Homily:
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – Cycle B
It
used to be, it seems (at least, that is, if movies and TV shows depicted the
stereotypes correctly), that fathers of newly engaged daughters would make
brash declarations to their soon-to-be son-in-laws about the “rules” of being
part of their family. These usually
centered on the idea that the son-in-law to be must respect the father’s
daughter and treat her like a lady, as well as some of the ways that he would
be expected to integrate into the family culture. And, if it is a particularly “over-protective”
father, these rules usually come with some sort of threat of punishment if any of
these rules are ever broken. Has anyone
ever seen this scene before? Has anyone
ever lived this scene before?
What
strikes me about these scenes, however, is the rudimentary parallels between
them and the covenants formed in the Ancient Near East (that is, ancient
Palestine: where Jesus walked the earth).
You see, a covenant, in ancient times, was basically a pact between two
peoples who weren’t otherwise bound to each other by blood or by marriage. A covenant is like a contract in which terms
are spelled out between the two groups entering into it: there are certain
rules that each group must abide by and punishments for those who break those
rules. Different, however, is that the
bond that the covenant forms is a familial bond. In other words, after entering the covenant, the
groups that enter into it treat each other as if they were family. Thus, the correlation between the father and
his future son-in-law: “If you’re going to be a part of this family, there are certain rules you have to follow.” The father, perhaps unknowingly, is laying
down the terms of a covenant.
In
the first reading of today’s Mass, we heard described how the ancient
Israelites entered into a covenant with God.
Moses, speaking on behalf of God, reads the “terms” of God’s proposed
covenant with the people; and the people respond that they will indeed fulfill
these terms. The covenant is then sealed
by a sacrifice: the blood of which is splashed on the altar (representing God)
and then sprinkled on the people. In
doing this, God and the people became “family” (as evidenced by the
oft-repeated phrase in the scriptures: “You will be my people, and I will be
your God.”)
Now,
if you heard my homily last week for Trinity Sunday (or, perhaps, if you read
it online), you’ll know that what we celebrate on Trinity Sunday is that God
has made himself known to us so that we can enter into relationship with him
and, thus, fulfill our purpose for being made: which is to know, love, and serve
him in this world, and to be happy with him forever in the next. You’ll also remember that I said that we know
him by remembering the gracious ways that he has worked in our lives and in the
lives of others throughout history, as recorded for us in the Bible, in Church
History, and in the Lives of the Saints.
I said that, as adopted sons and daughters of God (and, therefore,
brothers and sisters of Christ), we are endowed with the grace of being loved
by God as his beloved children and that, as brothers and sisters of Christ
himself, we are caught up into the eternal outpouring of love that the Father
makes to the Son and the Son returns to the Father, and which explodes forth
and pours out into creation as the Holy Spirit.
Thus, we love God by loving him as Christ loves him: by receiving the
love that is poured out to us and by returning that love with an outpouring of
our lives. Finally, I said that we serve
God by fulfilling the “Great Commission” that Jesus gave to his disciples: to “go
and make disciples of all nations” in the particular manner to which God has
called each of us.
It
is to the second point of these that I want to draw our attention today: that is,
that we love God like sons and daughters because we have been adopted by him. Friends, if we are adopted sons and daughters
of God, then we, like the ancient Israelites, have entered into a covenant with
him. This is not the covenant that Moses
mediated between God and the people and sealed by the blood of bulls and goats,
however. It is a new covenant, mediated
by Christ and sealed by the sacrifice of his own Body and Blood, as the author
of the Letter to the Hebrews relates: “[Christ] entered once for all into the
sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus
obtaining eternal redemption.” This is
why we celebrate this great feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ—and
why we celebrate it immediately following the feast of the Most Holy Trinity—because
without it we were estranged from God, but with it we are now sons and
daughters of God—brothers and sisters of Christ—and, thus, can receive the
fullness of the benefits that come from being in this covenant with him: that
is, to know him, to love him, and to serve him in this world, and to be happy
with him forever in the next.
Friends,
it is a great grace to be in covenant with God.
And if we understand this, then our response must always be
thanksgiving. This is why our primary
form of worship is the Eucharist: a sacrifice of thanksgiving in which we offer
back to God the very thing that unites us to him, the Body and Blood of his Son
Jesus. Our thanksgiving doesn’t end
here, however. Rather, our lives must be
a continuous act of thanksgiving; which they are when we live according to the
way of life God has commanded us to live as safeguarded by the moral teachings
of the Church. Therefore, as we give God
thanks today for this covenant into which he has invited us—sealed as it is by
the Blood of Christ—let us recommit ourselves to living as he commanded us. In doing so, we will give him glory and prepare
ourselves to be happy with him forever in heaven.
Given at All Saints Parish: Logansport, IN – June 3rd,
2018
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