The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Sollemnitas Corpus Christi
19 June 2022

This weekend we have the gift of the observance of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, placing our focus on giving thanks to God for that distinct aspect of our Catholic faith received from Christ and the Apostles, by which we profess belief that the Lord desires to remain with us in such a way that he is truly with us in his Real Presence, and that he nourishes us by giving himself to us in the Holy Eucharist.  It is our catholic faith that the bread and wine at a Catholic Mass are transformed in their substance by the power of God so that they become the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of the Lord.

A very important yet simple lesson about Eucharistic practice can be learned by observing the pattern of how a person is prepared to receive Holy Communion the first time.  When we prepare to receive Holy Communion for the first time we must be healed of the sins that separate us from communion with the Lord.  In other words, it is just plain logic that if we are not living a communion with the Lord then we are not able or eligible to receive Holy Communion.  We live in communion with the Lord in three primary, critical ways that the Church has identified since ancient times: (1) by first entering life with him by baptism, (2) by sharing a communion of faith in our acceptance of Catholic doctrine, and (3) by maintaining a communion with the Lord in our moral life by the observance of his commands and the rejection of sin.  This pattern of preparation for Holy Communion is easily seen in about the second grade.  In that momentous year for a young catholic soul, children are prepared for their First Holy Communion.  But before that, they make their first confession so that, being healed of sin, their reception of Holy Communion may carry the full sign value of first living a communion with the Lord by their moral life.  This pattern teaches all of us something that needs to be recalled: the healing of sin and the reception of Holy Communion go together and are intricately tied to one another.  This pattern does not change for us as we age and get further and further away from the day of our First Holy Communion.  We are always called to examine ourselves and so to live in such a way that grave sin does not impede our communion with the Lord and our eligibility to receive Holy Communion.  Thus, the regular practice of confession and our repentance of sin is critical to our reverence for the Lord’s Real Presence and our participation in Holy Communion.

So many examples in history teach us the truth of our faith in the Holy Eucharist and our necessary practice regarding it.  St. Paul, in First Corinthians, remarks that a communicant should examine himself carefully and that to take Holy Communion in an unworthy manner is to profane, not mere bread, but the Body of the Lord.  He goes on to say that to take Holy Communion unworthily is to bring judgment upon oneself (cf. 1 Cor. 11:27-30).  St. Justin, martyred by the Roman Empire in about the year 165, wrote to explain the practice of the early Catholics and reveals the harmony of faith received from St. Paul and still held today.  Namely, St. Justin indicates that reception of Holy Communion is not simply open to all, but requires that one first enter and maintain a communion of sacramental practice, a communion of accepting doctrine, and a communion of one’s moral life.  No one outside of that, he says, may gather with Christians or receive the Eucharist.  Notice how this “closed communion,” as it is often called, applies to non-catholics and also Catholics alike.  It applies equally to anyone whose communion with the Lord is not first established by those important measures: sacramental communion by baptism, communion of doctrine with the teaching of Christ and his Church, and communion of moral life.  St. Cyprian, who died in about the year 258, writes similarly.  In his treatise on the Lord’s Prayer he writes the following, “Now, we who live in Christ and receive his eucharist, the food of salvation, ask for this bread to be given us every day.  Otherwise we may be forced to abstain from this communion because of some serious sin.  In this way we shall be separated from the body of Christ…” (Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings, Thursday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time, vol.3, p.371-372).

Keeping in mind our authentic faith about the Holy Eucharist and what is required to receive it, listen to what St. Thomas Aquinas wrote in a prayer of thanksgiving to be said after Holy Mass.  He wrote, “I pray that this Holy Communion may not be for me an offense to be punished, but a saving plea for forgiveness.”  If the Holy Eucharist were only bread and if it did not require that one first maintain a proper moral life, those would be strange words, right?  How would Holy Communion be an offense to be punished?  Well, if it were taken unworthily, that’s how.  Therefore, the debate about public figures at odds with Church teaching and practice being told they cannot receive Holy Communion is not a mean injustice or some new idea by a bishop.  It is completely consistent with our faith in what the Holy Eucharist actually is.  And the same applies to us.  The ways in which we are not prepared to receive Holy Communion may not be as publicly known as someone like a politician, but notice that we must self-police and take ourselves to confession as part of our preparation to commune with the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.  The pattern of being healed of serious sin always precedes our reception of Holy Communion.

