HOMILIES
B Body and Blood of Christ
June 13-14, 2009
Somebody always get things wrong. Just read the local papers. A detail here or there is just wrong enough to change the meaning of telling the story of what happened or accurately expressing what someone actually said.
That can happen in church bulletins, too. One bulletin accidentally published this sentence: “Congregation remains standing until the end of the recession.” (Don’t you think they meant recessional hymn?)
Another bulletin accidentally published: “The ushers will eat the latecomers.” (I’m very sure the typist meant to put an “s” in front of the word “eat” to make that word “seat”, not “eat.”)
People have misunderstood things for a long time.
With this in mind, let me clarify some things about the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ we celebrate this weekend.
During the first century, there was a Roman historian named Pliny the Elder. He got it all wrong when he considered the Christian practice of eating the Body and Blood of Christ. Pliny thought Christians were cannibals ~ that is, people who eat people. And many people through the years haven’t quite gotten it right when it comes to explaining what we mean by sharing the Eucharist.
I was reading an article published on the Center For Liturgy web site sponsored by St. Louis University written by a scholar named John Foley. I am convinced that Father Foley leads us in the right direction when he teaches us that in order to understand the Eucharist, we need to consider what the word sacrifice means.
To sacrifice means to give something up for a good reason.
In baseball, a batter makes a sacrifice when he bunts the ball in a direction so that he will be thrown out at first base but a runner for his team can advance safely from first to second base, from second to third base, or from third base to score a run. He sacrificed an out against himself for the good of his team.
Football players make sacrifices when they lift weights for hours and hours instead of partying all the time or doing nothing. They sacrifice their time and pleasures to get into better condition.
Parents constantly make sacrifices. They give up certain luxuries for themselves so that their children might have better lives.
Okay, that is easy enough to follow. But we need to understand, as Father Foley tells us, that there is a longer history of the word sacrifice. Father Foley tells us:
“Once upon a time, the tribes of the world tried to please whatever gods their tradition believed in by offering sacrifices to them, in order to get a better harvest, to prevent a storm or drought, to avoid starvation, get victory in a battle, and so on.
They had to kill what was being offered. Why?
Slaughtering the best lamb from the herd made it a messenger to the gods because it was no longer part of this world, even though it came from here. It became part of heaven.
Send the best of the earth to heaven so that the best of heaven could come down to earth.”
(That is what the people believed.)
What would people often do? They would eat the flesh of the animal they offered. They would drink its blood.
As time went on, many people realized their efforts were short. They could only come to God if what would happen? If only God would come to them first. So they hoped God would send the best of heaven to us so that we could send the best of earth to heaven.
My friends that is what we celebrate when we celebrate the Eucharist. That is why we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Jesus chose to be sacrificed. His death on the cross was an act of love. His sacrifice is re-presented every time we participate in this ritual. Yes, He is really and truly present. No, Christians are not cannibals as Pliny the Elder mistakenly believed we were. Jesus said that every time we do this in memory of Him, He becomes one with us and we become one with Him. We give God the best we can offer ~ we give Him the Jesus within us who comes to us when we do what He commanded us to do.
Celebrating the Eucharist means we give to God the love of Jesus that becomes a very part of us when we share this Sacrament.
As we celebrate this, the Lord asks us to examine our lives. Where is our sacrifice? We give up our selfish and sinful lives to let Christ take over us, to be Christ for each other. Are we being Christ for one another? If so, we are getting it right.
If we are not being Christ for one another, He feeds us time and again so that we might be strengthened to be more like Him.
We spend an entire lifetime trying to get it right. Or, at least we should……..
Trinity Sunday
June 13-14, 2009
“What are you doing?”
How often parents and teachers ask this question to their children and students. Just what are you doing?
There is a story about the time St. Augustine asked this question to a child who was on a beach. St. Augustine was walking on the beach contemplating the mystery of the Trinity. Then he saw a boy in front of him who had dug a hole in the sand and was going out to the sea again and again and bringing some water to pour into the hole. St. Augustine asked him, “What are you doing?” “I’m going to pour the entire ocean into this hole.” “That is impossible, the whole ocean will not fit in the hole you have made” said St. Augustine. The boy replied, “And you cannot fit the Trinity in your tiny little brain.”
I told this story today because we celebrate Trinity Sunday.
The Church has always believed in the Trinity ~ the truth that there is but One God expressed in Three Divine Person ~ Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.. Yet, it was not until the fourth century that the Church explicitly articulated this teaching.
And as the little boy on the beach told Augustine, there is no way we can totally understand this mystery.
