Homily – Fr. Anton – Corpus Christi -2024
After the Gospel: Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26
It’s funny how things stick with you over the years, even from as far back as junior year in high school.
We had a project for physics class, to build a model at home and bring it in to class:
We each had to build a model arch.
Every time I see an arch in a doorway or gate, or arches in a bridge, I’m reminded.
The rules were simple:
Construct a model arch at least a foot high,
use any materials,
but no glue,
bring it to class, set it up on a little table near the blackboard,
which the teacher would bump to prove the arch could stand on its own.
Finally he’d remove one of the blocks, everything tumbled apart, proving there was no glue.
The whole idea was to show how an arch, a rounded curve, could hang there in mid-air,
all the pieces supporting themselves, holding together. The most important piece being the keystone or capstone, that big wedge added last at the very top, which locked everything down.
Our Catholic faith can be understood in those terms. We say “I believe in…” a lot things, but they’re all together, one structure, they stand as a unit. If you pull one out, and not believe, then our whole faith comes tumbling down, there’s nothing standing.
You can’t pick and choose elements of the Catholic faith as if they somehow are independent. They all hang together
Today we celebrate The Eucharist, the most important in the structure, our keystone.
Remove that and the whole thing breaks up.
If Jesus said “This is my Body …” but it isn’t, then what’s left? If you can’t believe that, why believe anything else?
Today Catholics on every continent celebrate Corpus Christi, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, with processions and songs a thousand years old.
We’re celebrating our Lord and God present in the Holy Eucharist,
crying out our belief that it is Jesus Christ, Who makes Himself truly present in the Eucharist,
Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity.
At every Mass, we’re at the table of the Last Supper,
where Christ gives us the Body which he gave up for us on the Cross,
and the Blood which he poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
We believe Jesus when He says: “This is my Body – this is my Blood – do this in memory of me!” We believe He does not lie.
Once Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, and a multitude followed him.
The crowd became hungry, had nothing to eat. Philip asked: “Where can we get something to feed them? Two hundred days wages would not buy enough to feed this crowd.”
A little boy came forward with five loaves and two fishes, causing Andrew to remark:
“What good are these for so many?”
But in the hands of Jesus, there were twelve wicker baskets left over after the 5,000 ate and were satisfied.
John 6: 1-14
Likewise, the priest takes hosts, prays over them, and distributes them to the people. How can this small host nourish my soul? If it were mere bread, you’d be right.
But because Jesus says, “This is My Body,” this bread is more than sufficient, it’s more than enough to satisfy our souls.
Then Jesus made a promise, something he would definitely do:
“Your fathers ate the Manna in the wilderness and they died,” He said. “If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” John 6:51 “I will raise him up on the last day.”
Those first Israelites who came up out of Egypt,
who were privileged to see God’s power in the Ten Plagues,
and walked thru the Red Sea dryshod,
they were miraculously fed with the Manna from Heaven, but they died. The Manna fed them for this life only, in the end they died.
We believe that Our Shepherd is “the living bread come down from heaven,” he’s able to give us his life. He gives us his pledge that Holy Communion plants in our souls the seed of eternal life and the power of the Resurrection. Because of this Living Bread, we will never perish.
We’re Christians – not for this life only, but for the life to come.
Getting an arch to stand firm without the keystone is not just difficult, it’s impossible.
And the Eucharist is our keystone, in which Christ gives us his very being, his Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity, so that we can do what we never would be able to do on our own.
Living the life of holiness we were made for is not just difficult on our own, it is impossible. But with the very substance of Christ taken into our body and soul…
with Jesus giving us Himself, so that we can grow into Him …
it becomes possible.
I forgot one big help in our school project.
Like real stonemasons building a real arch, we began with a frame shaped like the arch we wanted to build, then propped our material against the frame, finally, carefully removing the frame, allowing everything to lock into place and stand on its own.
God also gives us a frame to get us started — the gift of faith.
He keeps supporting us as we build on that faith, one block at a time.
Corpus Christi is our day to approach God’s holy table asking for a stronger faith,
asking for our daily bread …
Bread for the journey, that will give us strength to get us thru life….
the same Bread that will endure with us to life everlasting.