June 6th 2021.  Feast of Corpus Christi

GOSPEL   Mark: 12-16, 22-26

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

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GOSPEL   Mark: 12-16, 22-26

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,

when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him,

"Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

He sent two of his disciples and said to them,

"Go into the city and a man will meet you,

carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,

'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room

where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"'

Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.

Make the preparations for us there."

The disciples then went off, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them;

and they prepared the Passover. While they were eating,

he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, 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.

Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine

until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

Then, after singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

THE GOSPEL OF THE LORD: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

SHORTER HOMILY . . . On this feast of Corpus Christi we read the account of the preparation and eating of the Passover from St Mark’s Gospel. It is important not to consider the Eucharist as a static entity. Rather it is a participation in the dynamic events of the liberation of humanity by Christ. Jesus tells the disciples to follow a man carrying a pitcher of water who will lead them to the upper room. This is a symbol of baptism, of being transported to a higher level lived according to the perspective of God. The Lord has already prepared the Passover, prepared our liberation, and we are invited to prepare ourselves and enter. The Lord consecrates the bread and wine into his body and blood, but it is our task to prepare the bread and wine, which is done during the presentation of the gifts using an ancient Hebrew prayer of blessing. Our humanity is offered up in that bread and wine and it is transformed into Christ. The Eucharist calls us to live our humanity as a reality consecrated by God. In a sense, we are asked to live out our humanity in such a way that it ascends to the upper room, a higher and more beautiful level. Women and men are never so beautiful as when they live according to the will of God, carrying the invisible God in their every act and thought. We are invited to live this dynamic where our humanity and actions are transformed into Christ. Participation in the Eucharist is a call to transform our human existence into an existence as children of God, no longer simply a biological reality but a spiritual reality. In the Eucharist, the elements retain their properties, and so do we, but spiritually we become the body of Christ. Twice during the Mass, the celebrant calls on the Holy Spirit, once upon the bread and wine, and the second time upon the assembly of people. We celebrate the Eucharist in order to become the body of Christ, to achieve real union between us. His blood courses in our veins because we have received him in Communion. The goal of all of this is that we become the presence of Christ in this world, even in our simplest acts. The basilica of St Clement in Rome has a mosaic with Christ at the centre of a great tree which encompasses saints, martyrs and everyday scenes such as a women feeding the chickens.  Even an everyday act can become something which has heaven inside it! This is the power of the Eucharist which we celebrate this Sunday.

LONGER HOMILY FOLLOWS

The Old Covenant involved the people of Israel abiding by certain norms

This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. The first reading deals with the Old Covenant whilst the Gospel describes the institution of the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus. Blood is mentioned in both texts. In the first reading the people commit themselves on two occasions to abide by the norms of the covenant. This old covenant followed the patterns of other covenants in the near east. Both parties agreed to uphold certain norms, and the agreement was solemnised by the aspersion of blood in a threatening manner. Blood represented life and this ritual signified that the very life of the people was at stake in this event. One side had the right to the life and the blood of the other if the covenant was not respected. In some covenants, it was the sovereign who had the right to the life of the vassal if he did not match up to the demands imposed upon him. There was a threat implicated by any transgression. In the case of Israel the norms were encoded in the ten commandments written upon the two tables of the law. In order for God and the people to maintain their covenant relationship, the people were obliged to keep the law and the Lord would in turn be their saving God. We might think that this relationship was of the archaic sort, but it is actually of a type that still characterizes “horizontal” relationships. Friendships usually involve reciprocal expectations of this sort.

Relationships involve reciprocal commitments, but all of us fail to measure up to some degree

What is the difficulty with this arrangement, indeed with all of our relationships? We are expected to be faithful to certain norms, but in reality no-one manages to measure up fully. We know the importance of authentic relationships, but we still fail. None of us manages to respond in an adequate way to the Lord, and the same goes for all of our other relationships. We are never the friend we ought to be, the husband or child that we ought to be. All of us are inadequate in this sense. Certainly, some people are more consistent and coherent than others, but all of us reveal our cracks and limitations sooner or later. Does this mean that unhappiness and dissatisfaction with ourselves is inevitable?

Our failures prepare us to allow Jesus to enter our lives. Through his sacrifice we are enabled to become, finally, faithful

No, unhappiness is not inevitable! The failures of our covenants is of great importance because it is then that we realize that we can do nothing by ourselves. Into this insufficiency of ours comes the Lord Jesus. The threat of life to him is radically concrete. He gives his life and sheds his own blood. And, in his blood, humanity is enabled, finally, to become faithful. Through the body of Christ we become, not by our own efforts but through grace, not by our own consistency but by pure gift, to enter finally into the covenant. In Christ, a faithful covenant between humanity and God is possible. Why does the sacrament of matrimony involve fidelity and indissolubility? Because the grace of God is present. Without his work we cannot presume that genuine fidelity is possible. Indissolubility cannot be imposed as if it were a human rule, but in Christ it becomes possible. The Father sent his Son so that he would take upon himself the flesh of humanity and make our “Yes” possible. He becomes incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary, whose “Yes” also came by grace, by virtue of the Immaculate Conception. Not only the Virgin Mary but all of humanity has been graced by the visit of the Son of God. Do we think that we can measure up to the demands of God by our own efforts, by gritting our teeth and bringing a spiritual hernia upon ourselves? No, it is the Lord Jesus who is our sanctification and redemption and purification.

Our task is to welcome the Lord into our lives. Only in him can we make an adequate response to God

In welcoming the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist, in becoming one body with him, he becomes in us the faithful ally of God; he is the one who adequately responds to the Covenant. When we eat his body and drink his blood, we become united to him. Our art is to lose ourselves in him, not pretend that we by ourselves can measure up to the Covenant with the Lord. The Holy Spirit within us enables us to live out this great reality. This Sunday we celebrate the Covenant with God in Christ. We can be spouses, siblings, colleagues, parents – everything that we are called to be – in the Lord Jesus. We might be weak, but we cling as one body to the Lord Jesus and life becomes beautiful. We are not called to be strong but to ally ourselves with the One who is strong.