this great solemnity of the most holy body and blood of the lord is the second great feast of
the eucharist in the liturgical year the first of course is holy thursday and the mass of the lord's
supper in which we celebrate the institution of this great sacrament along with the sacrament
of the holy priesthood and on that feast we think about the institution of the sacrament
and the way that the sacrament comes to us the most blessed sacrament comes to us which is through
the sacrifice of our lord on the cross reenacted in an unbloody way through the mass
and then after pentecost and after the feast of
the blessed
trinity on the next sunday we celebrate well thursday in the old rite and some in some places
still in the new rite and on sunday for us today we celebrate this feast as a remembrance of our
lord's real presence in a particular way and in so doing
we we think about the fact that our lord has kept his promise to remain with us always
even until the end of time and that in that promise each and every one of us
find our strength and our happiness and our salvation
our lord remains a prisoner in the tabernacle for our sake and
this uh devotion to the blessed sacrament which we have both within the mass and outside the mass
an adoration of our lord in the tabernacle and adoration of our lord in the monstrance as we
have here perpetually is a kind of mindfulness of our lord's presence in our spiritual lives
the fact that our lord has not left us abandoned and he remains always with us
and that he renews his sacrifice on the altar continually and that this presence is unique
you know god is present really in many ways through creation where people are gathered
together in his name through grace but we call this the real presence in a unique way
because our lord is present substantially body blood soul and divinity right there you know we
can point to that specific place and say jesus is present here
where he's in a way in which he's present nowhere else and he's left this presence for each one of us
because he loves us and because he wills our salvation and he wants us to approach him easily
you know our lord could manifest himself as he did to the apostles on mount tabor in which you know
at a time in which uh the glory of his divinity was unveiled which could have happened always
saint thomas aquinas says that it was a greater the reason for his presence was because he loved us
the real miracle at tabor was that that didn't always happen that our lord the real miracle was
our lord was shield his divinity was shielded from from the eyes of of the beholder or our lord could
have manifested himself in power as he did you know on the night he was betrayed in the garden
of gethsemane where he merely said i am to his questioners those who were looking for jesus of
nazareth and they all fell down
um or
or as our as god revealed himself in the old testament in fire and trumpet blast you know and
in these wondrous manifestations of his power and glory and the eucharist our lord does none of that
our lord humbles himself uh if you you might say we think of you know we think about our lord's
humbling of himself by taking upon himself our humanity and shielding you know veiling rather
that that divinity
under the under the veil of of our humanity but even goes a step further in the eucharist by
veiling his humanity under the sign of the sacrament the bread the the the the speed the
sacred species the appearance of bread and and wine so that we might not um be disheartened or um
uh afraid to come near to him and even at his bequest
uh at his that at his command really to receive him sacramentally body blood soul and divinity into our bodies
and into our soul who would dare receive receive god who dare would eat uh the flesh and blood of god
unless he was commanded to do so our lord has given us that command
and he has made it easy for us to do to do it and it remains vulnerable god remains vulnerable
to us
um in the blood of god under the 팔 motion
the Blessed Sacrament as I say he's a prisoner in our tabernacle and he can
remain there either alone or with the company of others we can either like the
Apostles on the night before he died we can sleep through his agony or we can be
watchful and and make an effort to to visit the Blessed Sacrament to to
partake in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament to make visits to the church
as we pass by perhaps and we have a few moments it's one or the other you know
we can do either or and Our Lord remains vulnerable in that manner also you know
when we go to Holy Communion Our Lord doesn't distinguish between saint or
sinner between someone who is in the state of grace and someone who is in the
state of sin again so that we can approach him easily he leaves that up to
us and our conscience and and our sacramental life our participation in
our sacramental life our participation in our sacramental life our participation
in the rest of the sacraments, especially
the sacrament of penance
so that
he's always available in this way
the sacrament of mercy and the confession
Jesus is
Jesus is mercy
but it's up to us
to get the confession
it's up to us
to make a good confession
to be sorry for our sins
and to make amends for our past life
and to make a new life
on the basis of his forgiveness
and then to come
before him at the altar
and receive him sacramentally worthily
that's really up to us, he doesn't distinguish
you know
there are stories of
I think it was Saint Christine, I'm not sure
a mystic
extraordinary mystic who used to beat
she used to fly from the choir loft
to beat the priest back into the
sacristy when he approached the altar
in the state of sin to celebrate the
holy sacrifice of the mass
that's an extraordinary
manifestation of the reality
which is that
Jesus even under the sacred species
even in this humble form remains
the God who will come to judge us at the end of our lives
and reward us according to our deeds
and yet the blessed sacrament is not meant to be
something frightening
our Lord is here because he wants us to be with us
our Lord is here because he wants us to be with us
our Lord is here because he wants us to be with us
our Lord is here because he wants us to be with us
him forever and through the Blessed Sacrament we are being prepared not only
spiritually even our bodies are being prepared for the resurrection that's why
he comes to us in this manner to feed us to nourish us and to to draw us closer
to him to dwell with us and to remain with us always and to bring us into
everlasting life so we have this great feast of Corpus Christi so that we will
be mindful yeah I'm say many times I take the opportunity to say many times
to a large extent our spiritual lives are our life of faith in what Christ has
revealed through his church is a matter of mindfulness it's a matter of
remembering certain things and not simply remembering events that took
place in the past that's part of it but it's remembering that these mysteries
are active in our lives right now that's the mass itself you know Jesus is crucified he dies and he