Finally, I want to say some words about how we adopt more traditional practices of worship at this parish.  Surveys over the past decades will show that an alarming number of self-described Catholics do not hold authentic Catholic doctrine on the Holy Eucharist.  They will often erroneously describe the Holy Eucharist as mere bread and wine, or as a symbol of Jesus, or a representation of his body and blood.  I can’t explain to you all the reasons why so many Catholics have lost faith in the Holy Eucharist.  But I do believe that one key reason, often overlooked, is the manner in which the Mass itself is often conducted.  Over the past decades, along with some positive options and possibilities for how the Mass is celebrated, there have also been many abuses that have crept in, along with practices in some places that are novelties not called for by the Church.  The way the Mass is celebrated – how we pray – impacts our faith.  It can impact our faith positively and negatively.  Since authentic faith in the Holy Eucharist has lessened over these more recent decades, it seems to me that recapturing those legitimate options of past decades when faith was stronger is one answer to lacking faith.  Let’s examine this principle with something other than the Mass.  Think of the most important event of your life, maybe your wedding day.  Don’t we expect the bride and groom to be the center of focus?  Would it change things if they were pushed off to the side and rarely acknowledged?  Of course, it would.  Would it be your dream to celebrate your wedding with paper plates for your reception?  Probably not.  Would the reception “feel” differently with paper plates versus real plates?  Would guests dress and behave differently if they knew the event was disposable versus something like a sit-down banquet?  You bet.  Those are simple examples to illustrate that how we observe or celebrate something impacts what we think about it.  The same is true here (in the sanctuary at Holy Mass).  That’s why I think recapturing traditional practices like quiet prayer, solemn worship, folded hands, the posture of the priest and the people facing the Lord together instead of standing on opposite sides of the altar looking at each other, appropriate sacred music, communion patens, and emphasizing reception of Holy Communion on the tongue are all important things for communicating the truth of the faith we gather to proclaim.  These are not trivial or incidental matters.  Casual practice results in casual attitudes which results in casual faith.  All this impacts us.  It is my hope that in our own little corner of the Church we are doing everything we can to communicate in every gesture here that we believe the Lord is truly present, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist.  Formed in proper catholic faith by worship here, may we go out to share with others that the Lord is in our midst and that here we can truly behold the Lamb of God!

Pentecost

Dominica Pentecostes
4 & 5 June 2022

    This weekend we come to the climax and the conclusion of the holy season of Easter with the Solemnity of Pentecost, the fulfillment of Jesus’ resurrection promise to send the Holy Spirit.

   The Holy Spirit is called and known as the “spirit of truth” (cf. Jn. 14:16-17; Jn. 15:26-27; Jn. 16:12-13).  At his arrest and interrogation, the Lord said to Pilate “For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.  Every one who is of the truth hears my voice” (cf. Jn. 18:37).  Pilate famously asked, “What is truth?” (Jn. 18:38).  The Lord promised to send the Holy Spirit of truth, to be another Advocate to his disciples, for his Church, that the Church might be led into all truth and that the Church might be a sure guide of the teachings of the Lord.

   In this fallen world, the Father of lies has a certain dominion.  And thus, there is ample evidence throughout human history that man can reject truth, and has rejected truth, when it conflicts with the desires of his own fallen nature.  Our own time in history just might be among the most noteworthy examples of how man perverts the truth.  The observance of our Catholic life finds a counter-example to the trends of falsehood that surround us.  How the month of June begins is an excellent example.  On June 1, the Church recalls the holy example and martyr’s death of St. Justin.  He was beheaded in the year 165 under the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.  His martyrdom came after he refused to renounce his commitment to Jesus and after he explained to the pagan Roman authorities that true worship is owed and given to God alone, who is Jesus Christ, and that he would not submit to false worship by offering sacrifice to pagan gods.  St. Justin stood firm against the falsehood and the demands from his governing authorities.  He is one of the earliest examples we have of what the life and worship of the Church was like.  On June 3, the Church recalls St. Charles Lwanga and his companions, all martyrs of Uganda.  This group of young men, all in their teens and twenties were martyred much more recently in history, in the year 1886.  They were pages in the royal court where the king had absolute authority.  What was it about their Catholic faith that put them at odds with their king?  Principal among the problems was that their catholic faith and its moral requirements put them at odds with the king’s demands that the page boys participate in his unnatural vice, that the boys minister to him for his pleasure.  I assume you get the reference.  False worship, the worship of civil authority and its demands, and the practice of false and immoral sexuality mark the stories of the martyrs we recall at the head of June.  How providential, then, is the witness of our catholic faith because not a one of us can miss what June has become in our time due to man’s fallen pride.

