Corpus Christi 2023

Last weekend I was standing in front of the Church as I usually do after Mass. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a woman who seemed to be hurrying back towards the Church. She is a faithful parishioner who usually sits in the back of the church and is one of the first people to greet me as she leaves the Church. I thought she may have forgotten her glasses or jacket in the pew. As she came closer, I could tell she had something she wanted to talk to me about.

She approached me and said, “Father, have you ever been to the Brewster Baptist Church?” I told her I had heard their radio commercials that always had a good message, but I had never been there. She said, “I went to a concert there last evening, and you know, Father, they don’t have an altar in their church!” I couldn’t help but smile. I was happy to hear that she was so observant and was shocked to realize the Church had no altar.

I explained to her that in the Baptist Church, they don’t believe the Eucharist is a Sacrament. For them, the Eucharist isn’t the Real Presence of Jesus Christ, but only a symbol. While Catholics believe in Christ’s presence in both Word and Sacrament, Baptists believe Christ is present only in the Word. For that reason, they only celebrate a Communion Service, maybe once every month or even two months. When they have a communion service, they bring out a table to prepare Communion on, but an altar isn’t a regular feature in their sanctuary.

The architecture and furnishings of a church tell us a great deal about what the people who worship there believe. When you come into a Catholic Church, the first thing you usually notice is the Altar. It is usually large and typically made of stone or, in our case, wood. It is a permanent feature because it is an altar of sacrifice, not just a portable table. Behind the Altar or just off to the side is the Tabernacle, where the Eucharist lies in repose between Masses. Next to the Tabernacle is the Sanctuary Lamp, a candle that burns when the Eucharistic hosts are in the Tabernacle to remind us that Jesus Christ is present here in Church. The Ambo or pulpit is also prominently placed in the sanctuary, it is where we read the Scriptures at Mass, and the priest or deacon can preach. All this furniture and its placement in the sanctuary show that we Catholics are people of both Word and Sacrament and that the Altar is so important because the Eucharist is the sum and summit of our faith.  

Catholics faithfully believe what Jesus said in today’s Gospel passage from John. There we heard Jesus tell His disciples, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

During His public ministry, Jesus attracted great crowds. We hear in the gospels that, at times, thousands and thousands of people came to listen to Jesus preach and teach. One time they crowded so close to hear him they were pushing Jesus into the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus had to jump into Peter’s boat and preach from it while it floated offshore. Other times, friends of a sick man had to go up on the rooftop and lower him down to Jesus because they couldn’t get through all the people gathered around to hear Jesus.

Only twice was Jesus left on His own by the crowds. Once was at the crucifixion, and the other was after today’s passage from John’s gospel. If we were to read just a few verses further on, we would hear that many of Jesus’ disciples abandoned Him because of what He said about His Real Presence in the Eucharist.

Many of Jesus’ listeners found His statements about the Eucharist in today’s gospel offensive. For them, the thought of eating flesh and drinking blood was abhorrent. As Jews faithful to the Law of Moses, it was wrong to eat animal flesh with the blood still in it, never mind the thought of eating a person’s flesh and blood.

When they object, Jesus doesn’t say, “Oh, I didn’t mean for you to take me literally. I only meant what I said symbolically.” Jesus often spoke in symbolic language. He told stories and parables that were metaphors and allegorical. In this case, though, Jesus doubles down and says His disciples must take His statements literally. He even uses a word that would translate to “gnaw” on His flesh. We use the word “gnaw” to mean to chew ravenously, almost with the appetite of a wild animal. That is the kind of spirit with which we need to believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

According to the scriptures, belief in the Real Presence was a foundational tenet of the Christian faith, and Christians believed it until the Protestant reformers of the Sixteenth Century. Martin Luther held that Jesus was only present in the Eucharist after it was consumed by the communicant and then only if the recipient of the host was worthy to receive Communion. John Calvin and many other reformers refused to believe even that about the Eucharist. They thought the Eucharist was only a symbol of Christ’s presence, which is what most of their Protestant spiritual descendants, like the Baptists, believe today.

That doesn’t mean that before the Protestant Reformation, no Christian questioned the doctrine of the Real Presence. Way back in the 9th Century, a priest in Italy was struggling in his mind with the belief in Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. One day while celebrating Mass, blood began to flow from the Eucharist after he consecrated it. That is the first recorded Eucharistic Miracle.