is resurrected in the mass and that's made present for us right now we have access to all of that
grace right at this moment and but that it's not enough just to do that once a week as we go to
Sunday mass or even more often if we if we're able to get to mass more often it's a matter of living
the mystery of the Eucharist it's a matter of being mindful of Christ his mercy and his love
through throughout our lives at each moment and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament remembrance of
Jesus that he's present with us always is is a kind of mindfulness you know it's it's it's a
remembrance it's a commemoration it is a participation in the mysteries that he has
revealed to us and it's and it's it should be it should be the substance of what our lives are made
out of Pope John Paul the second blessed
Pope John Paul the second and gave a homily on st. Maximilian Kolbe in which he said that that
this great saint had such a great love for the Eucharist in the mass even when he was sick and
he at times was very sick with tuberculosis he had high fevers he would make sure he got to to
mass and that he celebrated the mass even if he had to have a couple of brothers help him and hold
him and hold him and hold him and hold him and hold him and hold him and hold him and hold him
him and hold him and hold him and hold him up to be able to stand at the altar Pope John
Paul II said though when he went to Auschwitz as a prisoner and he was no longer able to celebrate
the Holy Sacrifice the mass there is some evidence that perhaps once or twice he celebrated you know
clandestinely in in in the death camp but for the most part he was deprived of that
grace Pope John Paul II said he lived the mass in in Auschwitz the mystery of the mass
the mystery of the Eucharist became his life even though he was deprived of the opportunity
to celebrate the mass or to be in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist because
the Eucharist is the mystery of faith you know we say that at the mass the mystery of faith what
the what the priest means when he says that is that this the Eucharist is the mystery of faith
we know Jesus in the Eucharist we know what it means to have faith when we when we have faith in
the Eucharist st. Thomas tells us in the sequence that we we missed we didn't read today and also in
his great Eucharistic hymns for this feast tells us that our senses fail in the face of the Eucharist
we we see bread you know we taste bread all of our senses tell us that it's only bread except for one
sense which is our hearing you know we have the sacred words of our Lord then the Eucharistic the
narrative of the Eucharist is the Holy Mass
the consecration words of art that our Lord used it on Holy Thursday this is my body and it's
our Lord's words that we cling to you know again remembering what he said remembering what he did
knowing that he can neither deceive or be deceived he tells us the truth and that's what we have to
cling to and we have and we cling to that and the Eucharist and so when we believe in the Eucharist
and we began to live it not just to say yes I believe Jesus is really present in the Blessed
Sabbath
But we begin to be mindful of that and try to receive him worthily and fruitfully by making good confessions, by visiting our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, thinking about that, making that effort, trying to get to Mass more often.
And when we bring him into our home and our workplace by living a life of faith, by remembering what he tells us, thinking about what he says rather than what the world says, listening to his message, his truth, rather than the lies that we hear on television and the media, then we begin to understand what it means to live a life of faith.
And Jesus teaches us that.
And Jesus teaches us that in the Eucharist.
And so today as we celebrate this great feast, we can also ask our Blessed Mother to have her faith in the Blessed Sacrament.
Remember that Our Lady carried Jesus in her womb for nine months.
She carried God in her womb, the heart of Christ, the heart of God beat beneath the heart of Mary for nine months.
And she delivered Jesus into the world.
And it was the sacred humanity, the body, blood, and blood that he took from Our Lady.
That he offered on the cross.
And she knew who he was.
She understood who Jesus was, that he was the Son of God.
Her child was the Son of God.
And she had faith in Jesus.
And she followed him wherever he led, even to the cross.
And she offered Jesus in union with his own sacrifice to the Father on the cross.
And she had faith in the resurrection.
She believed that he would rise.
And then after he ascended into heaven, she also had to live the mystery of the Eucharist.
Her contact, her ordinary contact with the Lord was through the same sacraments that we receive.
And so the latter part of her life after our Lord's ascension, she lived what we live.
And her communion with Jesus, her reception of the Blessed Sacrament, her preparation for Holy Communion,
it should be ours.
St. Peter Julian Emard said in a very interesting way, which he doesn't explain in his little book,
says that the Immaculate Conception is the immediate, the remote preparation for Holy Communion.
What he's saying is basically Our Lady, you know, is the preparation.
And if we draw closer to her, she will teach us how to love him as he truly deserves.
And so all of us can...
express and manifest and interiorize greater gratitude for this gift.
This inestimable gift is one of the ways in which the Church refers to the Eucharist.
We cannot begin to estimate the value of the gift that we have.
And we always must try evermore to show that gratitude in not only our convictions,
but also in the way that we live and the way that we reverence our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
So let us ask then Our Blessed Lady to give us that grace today on this feast
and to show forth this grace to the world by the way we live.
You know, sometimes, you know, people will say they, you know, are interested in Christ,
but not as interested in Christians, you know.
And sometimes people have said that if they believe what we believe,
they would be here all the time, you know.
How can you believe what you believe and not crawl, you know,
on your knees before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament?
So all of us could be more grateful and more reverent and more sensitive in our conscience
to the gift that we have received and make sure that we always receive.
And that we receive Jesus more worthily and more fruitfully
by dispositions of humility and penance and faith.
May this be the grace that we receive from this great solemnity through the Eucharistic Heart
of Christ and the Immaculate Heart of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament.
Let presidency take a toll on us.
And may Atonement Day fill us with joy of praise and joy of qualche odio.
Let the rest, with faith within us, deliver us from this gladness and dismay.
For Jesus, the Lord in us is like a Effort for the head of angels to see.
Bucket light!
Thank you.