HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

YEAR A 
HOMILY THEME: LET’S GO ORGARNIC!
Jn 6:51-58
I. Nowadays, people are health-conscious more than ever.
 This explains the wide popularity of organic foods and restaurants.
 In one such restaurant serving organic meals, a customer
complained,
 “Waiter! How come there are leaves and twigs in my soup?
 Do you expect me to eat all these?”
 “My apologies, sir,” said the waiter.
 “I’ll call the branch manager.”
 The branch manager came, and explained to the customer.
 “I’m sorry, sir.
 But that recipe is very special to the owner of this restaurant.
 He got it as inheritance from his family tree!”
 If we are looking for a truly organic food and drink,
 it is the sacrament of the Eucharist.
 Jesus repeatedly stressed it several times in the Gospel this Sunday:
 “For my flesh is true food; my blood is true drink” (Jn 6:55).
 And if we are looking for vitality, health, power and life,
 listen again to what Jesus said:
 “Whoever who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
 and I will raise him on the last day” (Jn 6:54).
 On this Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ,
 once again we proclaim the truth of this most august sacrament.
 Jesus is really present in the Eucharist.
 It is his Body and Blood that we receive in Holy Communion.
 He comes to us; he enters our entire system.
 His Blood enters into our blood stream;
 his Body becomes incorporated into the cells of our body.
 A rich tourist visiting the Philippines had a heart failure.
 He was admitted to the hospital for surgery.
 Since he had a rare blood type, the doctors looked for a blood donor.
 They found a man from the Ilocos region who had a similar blood
type.
 He willingly donated his blood for the millionaire.
  As a token of gratitude,
 the rich man sent the Ilocano a new BMW car, diamonds and cash.
 A couple of weeks later, however, he needed another surgery.
 The same man was summoned again to donate blood.
 But after the second surgery,
 he received only a thank you card and a box of cookies.
 He was totally disappointed.
 He asked the rich man: “What happened to you?
 I thought you would be generous as before”.
 To this the millionaire replied:
 “Manong, didn’t you realize?
 The Ilocano blood now runs in my veins.”
 (Ilocanos are known for having a very frugal lifestyle).
II. Can we say the same thing as Christians?
 When we receive Holy Communion,
 it is now the bodily tissues and blood of Jesus Christ that runs in our
system.
 As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
 “In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist,
 the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity,
 of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly,
 really, and substantially contained”.
 The Jews complained about this:
 “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
 It is not, however, the question of ‘how’ that really matters.
 Rather, it is a question of ‘why’.
 The answer is clear: love.
 Jesus himself becomes true food and drink because of his love for us,
 in spite of our sins, he longs to stay with us every moment and aspect
of our life.
 Jesus in the Eucharist is, indeed, the “Emmanuel” –
 God with us,
 here and now until we reach heaven for eternity.
III. This Sunday,
 allow me to share with you two important lessons in relation to the
sacrament of the Eucharist.
 First, this feast should be an opportunity for us to examine ourselves,
 particularly our behavior, actions and gestures in the Mass.
 There is the Latin dictum, “Lex orandi, lex credendi.”
 (The law of prayer is the law of belief.)
 In other words, the way we pray is an expression of our faith.
 If we truly believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist,
 we will always come for Mass on time,
 dress properly and modestly, behave reverently in the Church all the
time,
 and regularly go to confession.
 The reason behind the abuses in the celebration of Holy Mass,
 by priests and lay people alike, can be traced to a severe lack of faith
 in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.
 Pope Benedict XVI is well aware of this problem.
 In the book “Light of the World”,
 Peter Seewald asked the Pope why, at papal Masses,
 he requires people to kneel and receive Communion on the tongue.
 He answered: “I am not opposed in principle to Communion in the
hand;
 I have heard people stick the Host in their wallet to take home as a
kind of souvenir.
 This is not just some social ritual in which we can take part if we want
to”.
 Secondly, this feast should also lead us to appreciate the reason why
 Jesus chose to become our food and drink in the Eucharist.
 He fervently desires that we share in the life of God.
 In the Eucharist, not only are we nourished with the heavenly food;
 we are also elevated to a higher dignity as God’s children.
 This is illustrated in the material world.
 The animal says to the plant:
 “If you want to share in a higher form of life, let me eat you.
 But you have to die.”
 When this happens,
 the plant becomes incorporated into the animal kingdom.
 The same is true with the animal.
 Man says to the animal:
 “If you like to share in human life, let me eat you.
 But you have to die”
  Then the animal becomes part of the human kingdom.
 This is the natural order of things in this world.
 But in the case of our relationship with God,
 the reverse is what happens.
 God does not say to us:
 “Let me eat you, and you will die.”
 Rather it is the other way around.
 He tells us: “Eat me, and you will live!
 You will become part of me and you will have eternal life.”
 When we eat the Body of Christ,
 He does not lose His being and identity as
 in the case of the plant and animal.
 Rather, we are being transformed and incorporated into His Body.
 So we share in the divine life,
 we receive eternal life and are elevated to the level of the divine.
 After years of receiving Holy Communion,
 can we say we have become more holy and divine?
 If not, there must be something wrong,
 not with the sacrament of the Eucharist,
 but in the disposition and manner that we receive this sacrament.
IV. Let me close with these words from Pope Benedict XVI:
 “We bring Christ, present under the sign of bread,
 onto the streets of our city.
 We entrust these streets, these homes, our daily life, to his
goodness.
