Homily:
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus
Cycle
C
As
most of you know, I grew up near Chicago, in Joliet, Illinois. This was (and still is) close enough that “Chicago”
culture permeates Joliet, too. I’m
always a little surprised when I go home to visit at some of the stark
contrasts between “Chicago” culture and our more rural “Indiana” culture. One of those aspects that usually sticks out
is the “I know a guy…” syndrome. You
see, in Chicago culture, one establishes his or her authority on a subject by
proclaiming to “know a guy” that says something authoritative about it or who
can do something in regards to it. For
example: “I know a guy who says that the bishop keeps forty or fifty gold bars
buried under the Cathedral in case of emergency.” Or (and this is more common), in the case
that you need something done: “That storm ripped some siding off? I know a guy who can fix that up for
you. He’ll do a great job and it won’t
cost that much. Let me call him right
now for you…”
This
could be a great asset, if you were looking for someone and were hoping to find
a good reference. It could also be very
annoying. Perhaps you already had your
own “guy” for the job, but now you have to talk to this other “guy”. Nevertheless, in its own weird way, this
aspect of the “Chicago” culture is very “priestly”. In other words, the guy who knows a guy that
can get you what you need and is willing to get it from him for you is actually
acting—again in a weird analogical sense—like a priest. Let me try to explain, taking a look at
today’s Scriptures.
You
see, the role of the priest is to mediate between God and man. The primary way that he does this is by
offering sacrifices to God on behalf of man.
This is evidenced throughout history: one brings his or her offering to
God and hands it to the priest who then offers it to God according to the
ritual ascribed for it. The other way that the priest mediates between
God and man is to bring God’s blessings down to man. That could be in sharing the physical
offerings from the altar of sacrifice (such as when a portion of the sacrifice
was returned to the one who offered it as a sign that his offering was received
positively by God) or simply by imparting the blessings of God on the people. Case in point: the priest Melchizedek.
In
our first reading today, we hear the short episode of when Abram returned victorious
from a battle against an enemy attacker.
On his return he is met by the priest-king Melchizedek who brings out
bread and wine for a thanksgiving offering to “God Most High”. Melchizedek makes the offering and also
imparts a blessing from “God Most High” onto Abram. Then Abram gives a tenth of everything to
Melchizedek in thanksgiving for the many spoils he brought back from his
victory. As a mediator for God,
Melchizedek will make the appropriate offering on Abram’s behalf. Through these actions, we see that the priest
is a mediator between God and man: a mediation that goes in both directions.
In
the Gospel, we also see a model of priesthood.
After Jesus had been teaching the crowds all day, his disciples approach
him on behalf of the people to ask that they be dismissed so they can go find
food and lodging for the night. After
instructing them to “give them some food yourselves”, to which they object
since they have so little food, Jesus works a miracle so that they can provide
them all with food. In other words,
Jesus, who is God, pours out blessings upon the people (the multiplication of
loaves and fish) through the hands of his disciples, which makes them “priests”. Thus we see that, in a sense, the priest is a
“guy who knows a guy” who can take care of what we need.
Jesus,
however, is the Eternal High Priest—that is, the priest above all other priests—who
eternally intercedes on our behalf before God our Father, offering all of our
prayers and praises to him while sending down to us grace for every need in our
lives. We know that this is true because
of two things that Jesus did before he ascended into heaven: 1) he instituted
the ministerial priesthood and 2) he instituted the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, he made sure that his Body
and Blood—which he told us is the very substance of life when he said: “Unless
you eat my flesh and drink my blood you do not have life within you”—would be
available to all. And in the ministerial
priesthood, he made sure that his Body and Blood would always be available to
all, down through the generations, until he returned on the day of judgment.
To
make present his Body and Blood was a task that was given to a select few—not because
of their exceptional worthiness, but simply because they were chosen. It continues to this day to be given to those
whom God has chosen for this task so that his divine life may continually be
poured out for his faithful people to consume.
This is the role of the priest today, to offer the sacrifice of praise
and thanksgiving to God on your behalf and to be generous distributors of God’s
many blessings through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist: in which the
Body and Blood of Jesus is made really present to us in the form of bread and
wine. In other words, the priest is to
be the “guy who knows a guy” who can bring God’s divine life to us.
In
a special way today we honor the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus as a way of
honoring Jesus, the Eternal High Priest, who made of himself a sacrifice to God
on our behalf and who continually pours out God’s blessings to us through this
most holy sacrament; and as a reminder to honor him always in his real presence
that remains with us in the tabernacle.
This truly is both the source and the summit of our faith.
Let
us, then, honor him worthily today by pouring ourselves out in praise and
thanksgiving for this great gift; and by embracing the share in Christ’s
priesthood that we all have received in baptism and go forth from here to be
that “guy who knows a guy” who can intercede before God on behalf of others and
bring others to the abundant blessings that God pours out for all when the Most
Holy Body and Blood of Jesus is made present here in this Holy Eucharist.
Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – May 29th,
2016
No comments:
Post a Comment