{"id":1387,"date":"2014-06-22T16:32:06","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T20:32:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=1387"},"modified":"2014-06-22T16:32:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T20:32:06","slug":"the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A<\/a>
\nDeuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a
\n1 Corinthians 10:16-17
\nJohn 6:51-58
\nJune 22, 2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last week we celebrated the Most Holy Trinity as a central mystery of our faith.\u00a0 This week we celebrated another mystery, the Eucharist.\u00a0 We do not know how ordinary bread and wine, without any visible change, become the Body and Blood of Christ.\u00a0 It is a mystery how this happens but we believe.<\/p>\n

Paul clearly speaks of the real presence when he refers to the cup as our participation in the Blood of Christ<\/em> and the bread as our participation in the Body of Christ<\/em> but what does he means by \u201cparticipation\u201d?<\/p>\n

Our participation is rooted in three things.\u00a0 First, the fact that we even take the time to come here is a participation in what is going on.\u00a0 Our coming forth for Communion is a participation but we must also realize that the way we live our lives outside this church building should be a participation in the Body and Blood of Jesus.<\/p>\n

I trust the first two are obvious but our participation isn\u2019t just a physical presence here or coming forth.\u00a0 To participate in the Body and Blood of Jesus is to live according to the example of Jesus.<\/p>\n

There was a time when not many people received Communion every Sunday.\u00a0 Unless you had gone to Confession recently, you didn\u2019t come up.\u00a0 Now, the pendulum has swung and most everyone who is old enough comes forth and receives Communion.<\/p>\n

We need Jesus.\u00a0 We need to receive the grace given us in the Body and Blood of Jesus but we also need to think about what it means to receive.\u00a0 Have we been living our lives in accord with God\u2019s will?<\/p>\n

Moses speaks to the Israelites about how God watched over them while they journeyed through the desert to see if it was their intention to keep God\u2019s Commandments.<\/p>\n

As we live the \u201cjourney\u201d we call our lives is it our intention to live as God calls us?\u00a0 It isn\u2019t always easy.\u00a0 We make mistakes, we sin.\u00a0 That\u2019s why we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation where we can confess our sins.<\/p>\n

The teachings of Jesus aren\u2019t always easy to understand.\u00a0 In today\u2019s Gospel we hear Jesus speaking to the crowds about the need for them to eat his flesh and drink his blood.\u00a0 We recognize this as the Eucharist but for the people there that day, this was something totally new and incomprehensible for many.<\/p>\n

Some took him literally and that meant cannibalism. It sounds disgusting to us to eat the flesh and drink the blood of another human being.\u00a0 It also seems impossible for someone to do this to them.\u00a0 It would mean their death.<\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t just the physical cannibalism that would be difficult for them to understand.\u00a0 The religious laws of the Jews forbade the drinking of the blood.\u00a0 To drink the blood of a living creature was to take on its life force.<\/p>\n

That is precisely what we need to do with Jesus.\u00a0 We need to become more like Jesus.\u00a0 It is only when we become like Jesus that we receive eternal life.<\/p>\n

They say you are what you eat.\u00a0 We want to become like Jesus.<\/p>\n

Ask yourself if you are becoming more like Jesus.\u00a0 The fact is that we need the Eucharist to become like Jesus but we struggle to find a balance with this to not receive Jesus if we have sinned.\u00a0 If I want to stop sinning, I need the Eucharist but yet I\u2019m not supposed to receive the Eucharist if I have sinned.\u00a0 It sounds like a no win situation.<\/p>\n

But it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Sure we sin.\u00a0 God knows this and has given us the gift of Reconciliation for when we commit mortal sin.<\/p>\n

When you come forth for Communion today, think about what you are receiving and what it means for you.\u00a0 Think about what you need to become more like Jesus whom we receive today.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 John 6:51-58 June 22, 2014   Last week we celebrated the Most Holy Trinity as a central mystery of our faith.\u00a0 This week we celebrated another mystery, the Eucharist.\u00a0 We do not know how ordinary bread and wine, without …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-mn","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1388,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1387\/revisions\/1388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}