   I realize that there is a chance that not everyone will like or agree with what I am saying today.  But what I am saying is what the Church teaches.  And it needs to be said in our confused world.  Furthermore, I believe I will be judged at the end of my life by whether I was silent in the face of cultural confusion and lies or whether I was faithful in being a witness to the truth, the truth guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.  Too many a person is silent in the face of lies.  And that tendency isn’t getting us anywhere that is good.  So often we remain silent when we are uncomfortable in polite company.  Too many a Christian is silent in the voting booth by choosing those who convey lies.  We are silent when we go along with the cultural elites and simply let them form our minds, and the minds of our children, in the media and in entertainment.  The Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, has been given by the Risen Lord to confirm us as bold witnesses to the truth.  That is still needed in our time too.  And being such a witness is a gift to the world so that it may come to know the Lord and, turning from falsehood and sin, might have the hope of salvation.  This is a service that the Church is supposed to give to the world.  Let’s not forget, this is a service that you and I are supposed to give to the world.  The Lord did not send us the Holy Spirit in vain!

   The recent news of the Archbishop of San Francisco and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi puts a spotlight on the cultural battle between truth and falsehood and the role of the Church.  Speaker Pelosi makes frequent public comment about her catholic faith.  She also is consistent in a manifest and obstinate support and promotion of abortion.  Those two things do not in any way go together.  After behind-the-scenes conversations between the Archbishop and the Speaker, spanning some very patient ten years, and seeing only that the Speaker has become more vocal in promoting abortion and even seeking to codify abortion in federal law, the Archbishop, as the chief shepherd of her soul in her home diocese and as the highest authority over the sacramental life there, made a twofold public declaration: That the Speaker (1) is not to present herself to receive Holy Communion, and, (2) if she were to present herself, the minister should not admit her to Holy Communion but should refuse that sacrament.  And, he said, this is to remain in place until such time as she publicly repudiates the scandal of her advocacy for abortion and until such time as she repairs the grave matter for her own soul by confessing this sin and receiving absolution.

   Now there are many things that would be worth highlighting in this episode, things that touch upon truth and how our culture adopts lies, and that touch upon our knowledge of the Catholic faith.  However, I will focus only on three lessons.

   First: Is this episode with the Archbishop and the Speaker something to celebrate?  We need to be careful here and to make some distinctions.  It is all too common that a self-professed catholic adopts personal behaviors and public positions in direct odds with the clear doctrine of the Church on a grave matter.  We do not take delight when anyone must incur a punishment for such sin and incongruity.  We can celebrate that, upon completing the demands of charity and justice with his attempts to help guide a soul, an archbishop has taken a courageous and difficult stand.  We can celebrate that the truth of catholic teaching on the dignity of unborn human life has been put in the spotlight.  Since receiving Holy Communion requires in advance that we live a moral life free from grave sin and observe a union with Christ and his Church, we can celebrate that sacrilege has been reduced in that a person in grave public sin has been instructed not to receive Holy Communion in that position.  But, let’s be clear, this is a sad episode and we do not want to appear to take delight in it.  It would have been nice, much nicer indeed, had a catholic politician been on the forefront of defending innocent life in the womb.  Perhaps, by God’s grace, in some way in the future this very action by the Archbishop might lead to that.

