Homily for Corpus
Christi
June 18, 2017
The High Cost of
the Eucharist
Back in
the Roman Empire a priest wanted to bring Holy Communion to the sick, but the
Christian persecution was raging and he knew he might get killed if he were
caught in public with the Eucharist. One of his altar boys, a young man named
Tarcissius, volunteered to take the Eucharist to the sick himself. No one would
ever suspect someone so young for being a clandestine Christian!
He was
going along the road, clutching the Eucharist in a cloth bag around his neck.
As he passed by a field, he saw some of his classmates who were playing a game.
They invited Tarcissius to join them, but the boy declined, hurrying along.
They began to insist, “Tarcissius, come play with us!” But he continued to
refuse. They started to gather around him, pushing and shoving, curious as to
what was in the cloth bag. But Tarcissius knew he could never allow them to see
the Eucharist, because they were pagans. They began to grow angry with him, and
soon their pushing and shoving became punching and kicking. They imagined that
Tarcissius was keeping some huge secret from them in the bag – perhaps gold or
food – and they were going to get it, one way or another. They threw him to the
ground and started to throw heavy rocks at him. Bleeding, aching, but knowing
he needed to protect the Eucharist, Tarcissius continued to guard the Holy
Sacrament. He was eventually knocked unconscious and died from his injuries. He
is now called St. Tarcissius, a young martyr for the Eucharist.
It
should give us pause to consider what great lengths people will go for the
Eucharist. Under the reign of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England,
there was a law that taxed anyone who attended Mass. One proper gentleman was
first in line every week to pay the tax, and when asked why he didn’t just
convert to become an Anglican, he said, “This is but a small price to pay to
receive the greatest gift of all in my Lord’s Body and Blood.”
How much
would you pay for the privilege of receiving His Body and Blood? How far would
you drive – or walk – to attend Mass? How blessed we are in Stamford, where 13
Catholic Churches offer about 65 different Masses each weekend – all within the
confines of our city!
It
amazes me what lengths people will go to for things of this world. So many
people will drive hundreds of miles to a soccer tournament, getting up early
and paying exorbitant fees, but when the God of the universe is waiting in our
local parish church, not just to be worshipped but to be received…perhaps we do not fully understand or believe what we are
receiving!
I can
confidently declare that there is nothing on this earth worth more than the
Holy Eucharist, because the Eucharist is a foretaste of Heaven. Everything else
on this earth came from dust and will return to dust, but the Eucharist is God
Himself – the Creator, the Savior, the Awesome One. So, in light of this, there
is nothing better we can do with our time than come to Mass – daily, if
possible. Consider this – on your deathbed, which will matter more: all the
times we got to sleep in, all the extra TV shows we watched, or the times we
were able to be in the presence of the Lord in the Eucharist? When we are
dying, we will be consoled best by knowing that we have loved and received the
greatest gift of all – the Holy Eucharist.
In a
sense, one can say that the depth of our faith is directly proportional to the
amount we are willing to sacrifice for it. If we are willing to sacrifice a lot
for Christ, then it is clear that we have great faith in Him. If we suffer only
a little for Christ, then we believe very little. Since the Eucharist is truly
Him, then the Eucharist is worth sacrificing everything for!
Just two
weeks ago you may have read that 29 Coptic Christians were brutally martyred in
Egypt by Muslim terrorists. Coptic Christians are Orthodox Christians – they have
all valid Sacraments, including the Eucharist, though they are under the
Patriarch and not the Pope. But these 29 people – several of whom were children
– paid the ultimate price for their faith in Jesus Christ. They were on their
way to a Divine Liturgy (an Orthodox Mass) when they were killed. Their souls
now rejoice in Heaven, because they chose the Eucharist over their very life.
I pray
that we have the same faith in Jesus Christ’s true presence.
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