You Can't Call Yourself a Catholic if . . .

the solemnity of corpus christi which has recently been renamed the solemnity of the most holy body and blood of christ is a feast that was instituted by pope urban iv in the year 1264. he did so as a direct response to a dramatic confirmed eucharistic miracle known as the eucharistic miracle of balsana or vieto in which a visiting priest whom we know today only as father peter of prague a priest who was personally struggling with his faith in the truth of christ's real presence in the eucharist was saying mass in the church of saint christina in saint bolsena italy in bossena italy father peter had stopped in bossain on his way back from rome where he had prayed at the tomb of saint peter to try to resolve this spiritual crisis in his life and in his priesthood father peter had barely spoken the words of consecration at that mass when blood started to seep from the consecrated host and trickled down over his hands onto the altar and onto the white corporal the result was that the priest's faith in the real presence was reconfirmed and reinvigorated and he traveled to orvieto to tell pope urban iv what had happened pope urban following an exhaustive investigation declared it to be a valid eucharistic miracle and instituted the feast of corpus christi in response and to this day the blood-stained corporal from 1264 is kept in a golden shrine in the cathedral of orvieto if you go there if you visit orvieto you'll be able to see that for yourself now it's no accident that the church as the easter season concludes celebrates in quick succession a number of feasts that celebrate our covenant with the lord and today we're presented with this concept of our covenantal relationship with god expressed sacramentally in the awesome privilege we have of receiving the very flesh and blood of jesus in the eucharist and i know that the children have been instructed in this in this area as well and i know that they're excited about receiving the body and blood of the lord today for the very first time so the feast of corpus christi then provides us with this important opportunity each year to emphasize this most crucial belief of the church namely the real presence of christ in the sacrament of the holy eucharist it's a belief that's of course predicated and and based on the doctrine of transubstantiation the catechism defines transcen transubstantiation with these words quote the term used to designate the unique change of the eucharistic bread and wine into the body and blood of christ transubstantiation indicates that through the consecration of the bread and the wine there occurs the change of the entire substance of the bread into the substance of the body of christ and of the entire substance of the wine into the substance of the blood of christ even though the appearances or species of bread and wine remain now the reason why it's so important for us today to emphasize this is because so many christian denominations and churches in the aftermath of the protestant reformation and the ensuing centuries have abandoned belief in the real presence of christ of course they also abandoned belief in the necessity for apostolic succession which makes this kind of a moot point because only a priest who is validly ordained in apostolic succession can consecrate the bread and wine to become the body and blood of jesus but perhaps more to the point for us as catholics we face a situation in the church today where poll after poll demonstrates that a significant percentage polls actually indicate a large majority of self-identified catholics do not believe in the real presence of christ in the eucharist one more indication of the great apostasy that we see underway in our time that is a tragedy of the first order and i have a sense that part of the impact of the pandemic that we've been experiencing over the past 15 months is going to be that those catholics who are faithful to the church's teaching on the eucharist and hopefully that includes all of us here today will become even more faithful and more resolute and sadly those who are dismissive of it will become even more dismissive and when we couple that with the casual way that the eucharist is distributed and received in so many churches i fear that the percentage of don't who don't believe will simply continue to increase and so let me lay the groundwork for what i'm about to say by saying this so fundamental is this belief to our faith that one cannot validly say that he or she is truly a catholic if he or she denies christ's real presence in the eucharist it's my job to preach the truth and that my brothers and sisters is the truth and so let's look at it because this is not a matter of subjective opinion it's not a matter of prudential judgment it is a rock solid truth that the church has taught consistently and definitively from the very beginning throughout the gospels jesus teaches the crucial importance of our living in a covenantal relationship with him and he does so through the use of the term that we translate in english as abide that we abide in him may not say in the original greek from which we get the english word remain over and over again the lord emphasizes our need to abide in him and he in us what does that mean why is it so important and how is it accomplished well to begin with listen to the following words of jesus in john chapter 15 verse 4. he says abide in me and i in you as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine neither can you unless you abide in me now i'm not going to go into a lengthy teaching this morning on the vine of the branches i actually did that several weeks ago when the gospel presented us with this this reading from john chapter 15 other than to point out that jesus uses this metaphor of the vine and the branches to explain to us just how vital it is for us to abide in him and to have him abiding in us ten times in seven verses in john chapter 15 the lord uses the word abide do you think it's an important concept to him and do you think it should then be an important concept to us of course the answer is yes but why well if we take the vine and branch's metaphor seriously we conclude that it is literally for us a matter of life and death spiritually speaking the branch draws its very life from the vine now by what means do we derive the life flow that is so necessary for our spiritual life and vitality in other words by what means do we thus abide in jesus let me turn your attention to a specific verse of scripture and to the entire discourse of which that verse is a part john chapter 6 verse 56 and by the way this chapter of john john john chapter 6 was one of the very scripture passages that ultimately convinced me of my personal need to return to the catholic church and to bring this parish along with me so john 6 56 jesus says this he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and i in him now if it's important for us to note that a lot of excuse me it is important for us to note that a lot of people who heard jesus firsthand speak those words were highly offended by what he said in fact the first disciples that the gospels ever record who rejected jesus who left him on the basis of what he taught were one-time disciples who became offended specifically because of this teaching and so we