Second: This episode is an opportunity to teach on a very serious misunderstanding that exists about catholic moral teaching.  If you have followed this story, you have heard the response that goes something like this: “Well, the Church leaders are inconsistent in this because the Church is against the death penalty too and yet they don’t go after politicians who support that.”  Comments like that reveal a very serious lack of formation about the moral teaching on what is called intrinsic evil.  The notion of intrinsic evil means that certain matters are so disordered within themselves that there is never an application of that matter that will result in an acceptable moral good.  It’s like saying that some matters are so rotten at the very root that they will never produce a good.  Abortion, which is the direct, intentional killing of an innocent unborn human life is an intrinsic evil in our moral teaching.  It is never acceptable.  It is always wrong.  It is a grave evil.  It is, within itself, at the very root, by its very nature, a moral evil.  That is what it means to call something an intrinsic evil.  The death penalty on the other hand, while a serious matter, as all matters involving the dignity of life are serious, has never been classified as an intrinsic evil in our moral tradition.  Thus, it is important to take note here that immediately we have an important difference in the ranking of the life issues of abortion and the death penalty.  They are not issues of equal moral weight.  Yet, that is how they are often treated in common conversation.  This is often the sleight of hand that many a pro-abortion politician will use by questioning why the Church does not come down equally as hard on those who seem to be in favor of the death penalty.  Now why has the death penalty not been described as an intrinsic evil in our moral tradition?  Why, dare I say, it will never be declared that in our moral tradition?  It is because what the Scriptures, the Word of God, reveal to us that the death penalty can have a legitimate and just application and that the State does indeed have the authority to meet out such punishment.  That is why our moral teaching does not classify the death penalty as intrinsically evil and why it is not equal in gravity to abortion.  The death penalty is clearly quite different than abortion in that, at least in theory, the death penalty is punishment of the guilty.  Now, I want to be clear, I am not stating that a catholic should favor the death penalty.  I am in agreement with the Church’s more recent development here that where the State can both protect society by securely imprisoning a dangerous person, and, at the same time, reverencing that person’s human dignity (even that of the criminal), then the State ought to limit itself by not going to the length of the death penalty.  There are legitimate concerns about the application of the death penalty in that there can be wrongful convictions.  But notice, it is a far different thing to note the intrinsic evil of abortion and to note that the State does have the authority to punish with death but ought to put a restriction on itself.  This important distinction is lost in a good amount of public discussion on these topics.

   Third: This episode highlights often-misunderstood practice regarding reception of Holy Communion.  One TV personality in entertainment said that the Archbishop acted in a way that is not his job to tell Pelosi this because, the personality said, communion is the “bread of sinners”.  It is the bread of sinners, by which we mean the food of those many (most of us, right?) who are struggling with smaller or venial sins as we come forward at Mass, but who have confessed our more serious sins.  But supporting and promoting abortion is grave, not venial.  When we are in mortal sin we are actually spiritually dead.  And dead people do not eat.  So, the bread of sinners, yes.  The bread of dead people?  No!

   I have spent a good amount of time in this more topical sermon raising the falsehood and error that surrounds us in our society, often at the urging of government authority and the coercive power of media and entertainment.  We have our own experience, though inverted, of the biblical story of the Tower of Babel.  We use common language and words but they have been emptied of their proper meanings by the progressive agenda.  The falsehood and perversion is evident in words and phrases like “choice,” “reproductive health care,” “love is love,” “pride,” “gender affirming care.”  It is total babble and our culture is being turned into a desert wasteland.  But, we of catholic faith celebrate the Holy Spirit, a river of living water (cf. Jn. 7:37-39), who brings life to dry bones as the Prophet Ezekiel said (cf. Ezek. 37:1-14).  We have been given the Holy Spirit to lead us to all truth and to face situations and topics that the apostles at that first Pentecost never would have imagined.  More than that, we have been given the Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to animate our bold and charitable witness to Christ and to the truth.  At the end of each Holy Mass, having been filled with God’s Word that we listen to here, receiving grace through communal prayer, and having been nourished by the Holy Eucharist (assuming one is in a state of grace), then you are sent out into the world: Go forth, the Mass is ended.  You are sent out not to be silent, but to proclaim the Kingdom of God.  You have not been given a cowardly spirit, but one of courage.  And so filled with these gifts and the very Spirit of God, give the world what it needs: the Holy Spirit of truth!

Ascension

Dominica Post Ascensionem (Extraordinary Form)
29 May 2022

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST.  AMEN.

                In the mystery of the Ascension of the Lord, properly observed this past Thursday, we reflect that it was an integral part of our Blessed Lord’s mission to take up his resurrected Body, our very flesh, into the life of Heaven and to return with our flesh to his rightful place within the life of the Blessed Trinity.  We observe in the Ascension a type of farewell.  But not a farewell that amounts to being abandoned or the Lord being distant.  No, he tells his Church, “I will not leave you orphans” (cf. John 14:18), and “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away” (cf. John 16:7a).  Perhaps it is not immediately obvious how the Ascension is not an abandonment and how it would be better for the Lord’s disciples that he go away.  Those disciples who walked the earth with the Lord certainly seemed downcast and ill at ease, perhaps a revelation of the same limitations of mind that caused them to feel as if an abandonment was taking place.  But the Lord continued with further words adjoined to that last quote that tell us why this farewell and departure was an integral part of the Lord’s saving mission: “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you” (cf. John 16:7).  The Counselor, a name for the Holy Spirit of truth, will not come to the Church in the way the Lord intends unless he goes away.   With this critical lesson in mind, then, we might say that the departure, the farewell, of the Ascension, in part, permits the Lord’s presence to pass into the sacraments, which means his presence, power, and life will be with all disciples in all places in all times, no longer limited to one time in history in ancient Palestine.  And furthermore, this departure and farewell means that the Lord’s presence can come to actually dwell within disciples who prepare themselves to receive His seven-fold gifts.  And thus, the farewell of the Ascension is not an abandonment but the opportunity for a deeper indwelling of God.

