Feast of Corpus Christi (9:11ff) “Becoming What We Contemplate”
Most of us live active lives. We are moving from one task to the next to the next. For that reason, we can lose a sense of what the meaning of our life is. I recall my first year in seminary. I had a spiritual director named Fr. Gregory. He was a Benedictine priest. We were talking one day about the ministry. He said something that I have never forgotten. He said, “Never let your life become a ceaseless round of unreflected activity.”
St. Ignatius Loyola tried to guard against this in his spirituality. For that reason, he encouraged his Jesuit brethren to engage in a Daily Examen. At least once a day Jesuits stop to reflect on what they are doing.
How do we do that? When praying we replay our day in our imagination. We think of the different encounters we have with others. We recall different tasks we have engaged in. We pay attention to what we were feeling as we met others. How did we feel? Were we at peace with what we were doing? Were we bored? Were we frustrated as we went about our daily duties?
We then try to determine what Jesus would say about the events of our day. We can pay attention to one of two voices. We have the voice that is the negative voice. Such a voice tells us that what we are doing isn’t worthwhile. We also have the other voice which is the voice of the Holy Spirit. The voice of the Spirit is usually reassuring, uplifting, at times challenging. The voice of the Spirit is constantly moving us to a place of transformation.
Another philosophical saying that we should remember on this Feast of Corpus Christi is this: “We are to become like the things we contemplate.” What are we contemplating today? We are contemplating the Holy Eucharist. We contemplate Jesus. We want to become more like Jesus every day.
How often do we come to Mass in our life? If we are a devout Catholic, we might celebrate the Eucharist each Sunday. We might even come to Mass every day. The thing we must guard against is that Mass becomes a matter of routine. Do we prepare for Mass? A good practice is to read over the scriptures before we ever arrive. Do we take time after Mass to pray about what has happened? Some families might go home after Mass to discuss the homily, for example.
The church emphasizes contemplating the Eucharist through special devotions. Eucharistic adoration can take place after Mass. The consecrated bread is put in a monstrance. The congregation stays after Mass for a period of silence. The prayer ends with benediction. The ordained minister blesses us with the Eucharistic elements.
Another way of contemplating the Eucharist is by engaging in a Eucharistic procession. The minister carries the monstrance containing the Eucharist through the streets with the congregation following. As Catholics we pray with our bodies. We stand, sit, kneel and walk. When we walk with the Eucharist, we are saying some things to the world about our faith. One thing we are saying is that as Catholics we need to carry our faith out into the world. Our faith practice doesn’t stop at the church door. Another thing we are saying is that we will go where Jesus leads. We trust in him. Yes, we want to become what we contemplate.
We also reflect today on other activities. During the last few years here at our parish we have had fund drives, we have made repairs, we have remodeled. We can say this was a lot of practical activity. But what was it for? The best explanation is that we have engaged in all this activity out of love for God. We have made a statement of faith. We have tried to build up the Kingdom of Jesus right here, right now.
Tomorrow/Today the congregation will leave the last Mass in procession. We will carry the Blessed Sacrament over to a temporary altar by Culemans Hall where we will have benediction. As Jesus is held up before us at benediction, let us make a sincere prayer that Sacred Heart Parish will become what we contemplate: the living, breathing Body of Christ.