read then in 10 verses later in verse 66 after this many of his disciples drew back and no longer went about with him what jesus is beginning to lay out here is the foundation of what he has given us in the holy eucharist there is a very important progression in what the lord both teaches and does starting at the beginning of john chapter six where he miraculously fed five thousand people using five loaves of bread and two fish he then uses that miracle as a springboard to talk to the disciples about the miraculous manna the heavenly bread which god had provided to the people of israel to sustain them physically during their 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and then he goes right to the heart of the matter in verse 33 he said this for the bread of god is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world they said to him lord give us this bread always jesus said to them i am the bread of life he who comes to me shall not hunger and he who believes in me shall not thirst so the jews then who heard jesus say these words pushed back they react reacted negatively to what he was saying we read this in verse 41 the jews then murmured at him because he said i am the bread which came down from heaven but notice the lord doesn't back down he never back down he doesn't say oh wait wait you misunderstood me here's what i really meant let me explain he never equivocated he never backpedaled he simply spoke the truth and let him accept it who can and here he speaks the truth about who he really is and about what he is about to do to ensure the permanent spiritual feeding and nourishment of his church verse 48 i am the bread of life your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and they died this is the bread which comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die i am the living bread which came down from heaven if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever and the bread which i shall give for the life of the world is my flesh and then this verse 52 the jews then disputed among themselves saying how can this man give us his flesh to eat but again jesus doesn't back down in fact he doubles down and he presses the point even further verse 53 truly truly i say to you unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood you have no life in you he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and i will raise him up at the last day for my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and i in him as the living father sent me and i live because of the father so he who eats me will live because of me this is the bread which came down from heaven not such as the fathers ate and died he who eats this bread will live forever and so from the very beginning the church has believed professed and taught that what jesus jesus was alluding to with these words is what takes place on our altar at every single mass he who took on flesh and blood in order to identify intimately with our humanity allowed his flesh to be broken allowed his blood to be poured out on calvary for our salvation and now he offers that same flesh and blood to us as our spiritual nourishment and sustenance and as a way as the way to abide in him and he and us that's what the truth of christ's real presence in the eucharist is about jesus himself while in the mass representing to the father his sacrifice on calvary gives us his flesh to eat and his blood to drink under the outward forms of bread and wine and in our profession of that truth you and i are standing squarely on the firm ground of the word of god standing on the testimony and practice of the apostles and of the ancient church fathers who followed them standing squarely on 2 000 years of consistent church history and teaching the church that proclaims forthrightly that the holy eucharist is the source and the summit of the christian life brothers and sisters don't ever let anyone tell you differently before jesus ascended to heaven he promised the disciples several things chief among those promises were too first he promised that he would send the holy spirit that's the promise which he fulfilled at pentecost and second that he jesus would be with us until the end of the ages that promise the lord fulfills in a multitude of ways he is present through the indwelling holy spirit within every believer he is present in the sacred scriptures his holy word he is present in the church his body he is present when we turn to him in prayer he is present whenever two or three are gathered together in his name but in a very unique and singular way unlike any other way he is present truly and fully in the sacrament of the holy eucharist the eucharist is the covenantal sign that jesus is still nourishing his people but more than a sign it is a sacrament in that it actually contains and confers what it signifies in other words it is not as some mistakenly hold merely a symbol of jesus feeding his church it is jesus feeding his church and doing so with his own flesh and blood for he says my flesh is food indeed and my blood is drink indeed nor is it as some mistakenly hold merely a memorial meal merely a memorial of the sacrifice of jesus on the cross it is that but owes so much more in that it actually makes present on the altar that which we are memorializing jesus act of sacrificing his body and blood for the life of the world and so with this profound understanding comes another the understanding that receiving the eucharist not only puts us in touch with the infinite reservoir of god's grace it puts us into sacred and intimate contact that's why we call it holy communion intimate contact with the very author of grace there is a mighty transformative life flow available to us in the eucharist that is more powerful than that which is available by any other means grace to make us holy grace to heal us in body soul and spirit grace to strengthen us to withstand the assaults of the world the flesh and the devil grace to speak and live the gospel of light in a dark and hostile world grace to make us more loving and more merciful human beings in short the grace that comes from our abiding in jesus and he abiding in us and so brothers and sisters on this solemnity of the most holy body and blood of christ as we pause to give special emphasis to the importance of the holy eucharist in our lives let's remind ourselves to be ever mindful and ever thankful for this phenomenal gift boys and girls who are receiving your first communion today this is the most precious gift you will ever receive this side of heaven do you know that this is a phenomenal gift that you are about to receive so on this day let's set us that is set aside for this emphasis i encourage you to listen attentively especially attentively to the words of the eucharistic liturgy let them sink deeply into your soul and into your spirit let's commit never to partake of this gift casually or irreverently or unworthily and let's always allow the eucharist to deepen our relationship with the one who tells us he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and i in him in the name of the father and of the son and the holy spirit amen

Channel: Fr. Edward Meeks

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Id: inxcl-takik

Length: 21min 4sec (1264 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 06 2021