                The promised Holy Spirit of truth is often imaged as the mutual self-giving Trinitarian Love exchanged between the Father and the Son.  “God is love” (cf. 1 Jn. 4:8), says St. John.  As we pray in these days for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which we will observe at Pentecost, we recall that the awaited Holy Spirit is the fullness of charity.  And so, the epistle of this Holy Mass charges us in this time of watchful prayer to “have a constant mutual charity among yourselves: for charity covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pt. 4:7-8).  Charity, love, covers a multitude of sins.  We are familiar with that idea.  And it is most often understood as an admonition that benefits each of us in our interactions with one another.  In other words, the idea most immediately understood is that the sins “covered” by charity are those of the person who loves.  Expressed differently, if I have charity, if I love, my many sins are covered and I have the hope of God’s mercy because of my charity.  That is well and good and true.  It is a new testament proverb.  Yet, it is interesting that this new testament admonition, has an Old Testament root in the Book of Proverbs where that Hebrew proverb says, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses” (Proverbs 10:12).  What is interesting to note, is that the Hebrew interpretation of this proverb was different.  I suggest we can borrow that Hebrew interpretation and, thus, have a fuller more amplified understanding of the admonition to have charity.  The Hebrew interpretation of that proverb was directed toward the people being loved.  In other words, whereas we often consider charity covering the sins of the one doing the loving, the Hebrews understood it as the sins of those being loved who were being covered.  Charity goes outward toward those persons being loved and helps to cover their offenses.

                That is the focus I want to suggest today.  That is the direction of charity I want to highlight today for a more amplified understanding of charity.  In our day and age, how different would things be if Christians believed that their charity was going outward to the recipients of their love and covering the faults of those to whom charity is shown?  This is a facet of charity and its power to cover sin that I want to highlight because we all know well how many a person has adopted an inadequate and impotent notion of charity in our time.  In our society we “go along to get along”.  We don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable with truth that demands something of them.  Those ubiquitous “COEXIST” bumper stickers speak the contemporary gospel and many a person is lulled into a slumber of damnation thinking that “being nice” and “keeping the peace” will result in the virtues that please God and will be the mark of charity that cover one’s own sins.  But what if we viewed charity from that more amplified perspective?  If we received the gifts of the Holy Spirit and understood our charity as covering the offenses of others, might we be more willing to speak the truth?  Might we have the perspective to act in a bold and truthful charity believing that it was an act of love and hope that gives others, that is, the recipients of our love, the greater possibility of salvation?  I suggest this understanding, adopting this fuller appreciation of how charity covers a multitude of sins, is an antidote to our time.  Furthemore, it can serve to give us the impetus to do the very thing that Jesus said in the Gospel passage today.  He promised the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, who will give testimony to him.  And the Lord adds, that his disciples should give testimony as well.  If we believe we have been given the Spirit of truth, the very presence of the God Who is Love, then shouldn’t we understand and embrace the call to give testimony to the Lord?  And to do so, in charity, so that others may have the hope of God’s mercy and the offer of salvation?  Yes, the impotent approach to charity by which we keep our mouths shut so that no one feels uncomfortable has had its day and it was never true to begin with.  Lord knows, generations have been misinformed and deformed by that false charity.  We celebrate that recently a bishop of our country has finally spoken up and issued a sanction of a politician who obstinately promotes abortion.  But even that has taken, frankly, far too long.  While it was a just and the right decision, we would be foolish to think that the very episode itself doesn’t tell us how far off we are from receiving the Spirt of truth and living in authentic charity.  Building a society, a culture, a generation of authentic and amplified charity begins here and now with you and with me.  As we pray in preparation for Pentecost, we know the Lord has not abandoned us but sends the Holy Spirit to dwell within us.  May we so desire that others have the hope of salvation that we share the Spirit of truth with them in a charity that is authentic and mutual.

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY GHOST.  AMEN.