Body and Blood of Christ (B); June 3, 2018

Ex 24:3-8   Ps 116   Hb 9:11-15   Mk 14:12-16,22

Deacon Jim McFadden

As kids growing up we had ways of solidifying our bonds of friendship. We had secret handshakes, coded language, and the one we learned from Western movies: we’d make a small cut on our thumbs and then mingle the blood with our buddies to signify that we had a special bond as “blood brothers.”   That bond didn’t survive the passage of time; indeed, it didn’t even endure beyond grammar school. Today’s readings bring to mind this symbol of blood bonds, but in this case the bond is enduring; indeed, it’s eternal.

In the first reading, Moses sprinkles the blood of a sacrificed animal on the altar and the people. Using our imagination, it’s a rather strange, somewhat gruesome ritual. If you think we duck a bit when we get sprinkled with baptismal water during the Easter season, think about the reaction if Father was using ox blood! And, yet it was a sacred ritual, one they entered into willingly because they understood the significance of sharing blood, which was a symbol of life. Since God is the source of life, the ritual connected them with God and with each other.

In the same way, Jesus sharing of his body and shedding his blood, reaffirms God’s unbreakable bond with us and our fellowship with each other. When Jesus took bread, broke it, and gave it to his disciples to eat, he did this within the context of Passover; but, just as the Old Testament foreshadows the New, Jesus was going to infuse this ritual with extraordinary meaning that will last for eternity. What is different about the Last Supper is that by his own words, this broken bread is now his own body that will soon become broken for us. The cup contained his blood, the life-blood that he would pour out in unconditioned fidelity on the Cross for our salvation. When we share the bread and cup, we are now bound to him and to one another in a way that we could never imagine. This bond is meant to be eternal!

Therefore, it is not enough to state that Jesus is really Present in the Eucharist.   We must give thanks that Jesus is giving His life to us and that we’re invited to partake in His very Being: His soul and divinity enters into our body, which is meant to be transformative. When we take and eat the consecrated Bread, we are associated into the life of Jesus, which is one of radical self-gifting love. In so doing, we commit ourselves to be in communion with our brothers and sisters, to transform our ordinary lives into a gift for others, especially to the poorest, which we hear in Matthew 25.

Brothers and sisters, the Eucharist is the basis of our solidarity; indeed, that’s what it means to be Catholic—to be an integral member of a living organism in which we are connected to others in Faith. When we receive Communion, we are being invited by Jesus to convert ourselves completely to Him—to give Him our absolute allegiance. That promise of surrender means we embrace service to others in very concrete, steadfast, and regular ways. We put Eucharistic love into action and we forgive one another no matter how grievous the offense may be.

Our Eucharist celebration challenges us to become with our life, imitators of the One Whom we celebrate in the Liturgy. The Christ Who comes to us in the consecrated bread and wine, is the same One who comes to us in our ordinary experience. He is the poor person who holds out his hand, in the suffering of one who begs for our help. He is the convict who asks us to walk with them and treat him as a human being. He is the brother or sister who asks for availability and awaits us to share our gifts and talents with them. He is the unborn child who depends upon our protection and the defense of her life. He is the young person who knows nothing about Jesus, who does not have faith, but yearns for communion and fellowship. Through the Incarnation, Jesus is present in every human being, even the smallest and defenseless. As Jesus said to Peter, “If you love me, tend and feed my sheep.”

Brothers and sisters, how great is our Eucharistic celebration: it is the source of love for the life of Holy Mother the Church; it is the school where we learn how to love, to be self-gifting; it is the basis of our solidarity.   That’s why those who are nourished by the Bread of Christ cannot be indifferent to those who do not have daily bread.

People of God at St. John the Baptist, let me ask you: if we don’t minister to others, are we fully participating in the Eucharist? As Evelyn Underwood, the great early 20^th century spiritual writer put it, “As Christ gives himself to feed us so we have to incarnate something of his all-loving, all-sacrificing soul. If we do not, then we have not really received him. That’s the Plain truth.” Her insight: there is no real presence that does not demand real commitment.

Church, on the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, we share Life at the table, which brings with it responsibilities and duties towards God and each other.   We remember that we are truly “blood brothers and sisters” at a very profound level of being. We remember that we are connected with God and with each other and we are called to continually feed one another. We become Bread of Life to the world! Amen.