Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord (Luke 9:11-17) “Who Am I Meant to Be.”
Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord (Luke 9:11-17) “Who Am I Meant to Be.”
“Behold what you are. Become what you receive.” The words just quoted are those of St. Augustine. St. Augustine was a bishop in the church in the 5th century. When we come forward to receive the Eucharist the extraordinary minister holds up the Eucharist and says, “The Body of Christ.” We respond, “Amen.” I believe. St. Augustine would hold up the Eucharist. He then would challenge the communicant to be transformed. He said, “Become what you receive.”
What is it that we see when we look at the bread at Mass? We see a host that represents bread. Of course, when we look at the host it takes imagination to see bread. Someone once said that it takes almost as much faith to see a host and believe that it is bread as it does to see a host and believe that it is Christ. When I was in seminary, we made the bread we used at Mass. All we used was wheat and water to make the bread, so the bread was licit. The bread really looked like bread when we celebrated Mass. The bad thing was that the bread we made tasted like cardboard.
In a way, the hosts we use at Mass might be a better sign, because they are so fragile. The host is easily broken. The host has little weight. We can’t imagine living on such a tasteless, inconsequential thing. Perhaps the communion host represents our human frailty. We can look at it saying that is who I am. I am a weak material thing. I am like Jesus in his humanity. But I hope to become like Christ in his divinity.
St. Augustine was aware of his own fragility. Augustine struggled with his faith as a young man. He rejected Christ. He didn’t want to believe as his mother Monica believed. He scorned Jesus on two levels. He rejected faith in Jesus on the intellectual level. He studied philosophy as well as other religions. He came up with every argument as to why he should not believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
He also rebuffed Christ on a moral level. He was hedonistic. He was self-centered. He lived with a concubine he would not marry. He had a son out of wedlock. He didn’t believe in a love that lasted forever. But then along came St. Ambrose who had an answer for all the intellectual arguments that Augustine proposed. Augustine converted to Christianity, and he was baptized. He left his immorality behind. His affair ended. He became a priest. He then became a Bishop. He is considered one of the greatest intellects in the history of the church. When he participated in Eucharist, he was symbolically celebrating his own conversion story. As the bread was transformed, he was transformed.
Thomas Merton, a great American spiritual writer and Trappist, had a conversion story like Augustine. He wrote extensively on the Eucharist. He described his own conversion in terms of the true self and the false self. He said each one of us has two personalities. We have the person we selfishly create. We also have the person that God wants us to be. The false self is who we are when we are self-absorbed.
But then we have the true self. The true self is the person God wants us to be. We see us celebrate that person at Mass. For the Eucharist is all selflessness. The Eucharist is about unity. The Eucharist is about charity. In the Eucharist we remember our God who is three persons living in community. We are invited into that divine community. We experience in the Eucharist the oneness the world needs, as we unite with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We experience the love God would like us to have for one another. Divisions are dropped for at least a little while. Isn’t that what we need right now in our polarized society? We need community.
We often hear it said that Catholics need to believe in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. If we did, all the problems of the church would be solved. The statement is so true. But the first step to understanding the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is to understand the love of God, a love that calls us to forgive each other, a love that challenges us to take the plank out of our own eye before we look for the speck in our neighbor’s eye. The true presence that challenges us to love our enemy. The true presence then represents not only a transformation of a piece of bread but symbolizes a change of heart that we are constantly striving to attain.
Reflection Questions:
- What am I striving to become? What is the demeanor I project?
- What are my frailties? What strengths does faith offer me?
Dear Parishioners,
On Friday June 24th we celebrated the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is our parish feast. It strikes me that we have three parishes in our area that are named Sacred Heart. Sometimes it can be a bit confusing. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has been very consoling to people in the Quad Cities.
The devotion to the Sacred Heart has been a point of reflection throughout church history, but its popularity has ebbed and flowed. Usually, it is more popular when the institutional church has been more rigorous. When the leadership of the church has been harsh and judgmental the image of the Sacred Heart has been a reassuring image for the faithful.
Why is that? It is because the devotion to the Sacred Heart is all about reflecting on God’s mercy. When someone is charitable, we usually say they have a big heart. We are more drown to people who let their heart lead them rather than their head.
When our parish was founded, Fr. Culemans obviously wanted our parish to have a big heart. Hopefully, we can reflect the mercy that our parish name represents.
May Our Lady of Peace pray for us.
Fr. Mark
P.S. Thanks to our building and grounds committee. They spent a recent Saturday trimming bushes around our property. They did a great job. Also, the Sacred Heart statue and the statue of the Blessed Virgin have been repainted and restored. Thanks to all involved.