4^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (A); January 29, 2023

Zep 2:3; 3:12-13.  Ps 146.  1 Cor 1:26-31.  Mt 5:1-12

Deacon Jim McFadden

            In Charles Dickens’ famous tale A Christmas Carol, the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge is visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his partner, Jacob Marley, and is then shown three ghostly scenes from the past, present, and future.  This experience brings about Scrooge’s transformation from an utterly stingy person who has no compassion for his fellow human beings into a man who awakens on Christmas morning full of hope that the scenes he has witnessed can yet be changed.  His act of benevolence to the family of his employee Bob Cratchit and his own reconnection with his nephew’s family fill him with joy and good will toward all.  Ebenezer Scrooge is now a happy man.

            How do we find fulfillment and joy when the effects of sin and strife have marred our past and when hunger, poverty, global warming impact our present, and when ongoing wars such as in Ukraine point to a problematic future?  In today’s Gospel reading Jesus sums up in eight statements a description of what a happy person looks like.  Jesus is pointing to a way of living that can bring true happiness and the blessings are right here before us.  Since God is love (cf. 1 Jn 3) and Jesus and his Father are unconditionally loving, then the Beatitudes define the interior attitudes of love, which must characterize the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The question is: how can we enter into  this dynamic which is the core of Trinitarian love?

            We’re doing it right now at Holy Mass.  As Vatican II has taught us, the Mass is the “fount and summit of our worship” (cf. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 10).   When we enter into this celebration that Jesus instituted at the Last Supper, we are entering into unconditional love.  How so?  It’s important that we understand his Eucharistic words.  When Jesus said, “This is my body which is given for you” (Lk 22:19), the Greek word for ‘body’ is soma instead of sarx.  The latter means “flesh,” literally referring to a corporal body which Jesus died  on the Cross.  Soma, on the other hand, is much broader and refers to the whole person (mind, soul, will as well as his corporal body).  So, soma is roughly translated to mean a “person” or “self.”  In other words, Jesus is giving us his whole Person, his whole Self, which is remarkably close to Jesus’ definition of love, which is unconditional self-giving.  We hear, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).  Thus, in the Eucharist, Jesus is not only giving us His whole self (His whole person); He is also giving us His love, indeed, his unconditional love, that is a love that cannot be exceeded.

            And, when we bring our gifts of bread and wine to the altar, we are bringing ourselves symbolized by the elements: everything we are, everything we have is placed on the altar as total gift.  We hold nothing back.  Then our presiding priest calls forth the Holy Spirit at the epiclesis Who hovers over the gifts like “the morning dew.”  Then the Holy Spirit through the agency of the priest who is standing in for Jesus as an alter Christus, transforms our gifts of bread and wine (ourselves) into the Body and Blood of Christ.

            Brothers and sisters, the Catholic Church, since the time of Jesus, has made the ritual celebration of the Eucharist, the center, not only of her worship, but of her spiritual life—precisely as Jesus instructed: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19).  Up and down the centuries, Catholics have experienced the fulfillment of Jesus’ promises through the reception of his body and blood.  In so doing, we receive  Jesus’ whole self, his soul and divinity.  How can this not make us happy?  When we receive Holy Communion, we have the opportunity to experience a deep peace beyond ourselves, a healing of our inner being, knowing that while we are unworthy to receive him, his Word brings forgiveness and healing.  Overtime we can experience a gradual transformation that draws us into the heart of Christ and connects us with all of our brothers and sisters in the mystical Body of Christ, the Church. For these reasons we should strive to receive the Holy Eucharist as often as possible. For some, it may mean daily Mass, and for others it might mean Sunday Mass.  Whatever we can do, God will bless us with His presence and grace, and, in the long run, it will be transformative, leading us to His loving eternity. 

            People of God, we have all that we need to be happy, right here, right now.  The Eucharist is the key to Trinitarian love; it is the Way to Happiness. Amen.