Corpus Christi Homily

by Father Simon Yong, SJ

Many people find the Eucharist boring; some find it meaningless. Music is not good. Sermon is terribly long and not appropriate. It’s too hot here and it’s cooler in CKK. People in SFX action and not friendly. It’s a short list of reasons why the Eucharist can become a meaningless, boring routine. So, let me tell you a short story of what the Eucharist was for some people. It happened in WWII. We know many Jews died then but what is often not spoken of were the deaths of so many non-Jews, amongst whom were many priests. The Catholic Church was hated by the Nazis because the Church stood up against Nazism. For that many priests had to pay with their lives as they were sent to concentration camps. In the camps the celebration of the Eucharist was banned. Even then some of the priests in a camp conspired to celebrate the Eucharist. They all had to work and so they made sure that the cart they used to carry their goods always break down in front of a bakery. And from there they managed to obtain bread and they smuggled in wine. With that they could celebrate the Eucharist.

The Eucharist meant a lot to them. Why? First, they would be punished with death if caught. Second, they brought so much of themselves into the celebration. Third, the Eucharist was where they encounter Jesus truly present to them in the concrete reality of their lives.

The 3rd reason “Jesus truly present” is why we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi. It actually originated from St Thomas Aquinas himself. He lived in the Golden Age of the Mediaeval period: the High Middle Ages. So it’s not a feast that came out of “pure devotional-ism” but came from a period of the Church blessed by such intellectual giants such as St Thomas Aquinas and St Bonaventure . Thus, it is a feast to remind us what the Body and Blood of Christ truly IS to each one of us, in and outside the celebration of the Eucharist and the crux of the teaching of the Feast: God is truly present to us in forms of bread and wine. People may ask why if God exist he doesn’t show himself. The fact is God showed himself 2000 years ago—the chosen people simply rejected him. But Christians who have accepted him believed that when he left, he continues to show himself and be present with us in a very different way. The point is how do we accept his presence to us and with us?

JND Kelly, a Protestant historian in his book Early Christian Doctrines (p440) said that “the Eucharistic teaching, it should be understood at the beginning, was in general unquestioningly realist, i.e., the consecrated bread and wine were taken to be, and were treated and designated as, the Saviour’s body and blood”. Beginning with St Ignatius of Antioch he cites a range of Eastern and Western Fathers who took Jesus quite literally when He said: “This is my Body”.

And you can’t get anymore real than what you heard in the Gospel. The Jews rejected Jesus he said “eat my flesh that you may live”. And to prove it that he wasn’t misunderstood, Jesus did not run after those disciples who left him and said, “No, no, you misunderstood me”. Instead, he turned to the 12 and asked “You, would you go as well”? So, for a long time, all Christians accept that Jesus meant literally that the Bread is him, and it is life. “As I, who am sent by the living Father, myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me”.

But, somehow in the 16th century, things changed, the Protestants beginning with Zwingli began to have problems with the reality of Jesus’ presence to us. For most Protestants, the Eucharist is a “bare and naked sign” which we give meaning to by our understanding. It is what we think it to be. But that is not the Church’s constant teaching which is why this answer from a Protestant minister to a Catholic priest can only reinforce what we ourselves know and believe from the times of the Apostles. He said: “If I believed what you Catholics believe about the Eucharist, I wouldn’t simply kneel, I would fall flat on my face”.

Many Catholics have lived—and died or fallen flat on their faces—for this sacred reality: the Presence of Christ in forms of bread and wine. The first two reasons I gave for why the Eucharist meant so much to those concentration camp priests apply still to us. First, many of us will never be asked to lay down our lives to defend the Eucharist. This means that we defend the Eucharist another way: through our reverence. How many people really show reverence for the Eucharist we celebrate? Habitually talking, regularly coming late or leaving before final blessing, eating, drinking or chewing gums during entire mass, SMSing when Eucharist is going on, receiving communion with a palm that has 4-D on it or someone’s telephone number written on it and dressing improperly. Some people will get angry especially about the dressing improperly part and accuse me of being judgemental. Usual storylah: “God will judge the person’s heart and not the outside”. And the same goes to people who react when the announcement like “Communion is reserved for practising Catholics only” and say “how can so judgemental and so unfriendly”. The point is this: our reverence is not a subjective reference to what you are feeling before God. The Malays will say “Perasan”…so self-conceited. You think we’re talking about you? In reality we don’t actually care if a person wants to dress up like a tart or a couple fondles each other BUT just don’t do it HERE because HERE we must contend with an objective reality that has taken place: JESUS, OUR LORD AND GOD IS PRESENT HERE AND NOW. Our reverence therefore is rather an objective reference to the fact that the bread is no longer bread. Yes, it smells like bread, tastes like bread but in reality, in substance it is the Body of Christ our Lord and God. That is the fact which calls for our response. And reverence is the only appropriate response we can give. Reverence is the reason why people adore the body and blood during consecration at Eucharist and also why people pray before the tabernacle outside of Eucharist. Reverence is the reason why people laid down their lives for the Eucharist. St Paul himself teaches reverence because he said that “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread and drinks the cup of Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord”.

Brothers and sisters, the first document of Vatican Council was on liturgy and it says that the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life,” When respect or reverence for the Eucharist diminishes, the other sacraments also decline. For RCIA, when a catechumen is baptised, he is confirmed and these two sacraments find the fulfilment in the Eucharist. The sacraments of Penance and Anointing of the Sick exist in order to restore a person to the Eucharistic table. Marriage is sign of the wedding banquet of the Lamb. And of course priesthood takes its meaning from the Eucharist. The drop in vocations can be tied directly to a decreased reverence for the Blessed Sacrament.

This is the year of the Eucharist. I believe the previous Holy Father is asking that we return to the source of our life Jesus in the Eucharist so that we may be nourished for firstly, fighting the good fight, to finish the race we have started and to keep the faith and secondly, so that we may all truly prepare for his coming and he comes to us when we die and he comes to us when He comes again in the final judgement.

All these bring me to the 2nd reason why the Eucharist meant so much for those priests in concentration camps. What have you brought to the Eucharist? Better still, whom did you bring into the Eucharist? You see, you can only bring the Eucharist away with you if you first bring yourself truly into the Eucharist.

This evening, some of our faith will be tested. Procession, monstrance and group of people following a clown carrying a piece of bread. Well, that is the Real Thing—the Body of Christ. But the 2nd Reading also says that we too are members of and we make up the Body of Christ. Therefore, it is appropriate that we want to be more and more authentically or TRULY the Body of Christ. That is why we eat the Body of Christ so that we can become the Body of Christ. And in the procession, it is the Mystical Body of Christ carrying the Real Body of Christ signifying our deepest longing to become more and more really the Body of Christ.

The Catholic Church may seem antiquated and quaint in her practices but really for those who love the Church, there’s a method to the madness called the Catholic Church. So, let us be proud of the immensity of this gift which God has given us: the gift of Himself.

29th May 2005