Pentecost - Speaking in the Spirit
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The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Over 2000 years of faith, layers of meaning build up on the relatively simple beginnings of Christianity. Some days, this strikes me as just right. It is like the polyphony of Giovanni Palestrina. Listening to the Missa Papae Marcelli, it gives the sensation peering into the depths of the angels. Other days, I look for a more stripped-down version of Christianity. Think of Bob Dylan – Unplugged. For Corpus Christi Sunday, the temptation is to go for polyphony. This, however, is the unplugged version.
Karl Rahner in his scholarship on Christian faith, proposed a reduced creed from which all other Christian tenants flow. “All Christians must believe in the Trinity: God present, Christ sacrificed, and Holy Spirit moving us toward a future in God.”
Rahner added to the creed, a response. How do we respond to the Trinity? “A person discovers their true self only when they risk themselves for another. In experiencing that risk they understand personally what we treasure and value in God’s love and in Jesus’ sacrifice. Love is meant to be both interpersonal and social. The joining of personal sacrifice and social good is the essence of church.”
Mark’s Gospel tells us that Jesus offered his one sacrifice as the New Covenant. We participate in Jesus sacrifice each mass. Yet, Jesus sacrifice acquires fullness of meaning within the church, when we offer ourselves in sacrifice for each other.
Sacrifice is an action. The action of the priest in the Mass through the fullness of God’s presence brings present the one sacrifice of Christ, the action of our redeemer. We receive the sacrifice not as a static presence. We receive the sacrifice of the altar as true food to enable true sacrifice on our part.
This past week, I spent my holy hour with the Blessed Sacrament. It is a beautiful devotion and I encourage others to take time in contemplation. This week, however, the monstrance seemed a gilded cage restraining our Redeemer. Where were the people streaming forward toward Christ: in appearance unadorned, a simple flat bread, and yet an unrelenting force?
This Solemnity, receive the Blessed Sacrament, be changed by it. Be sacrificed through it. Be moved to a future in God.
If this homily was helpful, please see some of my other writings:
Dr Edward Souza is a permanent deacon presently serving in the Diocese of Salina at Seven Dolors Church, Manhattan KS. He has a long career in agriculture and the church and writes on rural Catholic life.
