Fr. Tom's Thoughts

I know this is a little late, but our parishes are looking at a change in leadership in 2 and how we will work together in a new model. This was my homily from the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord.

If we look closely at the words we pray in each Eucharistic prayer, then the deeper reality of today’s feast is revealed. Here I am quoting from Eucharistic Prayer III.

“Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and + Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.”

On the night of the Last Supper, Jesus left us the memorial of His Death and Resurrection in the mystery of the Eucharist. From the very beginning, the Church has realized that when the priest calls down the Holy Spirit and remembers what He did for all of us, the very Risen Lord is present in the bread and wine. In Eucharistic Prayer II, the words that call down the Holy Spirit are:

Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray, by sending down your spirit upon them like the dewfall,

The essence of the bread and wine are gone, and the very essence of God is here. Think about what the morning dew does. It permeates into the very essence of the soil; it comes gently and calmly but has the force of life. Bread that was made from many grains becomes the immense presence of God. Wine crushed from many grapes become His Blood that was poured out for us. We do not receive just a symbol or a reminder; we receive God. This why we need to be mindful of how we treat Him.

But, and there is always a “but” in the life of faith, we must realize what receiving Holy Communion does to us. After the community of faith affirms the presence of Christ when the priest says”  Let us proclaim the mystery of faith,” we find the answer. By the way, in the missal the red words(directions) say “and the people respond”,  that is your part, not mine nor it is just the choir’s part.

In the second half of the Eucharistic Prayer III, the Spirit is invoked again by the priest in the name of the community.

“Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church, and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.”

Now, we ask the Spirit to change us into what receive. By receiving Holy Communion, we become one people. Since we are human and not divine, we invoke the Spirit who transform the simple gifts of bread and wine to change us. As the Spirit was a driving force on Pentecost, by our receiving Jesus here, we become a driving force in the world, if we let the Eucharist change us. What we do here must lead us to action. When we go to adoration or make a visit to a church, we cannot leave Jesus in the tabernacle. We must become the living tabernacles, and we must see every person as a living tabernacle too.

We and the Orthodox and Eastern Catholics see the Eucharist this way. We all have believed in the True Presence since the beginning. In the other Christian Churches that arose, their theology does not. What a great gift we have. We can receive the living presence of God and be a driving force in the world.

The invitation to the Holy Table is given to all at Baptism. Invite someone home to the Table of Life this coming week.