C.S. Lewis gives perhaps a good attempt to illustrate the mystery. He tells us to envision the three dimensions of space: Length, width and height. All coincide in the same place, yet are distinct.
So it is with God. There is only one God. The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God. Yet all three are distinct from one another.
Last Sunday, we celebrated Pentecost. We were reminded that Jesus kept His promise to send the Holy Spirit to continue His work. The Holy Spirit guides the Church. We said that celebrating Pentecost is like celebrating the birth of the Church.
When we celebrate Trinity Sunday, we celebrate a very basic yet very important truth the Church teaches. Remember, one of the very first prayers we learn is the Sign of the Cross, when we bless ourselves by saying the Names of the Three Persons of the Trinity. And we believe that when we are baptized, the Trinity takes up residence within us to give us new life.
Sometimes, we can tend to get bogged down by a lot of analysis of the Trinity. I believe we need to make our celebration of our belief in the Trinity very practical.
Think of God as One who is beyond us.
Think of God as one who is among us.
And think of God as One who is within us
- or –
Perhaps we should simply remember a Father who sought us, a Son who bought us, and a Holy Spirit who taught us.
In other words, God the Father sought us out by creating us.
God the Son (Jesus) bought us from eternal death by giving His life.
And God the Holy Spirit continues to teach us when we open our hearts to Him.
Let me close with the prayer that marks the beginning of each day for John Stott, an 88 year old clergyman. If you want to see a copy of this, it will soon be posted on the parish web site:
Prayer to the Trinity by John Stott:
"‘Good morning, Heavenly Father.
Good morning, Lord Jesus;
Good morning, Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, I worship You as the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Lord Jesus, I worship You, Savior and Lord of the world.
Holy Spirit, I worship You, Sanctifier of the people of God.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.
“‘Heavenly Father, I pray that I may live this day in Your presence and please You more and more. Lord Jesus, I pray that this day I may take up my cross and follow You. Holy Spirit, I pray that this day You will fill me with Yourself and cause Your fruit to ripen in my life: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Holy, blessed, and glorious Trinity, three persons in one God, have mercy upon me. Amen."
Pentecost Sunday
May 30-31, 2009
Is anyone celebrating a birthday today?
Actually, you may not be aware of this, but all of us are celebrating a birthday today. We celebrate the Feast of Pentecost. And in a sense this is a celebration of the birthday of the Church.
Think about the readings we heard. Jesus made a promise to send His Holy Spirit. How would the work of Jesus continue after He ascended into heaven? It would continue because Jesus would keep His promise to send His Holy Spirit.
When we celebrate someone’s birthday, we do two things. We give thanks for the person’s life. And we express our wish that the person might be blessed with more years of blessing us with his presence or her presence.
Very simply, that’s what we celebrate when we say Pentecost is the birthday of the Church.
We thank God for enabling us to know Him through all that the Church does. It teaches us about the love of God. It feeds us with the Word of God. It nourishes our souls with the healing, strength, and forgiveness of God. Yes, how would we come to know God if not for the Church?
And we pray that the Church might be strong and healthy. Its strength and its health should continue to enable us to know God even better as time marches on. Its strength and its health should also enable the world around us to get to know God better.
Many of us could make the claim that not everything is perfect about the Church. That claim would be true. Is everything perfect about us? No.
But it is still a good thing to celebrate the Church’s birthday. Do we refuse to celebrate someone’s birthday just because he or she has certain limitations or imperfections? No. We still give thanks for what that person means to us. And we still pray that that person’s health ~ physical, mental, and spiritual ~ might be made stronger by God as time goes on.
Theresa Coleman wrote a beautiful Pentecost Prayer. As we listen to the words, remember to prayerfully wish a Happy Birthday to the Church.
In doing so, we are thanking God for being among us. For certainly we believe that the Church makes known to us the living presence of God.
And in listening to the words of Theresa Coleman’s Pentecost Prayer, we are praying that the Church might become even healthier in continuing to do the work of Jesus.
Truly, praying for the Church means we are praying for each other. For we are the ones ~ we are the Church ~ chosen by Jesus to make Him well known to each other and well known to the world around us.
Here is Theresa Coleman’s Pentecost Prayer:
Breathe on us God
Prepare us for the perfecting of your Church.Set us on fire for your Word.
Perfect us with a burning desire to do your will.
Let us speak to each person in this world in language they will understand.
Fill us with all truth, in all truth with all peace.
Where your church is corrupt, purify it;
Where it is in error, direct it;
Where your church does not promote your kingdom, reform it.
Where it is right, strengthen it; Where it is in want, provide for it; Where it is divided, unite it;
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.