end – “Ven, Ven al Banquete! Come, Come to the Banquet of the Lord.”

Ven, ven al banquete, ven a la fiesta de Dios. Here the hungry have plenty, here the thirsty shall drink.
Ven a la cena de Cristo, come to the feast!