Readings for The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (Corpus Christi). Year B.
FIRST READING: Exod 24: 3-8
Ps 116: 12-13, 15-16, 17-18. "I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord"
SECOND READING: Heb 9: 11-15
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 6: 51). Alleluia, alleluia! I am the living Bread from heaven, says the Lord. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.
GOSPEL: Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26
Image Credit:Shutterstock licensed image 1041144766-Sanctuary of Caravaggio (BG), ITALY - 24-8-2016. Mosaic : The last supper- By Macthia
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Please listen to the audio-recordings of the Mass – (Readings, prayers and homily),
for The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (Corpus Christi). Year B. - Sunday, June 6, 2021 by clicking this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/faith-hope-and-love-body-and-blood-of-christ-b-2021-episode-302/s-sDcFkiiZx03
(EPISODE: 302)
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* (Prologue: Fr Paul Kelly)
Our Lord wanted his life, death and resurrection to be a source of life and salvation for all people of every time and generation. The Christian faith believes in God who becomes flesh... the incarnation... so it is perfectly fitting that Jesus gives us a way we can touch and taste the reality of his loving involvement in the many joys and sorrows, graces and challenges of our daily life.
The sacrament of the body and blood of Our Lord was first instituted at the Lord's Last Supper, before he suffered his passion. He celebrated the annual tradition of the Passover meal, in which generations of Gods people repeated the meal commemorating the freeing of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. According to that God-given tradition, everyone who participated in that sacred meal was included and united in God's saving action, irrespective of the time or place in which that person was joining-in.
Fast forward a thousand or so years and Our Lord, who has come to perfect and fulfil the Law of God, also celebrates this ancient Passover feast. But, near the end of the meal, he does something new... something that makes this Passover meal his own and which creates the means by which we can all be included in his love and salvation. He took bread, blessed it and said.... see this bread.... this is truly my body broken for you ... take and eat... do this in memory of me. Then he took a chalice of wine and blessed it and gave it to his disciples and said... take this and drink of it.... this is the chalice of my blood... poured out for you and for many... to forgive sins... do this as a memorial of me.
This action means that we, some two thousand years after his supper, are all included in the benefits that Christ won for us by his love.
We live in a deeply sacramental world ... so many things in this world bring us the reality of what they signify... a warm handshake of friendship is a sacrament in a sense of friendship which actually gives us the expression and feeling of the friendship it represents....
Jesus, in his wonderful ministry, ate and drank with so many people. He shared meals with sinners, He included people of every different group. He healed, he welcomed, he taught and he cared for all.
It is fitting that Jesus left us the gift of this holy meal, as more than a reminder of him and his ministry... but this meal presents to us, by his own promise and command, his very self, given for us. As we take the host we are receiving Jesus into our hearts and lives, as we drink his chalice, we are washed clean and joined to God and one another. Now, we all can be part of what Our Lord offered first to his apostles.
The gift of the Eucharist is essential in the life of all Christians. We are receiving Christ himself in his word, in the weekly scripture readings, and we receive Christ truly in his body and blood in communion. …. We are opening up weekly the meaning and implication of the scriptures and ensuring that it is not just our convenient and comfy version of Jesus' word, but His challenging message that spurs us on to action week after week….
I always like to say to First Holy Communion classes as they receive Jesus in communion for the first time… that "there is only one thing better than one's first holy communion … and that is your second holy communion….. and there is only one thing better than second holy communion and that is your third…. and so on…and so on…..weekly...… It sets up a pattern of communion with Christ in our daily life…
Our communion in the Body and Blood of Christ connects us forever to God… and to our loved ones….. every time we celebrate Eucharist and every time we receive the body and blood of Christ, we are united, in communion and connected by an unbreakable bond to God, first and foremost… (through Jesus), but also we are connected to our loved ones.. and friends.. and fellow Christians….. and we are even connected to our departed loved ones who are all part of the communion of believers…. Alive in Christ… forever… Today we celebrate Jesus, who makes his home in us, through the sacrament of his body and blood… This is a gift that is truly priceless.
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(Homily: Fr Peter Dillon).
Certainly one of the great memories I have of the Feast of Corpus Christi (also known as the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, established by Papal decree in 1264) is a reminder of my first Communion day. For many years this was the traditional day for young people to make their first communion. You may be thinking what a good memory I have to remember that far back, but there are significant events in all our lives that we will never forget, and this was certainly one of them. As a curious 7 year old at the time, I was probably less interested in the theological significance of the transformed elements of bread and wine than I was of the taste of the wafer, the speed with which we were expected to swallow the dry circle of plastic-like substance and the child-like question of 'why couldn't we drink from the chalice?". Back in 1963 that was a privilege only allowed to the priest celebrant.
But in many ways it was one of those life-changing experiences that made me look around at the reverence of the adults who received the host and the clear atmosphere that something wonderful was happening here and that I was now able to be part of the community that shared in this special way with what was taking place on the altar.
I felt not only included, but encouraged. I was worthy now of a place at the table. I had learned and earned what it meant to belong to this group of people who were my faith community. I was no longer alone in the desert, but called to share in the food that God was offering to those ready to step up to be a greater part of the journey.
Over the years since then, my understanding of what took place back then has ripened with a more profound understanding and has become a nourishing sustenance that is as much a challenge as it is a comfort.
