Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Every time we celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
we proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes,
to use the words of St. Paul from his first letter to the Corinthians,
which we read this evening.
We proclaim his death by, first of all, remembering it as a passover,
the last event for which we ought to be grateful.
And within the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass,
we reenact what our Lord did on the first Holy Thursday
when he transformed the Paschal meal
into his sacramental and sacrificial offering.
And we also remember our Lord's suffering death and resurrection,
which is enshrined and reenacted
in the Holy Sacrifice.
But as we remember this passover event
and think about its historical realities,
which we see represented for us, for example,
in the sacred images, especially in the crucifix,
we do something more than simply remember.
The remembrance that we participate in
not simply something that has to do with the past it has to do something that is is present
and which is bent on the future on the final coming of our lord in which we will share
his glory because please god we have shared in his suffering and have united our lives
and everything that is attached to them including our suffering to his saving suffering death
and resurrection and we do that more than any other place in the holy sacrifice of the mass
and so while our our minds are are focused upon the events of holy thursday good friday
and easter sunday
we are
we are
we are
striving to make those realities present in our in our daily lives not only by
thinking about what the lord did and being grateful for it but by accepting the grace
that god gives us to actually live these mysteries to participate in them to be
present at calvary at holy thursday and easter sunday to
enter in
and commune with christ who is our savior
and so the easter triduum which we began this evening will bring us from holy thursday to easter
sunday and we already see that movement began this evening as we celebrate the institute the
the feast of the institution of the eucharist and the priesthood with solemnity and with
and joy
and so at the beginning of the holy sacrifice of the mass
we sang the gloria and the bells rang
and we rejoice for the fact that our lord has given us the grace of his real presence in the
eucharist and makes himself present to us through his holy sacrifice after the glory of course the
sacred literature becomes
so important to us and so important to us and so important to us and so important to us and so
important to us and so important to us and so important to us and so important to us and so important to us
and more somber and the bells will not a ring again until the
vigil mass on holy saturday evening even at the consecration this evening
the uh epiclesis and the elevations will be marked
by the clapping of a of a wooden paddle instead of the instead of the the bells because uh
this is the lord's supper in which our lord is about to be betrayed and
after our communion
we will follow our Lord as the
apostles did to the garden
of Gethsemane our Lord
the mass this evening begins
with no
presence of the
Eucharist in the tabernacle
the tabernacle is
empty and the
hosts that are going to be
consecrated will be the ones that we
receive for Holy Communion and then
hosts that are left over will have to
be enough of them for the rest
of the Triduum and at the end of
mass we will accompany our Lord to the
altar of repose which
historically represents
you know his going to the garden
and so tonight after
the mass
our focus is the altar of
repose here and there's
solemn adoration until
midnight and we are called
to as much as we can
to watch with our Lord
in his agony meanwhile the rest
of the church is stripped and the altars are
laid bare and the candles
are removed so that really there's
nothing liturgical left in the
church except for the tabernacle
of repose where our
Lord resides
and so as through the
liturgical year we follow
our Lord on this
historical journey which leads to the cross
and ultimately to the resurrection
we
do more than that
because as I say it's not
just something that is
symbolically represented to us
as a past event
which we can remember
but it's something that we actually are
present at and so while we might
symbolically represent this
passage around the church
to the altar of repose
as our traveling with
our Lord to the garden of
Gethsemane in reality
each and every holy sacrifice of the
mass we are
allowed we are privileged
to be present at
our Lord's sacrifice on
Calvary and that too is
represented symbolically
as
the mass is
executed
the sacrifice
is constituted by the double
consecration of the bread
and the wine
separately
representing as the
bread is consecrated and becomes
the body of Christ
and the wine is consecrated
and becomes the blood of Christ
we see represented symbolically before us
the separation of the blood
of Christ from his body
but in that
representation sacramentally
and sacrificially
in a mystical and unbloody way
that sacrifice that one sacrifice
of Christ on the cross
is made present for us
again and hence we refer
to the Eucharist the mass
as both a
sacrifice and a
