Homily for Easter 5 - Hidden In Plain Sight

 

Homily for Easter 5

May 18, 2025

The Dwelling of God Is the Eucharist

 

            Have you ever been in search of something that’s right there in front of you? Maybe you’ve lost your glasses only to find them on your head. Or you search everywhere for your keys, when they’re hidden in plain sight, right there on the dining room table. Sometimes our search for God can be like that – we’re looking everywhere for Him, when He’s right where He told us He’d be.

            John has a vision of Heaven in the Second Reading, from the Book of Revelation: “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will always be with them as their God.” God has promised that He would always be with us – but where? Do you ever feel like God is distant? Well, perhaps He’s hidden in plain sight – right where He told us He’d be – here in the Eucharist and at Mass.

            But, I can hear many of you saying, “But I don’t feel God here!” Sometimes it feels like empty ritual, just a habit we do every week, and not like the living glory of God come down among us. It is true that in Heaven we will have vision, while here we walk by faith – but the same God Who dwells forever in Heaven also dwells, hidden, in the Eucharist. How can we experience His presence? I’d like to make five super-practical suggestions of how to actually experience God’s presence at Mass and in the Eucharist.

            First, sing! The Bible speaks about singing praise to God over 400 times, with 50 direct commands to sing to Him. St. Paul tells us: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord!” St. Augustine pointed out, “Singing is praying twice!” I look out on a Sunday morning and see a lot of closed mouths. Do we not want to praise Him? Don’t worry about talent or ability – all that matters is the love in our heart, expressed by our lips. As a friend of mine said, “If God gave you a good voice, praise Him with it. If not, sing loud and get even!”

            St. Augustine said that singing to the Lord is evidence that we’ve been changed by Him. Listen to this quote – long but rich: “We are urged to sing a new song to the Lord, as new men who have learned a new song. A song is a thing of joy; more profoundly, it is a thing of love. Anyone, therefore, who has learned to love the new life [in Christ] has learned to sing a new song, and the new song reminds us of our new life. The new man, the new song, the new covenant, all belong to the one kingdom of God, and so the new man will sing a new song and will belong to the new covenant.” A man in love will sing to his beloved – our hearts will learn to love God if we sing to Him.

            Secondly, engage your body! Our souls often follow where our body leads – so if we want our soul to believe more deeply, our bodies should act like we believe. This means dressing up for Mass in our “Sunday best”, keeping the Eucharistic Fast (which means that we do not eat or drink anything but water for an hour leading up to Mass, to show our bodies that what we receive is not ordinary bread but truly the Flesh and Blood of Christ). It is easier to believe this if our bodies kneel and receive on the tongue, too – making clear to our soul that this is Jesus, not regular food. And finally, we can worship more easily if you use the restroom at home before you come here – you know who you are!

            Our bodily actions show what we inwardly believe. There was once a holy nobleman in Austria who was hunting on a drizzly, gray, muddy day. He saw a priest bringing the Blessed Sacrament to a sick person, and the nobleman immediately got off his horse and insisted that the priest take it, so that he wouldn’t get muddy when he was carrying Jesus. The priest did so, and an hour later returned, and tried to give the horse back to the nobleman. But, devout man he was, the man refused, saying, “I am not worthy to ride upon a horse that has carried my Lord.” This nobleman was willing to get muddy for the Lord – what are you willing to do for Him?

            A third help is to use our imagination during Mass! Not to picture yourself in Cancun, but to picture in your mind what is truly going on here. The Mass makes present the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross – put yourself there at Calvary, in your mind’s eye offer Christ back to the Father (as an aside, this is why we installed a crucifix here – so we could see, visibly, what happens at every Mass). St. John Chrysostom said that tens of thousands of angels, saints, and our Blessed Mother are present at every Mass – use your imagination to see it! We know that Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist – imagine His face or His Cross when you see Him elevated on the altar. I often imagine rays of grace radiating from the Eucharistic Host when I hold Him aloft, the rays penetrating the souls of those who are attending the Mass.

            I know we want to see with our eyes, but God gave us our imagination so we don’t have to physically see to believe. Back in the 1100s in England, there was a Eucharistic miracle in a small town in England where the Eucharist began to bleed at Mass. The Eucharist and the bloody altar cloth were kept as relics and venerated there. One day the holy priest St. Hugh happened to be passing through that town, and some townspeople invited him to see the miracle. He refused to see the miracle, and when his traveling companions expressed a desire to see them, he sharply rebuked them, saying, “Miracles are only for those who don’t believe. If you believe, let faith be sufficient – after all, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who have not seen and still believe!”

            Fourth, bring much! Bring the mess of your life, and spiritually lay it upon the altar. Don’t try to forget the life outside these church walls – bring it to Him here. All our worries, concerns, sins, brokenness – pray about it. Bring it to Him. Lay it before Him. And tell Him you trust Him.

            St. Gregory the Great tells a beautiful story about a man who was a soldier and was captured in battle. He was imprisoned and his chains caused him a lot of physical pain. The soldier’s wife, fearing him dead, prayed for him at every Mass. After a long time, the man was released, against everyone’s expectation. He returned home, to the delight of his wife, and explained that every week at a certain time, his chains would simply fall from his wrists, and his captors had to reattach them. After years of this, his captors thought this was a bad omen, so they released the man. Upon investigation, the woman realized that the chains would fall from his wrists exactly when she would be praying for him at Mass! St. Gregory goes on to say that, if the Mass can break literal chains, does it not have the power to destroy sin, addictions, resentments, and all the spiritual wounds and burdens that we carry into the Church this morning?

            Finally, expect much from God here! Some of us come here with a shot glass, expecting that much grace. Others come with a bucket. Others come with a bathtub. How much grace are you expecting? Do you really think that the Scripture readings actually have something to say to you? Do actually believe that you are receiving God here? Come hungry, and you will leave filled. Expect much from God, and He will be able to superabundantly pour Himself into you. As long as your glass or bucket or bathtub is cleaned (by living in the state of grace and Confessing regularly), He’ll meet you here if you expect Him to.

            At the end of Jesus’ life, there was a big dispute between the angels and human beings. The angels wanted Jesus to return to Heaven, while men wanted Him to remain on earth. So Christ found the best way to satisfy both – He returned physically to Heaven, and remains sacramentally on earth. God is never distant – He is hidden in plain sight, in the Eucharist.