Encouragement is one of the most precious gifts one can receive. This sealing of the covenant between God and Moses (First Reading); the establishment of the new covenant through the blood of Christ (Second Reading); and the continued presence of Christ in the world as we gather for the Eucharistic meal.(Gospel)
Today we think of that mysterious presence of the divine in our lives, and the way in which that divine presence leads us forward to the Promised Land. Such imagery evokes much of the history of the exodus.
As we come to the Eucharist on a regular basis we bring with us the desert of our own existence. Each of us knows times of aridness, when we seem to be in trackless wastes and have no purpose and little hope. The exodus of the chosen people is a key which can help us unlock the meaning of our own existence.
The Christian way is often a desert experience, and the desert image is one that comes from the Old Testament and has played a significant role in Christian centuries in the lives and the wise sayings of the 'Desert Fathers and Mothers'. There are times and places when we seem to be without strength and resources. But still the divine presence guides and supports us.
Jesus Christ is the divine presence with us. He gives life that we might have life; his self-giving was something done for each of us and for all of us. St Augustine said that 'God loves each of us as though we were the only one and all of us as though we were one'.
That divine self-giving is at once deeply personal and also totally communal. And so today's feast has enriching personal aspects in our traditional devotion to the real presence; it is also a deeply communal celebration as it builds up the body of Christ, the Church. In the Eucharist we share in the death of Christ and we also share in his resurrection. That risen life is one that we share with others: it introduces us into a communion, a fellowship, a family (Second Reading) WE have responsibilities to others.
This real presence of the divine with us, is one that points to eternity. At mass the priest says:
May this mingling of the body and blood of Christ, bring eternal life to us who receive it.
We are already tasting eternal life in Holy Communion. T.S. Eliot once wrote that 'We humans cannot bear too much reality'. But little by little we are being led by this holy food to pass over from a limited, self-centred attitude to one that embraces all people and all time. We have already an eternal dimension.
The great difference between my childhood communion and now is that is used be all about me and what God was doing for me alone, now thanks to prayer, thoughtful conversations and study I have come to understand that "me" only has purpose when connected with "you".
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References:
Homily – fr peter Dillon
Prologue - Fr Paul W. Kelly
Barclay, W. (1975). The Gospel of Mark. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: St. Andrew Press,
and For a Background on Sacramental Theology context, please see: Vorgrimler, H. (1992). Sacramental theology. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press}
Image Credit: Shutterstock licensed image 1041144766-Sanctuary of Caravaggio (BG), ITALY - 24-8-2016. Mosaic : The last supper- By Macthia.
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. (Corpus Christi). Year B. (Sunday, June 6, 2021) (EPISODE: 302 )
The Lord be with you.
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{{May Our Lord's courage, uphold you.}} welcome everyone, we gather - Praise, Worship of God
My brothers and sisters, we have gathered to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, - so let us pause and reflect upon our sins, so as to rejoice in Gods loving mercy.
Lord Jesus, you came to reconcile us to the Father and to one another: Lord, have mercy//You heal the wounds of our sin and division: Christ, have mercy// You intercede for us with the Father: Lord, have mercy//
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
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Memorial Acclamation
1. We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.
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Ps 116: 12-13, 15-16, 17-18. "I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord"
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION (John 6: 51). Alleluia, alleluia! I am the living Bread from heaven, says the Lord. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.
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PREFACE: Preface of Holy Eucharist I or II
EP II
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{I pray that you have a wonderful and grace-filled week. }
Go and announce the Gospel of the Lord.
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Archive of homilies and reflections: http://homilycatholic.blogspot.com.au
To contact Fr. Paul, please email: paulwkelly68@gmail.com
To listen to our weekly homily audio podcast, please click this link here: https://soundcloud.com/user-633212303/tracks
You are welcome to subscribe to Fr Paul's homily mail-out by sending an email to this address: paulkellyreflections+subscribe@googlegroups.com
Further information relating to the audio productions linked to this Blog:
"Faith, Hope and Love - Christian worship and reflection" - Led by Rev Paul Kelly
Prayers and chants — Roman Missal, 3rd edition, © 2010, The International Commission on English in the liturgy. (ICEL)
Scriptures - New Revised Standard Version: © 1989, and 2009 by the NCC-USA. (National Council of Churches of Christ - USA)
"The Psalms" ©1963, 2009, The Grail - Collins publishers.
Prayers of the Faithful - " Together we pray" by Robert Borg'. E.J. Dwyer, Publishers, (1993) . (Sydney Australia).
Sung "Mass In Honour of St. Ralph Sherwin" - By Jeffrey M. Ostrowski. The Gloria, Copyright © 2011 ccwatershed.org.
- "Faith, Hope and Love" theme hymn - in memory of William John Kelly - Inspired by 1 Corinthians 13:1-13. Music by Paul W. Kelly. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
"Quiet Time." Instrumental Reflection music. Written by Paul W Kelly. 1988, 2007. & This arrangement: Stefan Kelk, 2020.
- "Today I Arise" - For Trisha J Kelly. Original words and music by Paul W. Kelly. Inspired by St Patrick's Prayer. Arranged and sung, with additional lyrics by Stefan Kelk. 2019.
[ Production - KER - 2021]
May God bless and keep you.
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