sacrifice of Christ on the cross
sacrament
and while the sacrifice sacrament is present
as long as the sacred species of the bread and wine are present as
our Lord under the form of bread
is present in our tabernacles during
most of the liturgical year except for
basically the end of Good Friday and Holy Saturday
as he is he is present in that this fashion for us
in the sacrament
the sacrifice takes place
at that moment
only when the mass is celebrated
and this is why we say that the mass
is the zenith
the vertex
of our Eucharistic life
because when we attend the mass
even if we don't receive Holy Communion
which hopefully we
do in
a state of grace
as often as possible
even if we don't
the sacrifice really happens
and we are present there receiving graces
from being present
but if we are in the state of grace
and we do approach the Holy Altar
and receive our Lord in the blessed sacrament
we participate in that sacrifice
in a very wonderful way
in a way in which all of us are called to participate
by means of baptism
when we receive Jesus in the Eucharist
worthily
and fruitfully at mass we enter in to our lord's offering in in a mysterious in a mystical but a
real sacramental way so that somehow all of that we do because we are baptized and in the state of
grace is given the value of christ's offering of himself to the father as the victim for our sins
we are united to that offering and that's really what we celebrate this evening you know there are
two feasts of the blessed sacrament in the church two great solemnities of the blessed sacrament
the one tonight and the other of course is corpus christi and corpus christi is a
celebration of the real presence that became more and more the
folklorist
of attention in tabernacles as our Lord began to be reserved in each and every church throughout
Christendom prior to the 13th century. Our Lord was reserved only in certain places, usually
in the cathedral churches, but with the fourth ladder and council, more strict norms were laid
down for the way that the Blessed Sacrament was to be treated. And while the church insisted on
more reverence for the treatment of the Blessed Sacrament because abuses had taken place, there
was also a movement among especially the Franciscans to have our Lord reserved in every church.
And one of the early permissions given to the Franciscan order was in fact to allow our Lord
to be reserved in each of their friary churches.
So devotion to the real presence grew as our Lord more commonly became reserved in every
tabernacle and in every single church. And so the Feast of Corpus Christi, which was also inspired by
several miracles associated with our Lord's real presence, was a way of commemorating that fact,
the reality of the fact that when the Mass is celebrated, the bread and
wine are served. And so the Feast of Corpus Christi was also inspired by several miracles associated
with the Holy Communion.
The bread and wine is changed. The substance of the bread and wine is completely changed into the body,
blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus. That's Corpus Christi. This evening we emphasize the reality of
Christ's sacrifice, the institution of the Eucharist which comes to us by way of his sacrifice.
And the ordination, of course, also to the priesthood by which our Lord, in a sense, remains present
to us through his vicar.
through those who are called to act in the in his person to bring the sacrifice and sacrament
to us and so you know in this modern age is there's so much confusion and we very often find
our find those around us unfortunately reducing the true truth to to certain narrow categories
like people don't want to talk about uh the reality of our lord's uh suffering so they
they talk about our lord as the advocate for social justice and and and instead of putting
uh our lord's frater his love for his people in the context in the greater context he's reduced
and so sometimes we see the mass being reduced to kind of a banquet or a meal in which we
all
all
all
all gather together and participate in Christ
and are united to one another in him.
While that's true,
it can never be seen apart from the fact
that our Lord becomes present in the Eucharist.
He becomes present to all of us
by means of his sacrifice,
by means of his offering,
by means of becoming a victim for us.
And when we receive our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament,
we are being united to that victim
and we are participating in that sacrifice.
And that is our calling.
That is the calling of each and every one of us.
And before anything else,
that is the true mysticism of the church.
People are running very often
to find the latest message from God
or the latest manifestation of his wonders.
And the miracles of the church, of course,
are...
are what consolidate our faith
in what Jesus has taught us.
But of course, the greatest miracle of all
that guarantees our faith is the resurrection.
And the resurrection and the power of the resurrection
that comes through our Lord's victory on the cross
is made present to us in this sacrifice
and in the Eucharist.
Jesus, in the Eucharist,
after the Last Supper,
he is crucified and victorious.
When our Lord celebrated the Last Supper,
he was not yet crucified and raised from the dead.