That was followed up in the 13th Century when St. Julianna experienced a vision where she felt God was calling for a special feast to honor Christ’s Body and Blood. She told the story of her vision to her local bishop, and he instituted a feast day in honor of Christ’s Body and Blood in his diocese. About twenty years later, that bishop became Pope. After another doubting priest, Fr. Pietro de Praga, experienced a Eucharist miracle, that Pope instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi for the entire Church.

I’m not a big miracle person. I believe they happen, but I feel they are not crucial for my faith. The Church usually is pretty skeptical about them too. While there have been thousands of alleged Eucharistic Miracles, the Church has authenticated only 153- or an average of less than eight- every century. It has approved four already this century. The four miracles have happened at scattered locations around the world. Using scientific analysis, Church officials have proved that the blood from several hosts has human blood characteristics.

The Church is investigating an alleged Eucharistic Miracle very close to home. Earlier this spring at St. Thomas Church in Thomaston, CT, a Eucharistic Minister ran short of hosts. When they went to distribute the last ones, they discovered they miraculously had more in the ciborium. We will have to see whether the investigation proves a miracle, but it almost seems God is trying to get our attention to renew our faith in the Eucharist.

God’s message comes none too soon. A couple of years ago, the Pew Center for the Study of Religion in America surveyed Catholics and found only about one-third of American Catholics say they believe in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. According to the survey, a majority of Catholics hold beliefs akin to Protestant beliefs that the Eucharist is only a symbol. Those findings have been challenged because of the question’s wording, but regardless, they point to a serious problem with the Eucharistic beliefs of most Catholics. 

If most Catholics believed in the Real Presence, would only about a quarter of Catholics attend Mass on any given Sunday? Would we skip Mass when on vacation or when an important sporting event is on television? Would we just shrug our shoulders and sigh when our family and friends stop attending Mass? Wouldn’t we believe bringing our teenage children to Mass is well worth the fight, even if it is kicking and screaming?

In response to this crisis of lack of belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the bishops of our country began a three-year Eucharistic Revival. They say they can’t demand revival. It can come about only by offering invitation, prayer, and inviting response. Last year they concentrated on diocesan programs. This year we are to focus on the parish.

The bishops propose four ways to help bring about revival. I’ll preach on them over the next few months, but today I want to concentrate on the first one, reinvigorating worship. It is essential for the bishops to put the celebration of Mass at the top of their list because Mass is where we learn so much about our faith. The first phrase in our parish Vision Statement in the bulletin each week reads, “Through a culture of excellence in worship.” As a parish, we recognize that making the weekend Masses a spiritually uplifting experience is central to our purpose as a parish.

While much of that responsibility falls on me as pastor and Cheryl Duerr, our Music Director, it isn’t only our responsibility. One of the Second Vatican Council’s central teachings was that every parishioner is responsible for full and conscious participation in the Eucharist. All of us have a role. Out of the council came the functions of lay Lectors and Eucharistic Ministers. But not only the clergy and a few parishioners with liturgical ministries have a role in improving the liturgy. Everyone must do their part, even if they sit in the pews.

Sadly, I recently received an email from a man who says he comes to Mass here at Holy Redeemer. I don’t say he is a parishioner because he isn’t registered here, nor do we have any record of him ever contributing his time, talent, or treasure to the parish, just his criticism. He was angry with me because he said I was taking too much time greeting people at the beginning of Mass, and he didn’t like me doing the Sprinkling Rite at the beginning of Mass during the Easter Season. They were making too long. I guess spending even an hour to worship and thank God was too long.

You need to do everything you can to help make attending Mass a great experience not only for yourself but especially people who might be seekers coming into our church looking to connect with God. You need to help make our worship attractive to Catholics who have fallen away from the faith. Help them leave here at the end of our weekend Mass feeling as if it was time well spent. Maybe even the best experience of their week because they now feel challenged to live grace-filled lives.

As Jesus told the Apostles at the end of His farewell discourse at the Last Supper, “I have much more to say about the Eucharist and making Mass here at Holy Redeemer a spiritually uplifting experience, but you can not bear it now.” Just wait until after our renovation when we will have padded pews. As we begin this second year of Eucharistic Revival, accept the invitation to grow deeper in your belief in Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist, pray other Catholics will do so too, and respond by helping other Catholics come to a faithful response too.