As a result of all this, many of the disciples left him

 Homily - August 25^th

In the past couple of weeks we have heard Jesus’ teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. The synagogue is packed because word is spreading about his miraculous multiplication of the loaves and the fishes.

Perhaps they all showed up hoping that he would tell them the secret of how to multiply food. But he tells them, instead, not to work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

And then he scandalizes them, for he tells them that he is the “true bread” which comes from the heaven “and gives life to the world.” That he is “the bread of life,” and that “whoever comes to [him] will never hunger, and whoever believes in [him] will never thirst.”

Now a magician who could tell them how to get more food is one thing, but this guy is telling me that he is the bread we should eat, and he goes further. “The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

In today’s Gospel we hear their reaction. They ran away. They abandoned him and “returned to their former way of life,” complaining that “this saying is hard; who can accept it?”

Down through the centuries, men and women have often grappled with this hard saying, and like the disciples in this morning’s Gospel, many of them ran away.

Just a few decades after the books of the New Testament were written down, Saint Ignatius of Antioch lamented that the Gnostics “do not admit that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, the flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in his graciousness, raised from the dead.”

And even today, our brothers and sisters in the Congregational Church believe that Christ is only “spiritually present, while the Methodists call it a “Holy Mystery, spiritually received,” but with no change to the bread and wine, while Episcopaleans hold varying beliefs, but generally see Holy Communion as a sign or a symbol, but not the real presence of Christ’s body under the form of bread and wine.

But we profess what the Church has taught from her first days, that when Jesus said “This is my Body,” he meant it, and that in the consecrated host we receive the whole Christ, “Body and Blood, soul and divinity.” We believe that he is really there, on the altar, in Holy Communion with us and that he continues to be present in the reserved sacrament in that tabernacle, for our adoration.

And how blessed are we to be called to this Supper of the Lord.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

 Homily - 18 August 2024

As, in these weeks, we contemplate the infinite blessings of the Holy Eucharist, we might spend a few moments with Saint Theresa of Avila, the mystic who, for me at least, speaks most eloquently of what Jesus says in today’s Gospel: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”

Since that day when we made our First Communion and returned to our pew, kneeling down, closing our eyes, and trying to feel Jesus inside of us…to that last day, when I will receive Holy Viaticum and entrust my soul to God…and during all the Communions in between…we want, more than anything else, to live in him and know that he lives in us.

That is real peace. Saint Theresa calls this state of prayer “another heaven” and of it she writes:

Just as the Lord Jesus has a dwelling-place in heaven, so he has a dwelling place in the soul, where none but He may abide and which may be termed another heaven.”

And when, having received Holy Communion, we entrust all our worries and troubles and grand designs to him, she tells us, we can trust in God, knowing only peace from deep within. trusting in God that we are exactly where he wants us to be, ready to pass on the love that has been given to us to those who need it most, content to be a child of God. She writes:

Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

Thus, to have courage for whatever comes in life, simply go to confession and receive God’s mercy, and then go to Communion, and spend time letting him love you. It’s that simple.

It is only then that you can, paraphrasing Saint Teresa, “let nothing disturb you and nothing frighten you, knowing that everything changes but God and that waiting with him in your heart achieves everything.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.

How blessed are we who are called to the Supper of the Lamb.

Viaticum

 Homily - 11 August 2024

Each week, often several times, Father Paul and I get called to the bed of someone who is dying, either at the hospital or at home. And each time, we pray an ancient prayer, known as the Profíscere. It goes like this:

Go forth, Christian soul, from this world
in the name of God the almighty Father,
who created you,
in the name of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God,
who suffered for you,
in the name of the Holy Spirit,
who was poured out upon you,
go forth, faithful Christian.

May you live in peace this day,
may your home be with God,
with Mary, the virgin Mother of God,
with Joseph, and all the angels and saints.

And then, if the person is able, we give them their last Communion, while praying:

May the Lord Jesus Christ protect you
and lead you to eternal life. Amen.

This last Communion is called Viaticum, or the Food for Journey home to the Supper of the Lamb.

Viaticum is intended to give the dying person the strength they need to make the journey home to God, recalling the words of the Lord Jesus, Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood

has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.

For unlike the food brought by the angel to Elijah, this Holy Communion is “the living bread” which is the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and whoever eats it will live forever.

I have always loved the story of the death of the Holy Bishop Saint Ambrose, a little over 1600 years ago. We are told that as Ambrose sensed he was dying, he opened his arms on the bed, in the form of a Cross. The deacon who stood beside his bed on that Holy Saturday Morning tells us that he saw his lips moving, but could not hear what he was saying. 

So, they brought him viaticum, and soon after, he died. “His soul thus refreshed,” the deacon wrote, “he now enjoys the company of Angels.”

May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God rest in peace. Amen.

Manna from Heaven

 Homily - 4 August 2024

The Israelites were particularly good at grumbling; and while they were grateful that God has led them out of slavery in Egypt, now they found themselves in the middle of a desert, with nothing to eat.

So they grumbled. “The whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.” And they were particularly sarcastic in their grumbling: It would have been better if we had died as slaves in Egypt, they screamed. At least we would have died with full bellies. Better than starving to death in this desert!

But the next morning when they woke up, they found little pieces of bread all over the ground. It was spread like dew upon the sand. And they ate their fill.

This bread from heaven was called manna, and it kept them from starving to death.

Kinda like the bread and fishes that Jesus multiplied for the 5,000 hungry men in last week’s Gospel. After they had eaten their fill, predictably, they came looking for more, reminding Jesus about the manna.

The Lord then tells him the difference between the manna, which filled empty stomachs, and the true bread the Father has sent from heaven, the eucharistic bread, the Holy Communion in which people receive not earthly food, but the very Body and Blood of the Lord himself. For he is the Bread of Life, and whoever comes to him will never hunger, and whoever believes in him will never thirst.

This is the second of five Sundays on which we will be reflecting on the source and the summit of our lives: the Eucharist. For Holy Communion is the source of strength in this life and our foremost hope: that whoever eats his Body and drinks his Blood will never really die, but he will raise us up on the last day to live with him in glory forever.

How blessed are we who are called to this Supper of the Lord!