So it was his body that he offered
at that moment
that was present in the Eucharist.
But now that the resurrection has taken place,
Jesus in the Eucharist
is crucified and resurrected
and glorified in heaven.
And so we participate
in that reality
and in that power.
That is the power given to us.
In the Blessed Sacrament.
And that is the real mysticism of the Church.
There was an occasion one time
when St. Louis of France, the ninth great king and saint,
was kneeling before the Blessed Sacrament
and someone ran in and said that
some miracle had taken place.
Someone was cured or something had happened
just down the street
and they wanted to run down and gawk at it.
And they wanted the king to come with them.
And they said, never mind.
My faith is not in any way in need
of that particular sign or wonder.
I have Jesus here in the Blessed Sacrament.
It's not to disparage the real signs and wonders
that God has given us,
but merely to point out
that we have a wonder before us
each and every day.
And it is our great privilege,
our great dignity
to have the right,
as those who have been baptized into Christ
and are full members of the Roman Catholic Church,
to participate as real actors, in a sense,
in the mysteries of our salvation.
And all of us are called to do this
and it is the charity of Christ
that allows us to do this.
And so we remember this ineffable gift of the Eucharist
and the sacrifice of Christ.
As we begin
this holy
and sacred Triduum
What happens on Good Friday
and on Easter Sunday
is enshrined in these mysteries,
and we experience it,
as I say, in a mystical way.
Every time we participate
in the Holy Sacrifice in the Mass.
And this evening, as we also celebrate
the institution of the priesthood,
the sacrament of Holy Orders,
we remember also the way Christ, Christ and Christ,
remember also the way in which our lord has served us he he served us by giving himself to us
in the eucharist and that of course as i say enshrines and makes present the sacrificial love
of our lord and he represented this for the apostles as he knelt down and washed their feet
and had to remonstrate with peter as he had at times before to insist that to peter that
this had to be done this way in fact he told peter that he could have no inheritance with him
if he did not allow our lord to do this act of kindness for him and it was you might say an
extraordinary statement in the sense that our lord was willing to exclude the one that he had made
for
the head of the church if he would not simply permit him to wash his feet because our lord
is reminding us of um of his office which is to redeem and save us but he does this by being
god-made man who comes and places himself completely at our service and humbles himself
to take the the lowest place
place you might say so that we might be raised up and communion can commune with him and so he
says to them you call me lord and master and so i am you well call me lord and master but
i come among you as one who serves who has come to give his life for the many and so
we think about this as we begin to remember what our lord did for us and what he did for us and we
begin to remember what our lord did for us and we begin to remember what our lord did for us and
for us and as we have this solemn opportunity to enter into those mysteries this is a time
for our full incorporation into the mysteries of Christ this is a time to obtain God's forgiveness
if we haven't done our Easter duty by getting to confession we should do it and make ourselves
right with God and we should make ourselves right with each other because it is in this sacrifice
that our Lord brings us the peace that the world cannot give the peace that the world cannot give
is the peace by which Christ himself has laid down his life for the very worst of us
as though the very worst of us was the best and in that context we we fall on our knees and we
cry for God's mercy and we will receive it to the extent that we show it to the extent that we
like Christ
you
are willing to serve peter you know was was no one like all the rest of us and when compared
to christ who knelt down and served the others so we accept the mercy of christ as peter did
so that we may show it and we stand we kneel we kneel before the great mystery of faith that we
find in the eucharist and we wonder at the great power of god the great mercy of god the great
grace of god by which we have been saved by which we are incorporated into his grace and into his
kingdom we pray then for the holy mother church and in a particular way for all priests this
evening and in a most particular way for our holy father pope benedict who is suffering the
outrages
of those who are enemies of the church during this most sacred time and in a certain sense
stands in the role of christ who is and who was and is the cornerstone that the the stone that
was rejected but has become the cornerstone our faith is in christ and in the rock which he has
established that protects the church until the end of time and so we celebrate
you
even now in the midst of this trial in the midst of this passion of the church we celebrate the
victory of christ which is made present for us in his sacraments and most especially in his holy
sacrifice and sacrament of the eucharist
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