Corpus Christi - MacKay

-Transcript of a Homily given by Father Stanley MacKay
-Recorded on the 2014 Feast of Corpus Christi in the parish of Saint James

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“Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

[Pause, the congregation responds with 'Amen'.]

Today is the feast of Corpus Christi, the celebration of Christ’s Body and Blood truly present in the Eucharist that we receive in the forms of bread and wine. Of course, we can receive the Eucharist at all Masses throughout the year, but this special celebration is like the Mass of Masses, for it invites us to reflect upon what this really means.
By establishing this feast, Holy Mother Church dares us to take the words of Jesus Christ literally, that He said of the bread, ‘Take it, this is my Body’. Not just here, but in several places in the gospels, we have the words of Jesus, that the bread and wine that we receive is truly His Body and Blood. But can we really believe this?

[Pause]

You know, as a kid who grew up in the nineties, I was always very interested in learning about outer space. And one of the things I always wondered about was whether there might really be alien life out there in the universe. And what it might be like. Now as an adult, I don’t actually believe that there is any extraterrestrial life, at least of any significance, certainly not rational life anyway.

But it occurred to me when I was a kid that if such rational creatures did exist on another planet, their way of thinking and understanding things might be completely different from our own.

[He takes a moment, smiling as some of the sleepier members of the congregation perk up at the mention of aliens. Especially the teenagers, the young men and women who often frequent the local youth group.]

More recently, I was reading a book about the history of food. In one section, the author discusses the history of wheat cultivation, which is now the most widely-planted crop in the world. The author asks us to imagine that a space alien, a kind of galactic biologist, is sent from his planet to observe the earth. Being from a different world, he has no preconceived notions about our planet, about what is important or what about anything means. All he can see is that wheat was everywhere, and that humans directly or indirectly spend a lot of time cultivating it.

I then imagine what would happen when this alien observer returned to his home planet and gave a report to his supervisors. They ask him what is the most dominant species on earth. The alien explorer doesn’t hesitate for a moment, and says, “Wheat”.

And they ask him, “Well what about these humans that we’ve heard so much about?”

And our galactic adventurer replies, “Oh they are quite under control of the wheat. You see, thousands and thousands of years ago, wheat was a type of wild grass that grew only in one small corner of the Middle Eastern part of the planet. It wasn’t a very hardy plant, it grew only puny little stalks and was quite susceptible to the weather. But somehow, it has tricked the human beings into taking quite an interest in it.

“This is strange, because the humans don’t get much enjoyment from eating wheat as it is in its natural state, like they could an apple or a banana. It’s only palatable to them when they spend a lot of time and energy to grind the wheat down into flour. Then carefully mix it with water and yeast. And then use up precious fuel to bake it into spongy cakes that they call ‘bread’.

“Despite these inconveniences, the humans have invested a lot of effort into selectively breeding different strains of wheat that can be grown in all corners of the earth, from arid mountaintops to swampy valleys and all places in between. Huge expanses of land, seemingly controlled by the humans, much larger than the ones that they allot for themselves, are set aside for the growing of this wheat.

“This in turn requires them to undertake the burdensome task of trying to get enough water to these places where the wheat is grown. And to ward off various species of predators, fungi and insects and rodents that would harm the wheat. Then they build complex, expensive machines in order to break up the soil. In past times, they did this work manually, which was quite backbreaking, so that each year, they could plant more and more of the seeds that would grow into the next generation of wheat.

“So you can see the wheat has even tricked the human beings into doing most of the work for its reproduction. Yes, the wheat has thoroughly subjugated the human race.”

“Well,” the supervisor replies, “I certainly hope you didn’t bring any back with you. I don’t want it taking over our planet.”

[He pauses, as the congregation laughs heartily]

Now imagine the parallel to our faith, because the Eucharist begins as ordinary bread, which is made from wheat. And Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born into the Jewish faith, an obscure sect in the Middle East distinguished only by their belief in the one true God. Yet in two thousand years, the Church has grown and spread, much like the wheat that we’ve been talking about, across all cultures and nations, to every part of the globe.

Toppling empires and despots in its wake, inspiring the greatest works of philosophy, art and architecture, inspiring the care of the sick and the poor and the outcast. Inspiring missionaries to travel the world to spread the faith to the remotest tribes and places on earth. And giving us the example of thousands of saints, who have been models of charity and self-sacrifice, sometimes even to the point of martyrdom.

The constant in all of this is the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is the continuing bodily pleasance of Christ in our world. Just as Christ came in the flesh to save us from sin on the cross, so too his grace is made physically present for us in the Eucharist in order that we might be sanctified. To atone for our sins, Christ had to suffer in the flesh. We in turn continually need to feed on that sacrifice in order that we might become one with him.

The Blessed Sacrament exists ultimately because mere words fail. Instead of more ideas of teachings or theories, we have the truth of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins expressed in the Mystery. Take it. This is My Body. This My Body, given for you.

Those words echo in our own lives, in the commitment in the husband or wife to their marriage, of a parent to their child. The sacrifice of a soldier for his country, or even when we just hold the hands with a dying loved one. We can intellectualize it in a million ways, but ultimately, all of these ways of self-giving express one irreducible principle: which is the principle of love itself.

Take it, this is My Body. This is My Body, given for you.

Only the real presence of Christ can communicate the magnitude of Christ’s love for us, whether two thousand years ago on the cross, or today right here, on this altar. That’s why it was so beautiful to be at the ordination mass for seven new priests for the diocese of Arlington, almost two years to the day from my own ordination. And to see those seven men prostrate themselves on the floor as a sign of their own self-giving sacrifice, making their promises of celibacy and obedience for the sake of the people of God. A sacrifice that echoes Christ: take it. This is my body. This is my body, given for you.

Now let us imagine that our space alien friend was observing this Mass. He might say, “It’s worse than I thought. The domination of the humans by the wheat has gone even further. Now they show up at this oddly shaped building, on their day off from working no less! And they sing songs and acknowledge all of their faults. They sit through the priests’ boring, long-winded talks. They kneel humbly on the ground, and all they receive is a piece of wheat this big.”

[He holds out his thumb and forefinger, making a small circle the size of a half-dollar coin. The laughter is at the loudest it's been all morning]

Unfortunately, our galactic observer doesn’t know Christ. He doesn’t have the right perspective on the Eucharist. But neither will we unless we take to heart the words of Jesus. Take it. This is My Body.

That was the love that was shown on the Cross. We receive it every time we receive the Eucharist worthily, and each time we receive that love, we are called by virtue of our baptism to pour it back out to God and to each other.

This is My Body, given for you.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

[The congregation responds with 'Amen' as Father MacKay bows and returns to his seat]

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Time to go sin up and finish the smut.