Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - August 12, 2018

Homily for August 12, 2018

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Eucharist, Part 1

            Recently a priest was telling me that a man in his parish was criticizing him for elevating the Host too long during Mass. The man said to the priest, “You hold that up like it’s the most important thing in the world!”

            Let that sink in for a moment…the Eucharist literally is the most important thing in the world. But a 2010 study found that only 63% of Catholics actually believe that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. Let’s look at why we believe that the Eucharist is truly Christ’s Body and Blood.

            First, Jesus Himself said that the Eucharist is His Body and Blood. We just heard the powerful words of Jesus in John’s Gospel, Chapter 6: “The bread that I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world.” Let’s put that statement in context. Jesus is talking about Himself as the Bread of Life – could that possibly be symbolic? Yes, of course. Jesus says He is the Vine, He is the Light, He is the Gate…and He is not literally a vine, a light bulb, or a gate. But then Jesus goes on and makes it more explicit – He is not just the Bread, but His Flesh is the Bread that we must consume.

            In Greek, there are two words for eating. Ephago simply means to eat. This could be used symbolically, like when sometimes in English we say that we are “chewing” on an idea. We are not literally putting the idea in our mouth and chomping on it. But the other word is Trogon which means to chew, gnaw, grind with our teeth. It’s a very graphic verb that cannot be used symbolically – it’s a literal word. And this is the word that Jesus uses in John 6 to describe the Eucharist. He says, “You must trogon (chew, gnaw) My Flesh and drink My Blood.”

            Look, too, at the reaction of the Jewish people. They get more and more disgusted until they finally walk away. In two weeks, we will see them turning from the Lord because of the difficulty of this teaching. Jesus does not follow after them – rather, He turns to His Apostles and asks if they will also be leaving. This shows that Jesus is serious about His teaching that the Eucharist is truly His Body and Blood!

            But there are other reasons why we believe that the Eucharist is truly Him and not just a symbol. For example, the Church has always believed it, even from the beginning. I once wondered aloud to one of my professors in seminary, “Why is there nothing about the Eucharist in the Creed?” He replied, “Because no one doubted it in the early Church.” One of the early Church fathers, St. Justin Martyr, wrote around the year 150: “For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but that the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word is the flesh and blood of that Jesus." No one doubted Christ’s Real Presence, really, until Martin Luther in 1517. So since it was always and everywhere believed, we can be confident that it is true.

            Finally, there have been Eucharistic miracles throughout the centuries that help us to believe more strongly. I have seen one in a small town called O’Cebriero in Spain. Around the year 1300, during an intense blizzard, an unbelieving priest didn’t want to celebrate Mass out of laziness and a lack of faith. No one was coming to church in such horrible weather, so he prepared to lock up the church when he spotted one single peasant trudging through the deep snow to Mass. Reluctantly he welcomed the peasant into church, muttering, “You came all this way for a piece of bread?”

            He began to say Mass for this one peasant, and when he reached the consecration, the Eucharist turned into visible flesh and blood, and all of the statues in the church turned and bowed down to the Host on the altar. The priest was completely stunned and resolved to reform his life. The Eucharist-turned-flesh has been preserved, as have the statues which now face the altar and are inclined in a bow. There have been over 120 Eucharistic miracles that science cannot explain, some as recent as 2009.

            So what does all this mean to us? Since the Eucharist is truly the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, it literally is the most valuable thing in the universe. We ought to come to approach Him in this Holy Sacrament every Sunday without fail. What could possibly be more important for your time than the Eucharist? Can a sports game or a vacation compete with receiving the God of the Universe?

            A Protestant was once speaking with a Catholic priest, and the Protestant said, “If I believed what you believe about the Eucharist, I would come into the church on my knees!” He recognized the truth – that the Creator, Redeemer, Savior is present in the Eucharist. To prepare for reception of Holy Communion, then, we must make sure that our bodies are prepared – that we are dressed appropriately, and we receive Him with clean hands. The Church asks us to fast for one hour before receiving Him – not eating or drinking anything but water (and that includes no gum or coffee either!). This is to help us realize that this is not just a snack but is truly a unique and life-giving type of Divine Food.

            But in addition to being physically prepared, we must be spiritually prepared. That means that we must not be conscious of any mortal sin on our soul in order to receive Him worthily. Get to confession frequently to make the Eucharist fruitful. If you plant seeds on rocky ground, it doesn’t grow. If you receive the Eucharist without first removing sin, it bears no fruit and does not help you grow in holiness.

            My friends, I would not give up my life to give people merely bread on Sunday mornings. I would give up my life to change bread into the Body of Christ. Prepare your hearts – we are preparing to receive the True Flesh and Blood of Jesus in a few moments.