Lec
# 119, 20th Sun of OT- Aug 19th, 2012- Fr. Bresowar
So
the other day I was talking to one of my priest friends over in Jackson Mississippi.
And he told me that he was going to send a strong message to his parishioners
in his weekend homily. I wondered what was going on that he felt he needed to
send a strong message. And what that actually meant.
So
he continued. He said to me, imagine that you spent all day long slaving away
in the kitchen to make a meal for a group of people that you knew. Now if I did
this, these people should be very skeptical of what we were about to eat as I
don’t cook very much. But just for pretend, imagine that I spent all day in the
kitchen slaving over a meal, working very hard to make sure that there was
enough food and that the food was actually good.
Many
of you can relate this, especially during the holidays when you spend all day
cooking. And then said imagine that you set all the silverware, the fine china,
you even got out the Emily Post book on Etiquette to make sure all the forks
and knives of different varieties for different courses of the meal were in the
right spot.
Then
imagine that you had to make multiple trips to the supermarket to pick up this
or that to make sure this meal is perfect. No one will complain after they eat
this meal; this is the meal of all meals, because you put in the work to make
sure it was so.
I
mean, in the course of a day, you literally exhausted yourself for the sake of feeding
this group of people.
Then
when it comes time to eat, everybody is ready, all the places have been set,
the food is ready to be served, everyone is gathered around, the blessing is said,
and you are in your place, not resting yet, because you still have to serve the
food. Exhausted you are, and yet, you want to see this gift (because it has now
become a gift from you to this group), you want to see this meal to completion.
And so you tell everyone that you will be serving the food, not as a point of
pride, but as a point of humility. You want serve and not be served.
So
the first person comes up, and you say “here friend, receive this plate of
food, and this drink, I made it for you.” And this person takes this wonderful
plate of food, which may be the best food he or she has ever had, and he or she
looks you in the eye, and says… go to hell, and this person takes the food and
walks away.
Somewhat
shocked but more so confused… You think to yourself, okay, must be joking… kind of a ill-timed
joke but that’s what people do sometimes… and so you move on to the next
person…
Up
comes two more, and you say to them, “Here, take this food, and this drink, I
want you to have it, I made it for you.” And they take it… and stare you up and
down… and then they make a very inappropriate middle-fingered gesture, and they
walk away and go eat. Then comes another person, and another, and then more,
and each person, takes the food, with no gratitude, turns away, and goes and
eats without so much as a thought as to what you have done for them. One person
even spits on you.
By
the end of the line, you are in tears, literally, and no one even seems to
care. You spent many hours slaving
away on this meal, and not one person shows gratitude. Imagine how you would
feel?
You’d
likely be sad, and indignant, probably very frustrated, wondering why no one
cared, and you’d likely feel very much rejected and alone, defeated in your
effort.
The
priest friend said to me… now, imagine how you would feel, and then imagine how
Jesus must feel when so many of his brothers and sisters approach Him to
receive his body and blood which He offers to us in a very painful and bloody
effort only to have us profane it by receiving it without a care in our heart,
indifferent as to what we are receiving, or worst, to profane him by receiving
unworthily in the state of mortal sin.
It
kind of cuts to the core of each of us. Never in our lives, could we imagine
behaving in such a way to Jesus, and yet, how often, even un-intentionally are
we guilty of doing just this?
Approaching
the Eucharist as if this is just another communion. Jesus deserves better from
us.
When
we decide for ourselves what is the law of Love which Christ laid down through
his Church, and when we tell God by our actions and words that we know better
than him on things which he designed like our bodies, on married love, or our sexuality on things like contraception
for example, which is taking his design out of marriage and out of love because
it is closed to life, or when we come to believe that God wasn’t serious when
he made his commands, or that the Church, who is the mystical bride of Christ, and
the keeper of the keys of the kingdom of Heaven, is just wrong and should stay
out of our lives… then it’s as if we are telling Jesus his sacrifice on the
cross and Him and his father’s design just doesn’t mean that much to us.
And
when we do that, we are in danger of losing our souls, it’s that serious.
My
brothers and sisters, in the second reading, Paul pleas for us to try to
understand the will of God and to accept it as perfect and not flawed. He says to
all of us, quit being foolish… but be wise.
This
is the living bread come down from Heaven, whoever eats this bread and drinks this
blood, will never die but will live forever.
Much
more than a meal, this is eternal life. It’s everything and anything that is
worth possessing.
That’s
why the Church, our mother, reminds us that in order to receive Christ in the
Eucharist, we must be reconciled first with our brother and sister. We must be
reconciled with God Himself to approach Him in holy communion.
If
we have been guilty of any mortal sin at all, if we have been guilty of
deciding for ourselves that we know better than God, we need to reconciled by confession, so as to make this
Eucharist an effective means of grace for our souls. It causes even more
scandal to profane it by receiving unworthily.
That’s
why our mother, the Holy Church, does not permit just anyone to approach the
Eucharist. She says, we must believe and profess everything that the Holy
Catholic Church believes and professes, even to the point of death. We must
defend it with our lives, and seek to understand the will of God, to humble
ourselves in front of the Lord of Love, the law of Love, the law of self-giving
love, or else we shouldn’t approach Him at all.
Non-Catholics,
to say they cannot receive the Eucharist is not to be exclusive, it is not to
cause division, rather, it is to encourage those who are outside the Church to
profess and believe that Jesus Christ is present, body and blood, soul and
divinity, and that he offers to us who would be members of his Body, eternal
life if we would just approach him with true belief. It is to encourage them to
be in full communion with his Church. Because the Church is one, not many.
There is only one Church, Christ is the Head, and we are the Body and it is
Catholic by nature.
I
believe if the world could see the glory of the Eucharist with their eyes, then
the entire world would be Catholic. There is no doubt in my mind. Yet many refuse to believe, or
else they have never been taught. Remember in John 6 when they wanted to make
him King after he multiplied the fish and the loaves, and Jesus slipped away.
They wanted an earthly King to feed their earthly hunger for wealth and riches
and to conquer enemies. Jesus knew that they wanted to make Him king but what
they failed to see with their own eyes was that he was already THE king. He was
the King of eternity and what he offered them was his flesh and blood as true
food come down from Heaven, not as a symbol, but as a literal reality. As soon
as he made this known, Judas was disillusioned because he realized Jesus wasn’t going to be an earthly
King he had hoped for and so he begin to fall and we will see a year later at
the institution of the Eucharist, Judas will leave and betray him. Ultimately,
Judas rejected the Eucharist. Whereas many walked away from him when he said
you must eat my flesh and drink blood if you want to have life in you, Peter
and the apostles recognized what Jesus was doing and what he was talking about
and Peter says, Lord, you truly have the words of everlasting life. Where else
are we going to go? There is no other option.
Truthfully,
none of us is truly worthy to receive him, yet he makes worthy when we receive
with humility, with belief, and with love; we honor our God by becoming one
with Him in the holy reception of the Eucharist. Communion with God is Heaven
indeed.
And
there is enough grace in one worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist to save the
world a million times over.
So
let us approach him with awe and wonder, for this is the food of eternity, it
is the spiritual food which gives us life, and if received in the state of
grace, it is the food that will nourish us into paradise.