 May our streets be streets of Jesus!
 May our houses be homes for him and with him!
 May our life of every day be penetrated by his presence”.
Solemnity of Corpus Christi
The Essence of the Mass! Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
I. An elderly couple went into a McDonald’s restaurant…..
 The man was willing to endure a few more minutes of hunger
 just to make sure his wife eats her meal.
 Such is the picture of self-sacrificing love,
 expressed clearly in the act of nourishment.
 We are well aware of the fact that nourishment is an expression of
love.
 A mother nursing her baby is a vivid picture of this.
 Such is also the essence of the Eucharist, the sacrament of love.
 But Jesus did not stop there.
 He went further as to give his own flesh and blood for our eternal
nourishment:
 (Jn 6:55-56)………
II. This Sunday, as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ,
 Let us examine our understanding and attitude towards this Feast.
 Suffice it to say, however, that the Mass is not just a meal,
 or a fellowship, or an entertainment presentation.
 Rather, the Mass is the one eternal sacrifice of Jesus
 that he offers to the heavenly Father in atonement for our sins.
 There are two major considerations
 that will hopefully help us improve our understanding of the
Eucharist.
First, the Mass (E) is all about God.
 It is never about the priest, or the choir, or the sponsors, or any
human being.
 Pope Benedict XVI wrote:…..
 How many times have we heard people remark……
 For many people, the Mass is not about God but about them –
 they expect to be entertained, and to get something from it.
 If not, they leave and look for another church …
 where they will “enjoy” and have “fun”!
 This is a terrible mistake! 
 The Mass is never about us;
 it is all about God!
 We come to Mass to worship, glorify and praise God – nothing else!
 Whether we enjoy or not, it is not the point.
 After all, as Pope Benedict XVI said,
 “Liturgy is not a matter of ‘what you please’.
 Liturgy is all about pleasing God.
 The reason why we have a problem with the “active participation”.
 In Latin, the original term used is “actuosa participatio”,
 and not “activa participatio.”
 Actousa meaning something internal and profound,
 While activar is more on the physical and superficial level.
 For many people, considered “active” or“active participation.” The
best one.
 Hence, they think it means making liturgy interesting
 with various innovations and added attractions
 so that people will enjoy and be actively involved in the entire
celebration.
 However, this is definitely in violation of the liturgical norms.
 Pope Saint John Paul II took note of it:
 “As a result of misguided sense of creativity and adaptation,
 there have been a number of abuses which have been a source of
suffering for many”.
 In his Apostolic Exhortation, “Sacramentum Caritatis”,
 Pope Benedict XVI clarified what “active participation” truly means:
 “The … participation of the People of God in … celebration of the rite
itself.
 The people devotion should ensure solemnly.
 Hence, the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.
 strongly exhorts that “the priest must remember that he is the
servant of the Sacred Liturgy and
 that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative,
 to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass”.
The second point:
 The Mass is all about giving.
 Not just we go to Mass to get something from God.
 The Mass is about giving everything to God,
 about offering our whole .
 It is all about dying to self.
  During consecration, Jesus really dies, and we also should die with
him.
 The Servant of God Fulton Sheen compares the Mass to a drama with
three Acts:
 Act 1 is the offering of ourselves (Presentation of the Gifts);
 Act 2 is dying with Jesus (Consecration);
 Act 3 is new life in Jesus (Communion).
III. Obviously, then, the reason why many of us
 do not anymore find meaning in the celebration of Holy Mass is
because
 we have become too self-centered.
 We have totally lost our focus on God,
 So, next time we come to Mass, think only about God –
 And make sure we bring something that we can offer to God –
 not only our surplus, but everything:
 our crosses, our sacrifices, and our whole selves –
 and join Jesus in his sacrificial offering.
 Then, and only then, will the Mass become for us truly alive,
 Amen!

Corpus Christi
May 29, 2016
I. A poor family was gathered … for the birthday of the youngest son.
 After a short prayer of thanksgiving, the father said:
 “Son, it’s your birthday.
 Now make a wish, and then blow the candles.”
 The boy devotedly closed his eyes and then blew the candles.
 Then the father asked him,
 “Son, what was your birthday wish?”
 The boy said, “I wished that on my birthday next year,
 there will be a cake on the table so that I won’t be holding the
candles.”
 The family was so poor that there was non birthday cake on the
table.
 But they knew that it was not what is essential in the birthday
celebration.
  Rather, it is the gift of life that they are thankful to God for;
 it is the family gathered together in love and harmony;
 it is God’s presence that fills them with hope and joy.
 These are the things that make a birthday celebration truly
meaningful,
 and not the cake, food or fun.
II. This Sunday we come together again to celebrate the Eucharist.
 It is always and essentially a thanksgiving,
 for that is what “eucharist” means.
 The spirit of joy and gladness should be in us every time we gather to
celebrate the Mass.
 Unfortunately, there are many Catholics who do not see it that way
anymore.
 Many have even left the Catholic Church because
 they found the celebrations boring and dry.
 They have come to Mass with lots of expectations.
 For instance, many of them expect to be entertained.
 They want the priest to always have jokes, stories and new gimmicks.
 They demand contemporary and more upbeat music from the choir.
 They want something new and spectacular every time.
 No wonder the most attended Masses aside from the Simbang Gabi
 are Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday –
 there are added attractions: ashes, palms and Easter eggs.
 Worse still is that there are some priests who have fallen into this
kind of thinking.
 Instead of being ministers, they try hard to be entertainers –
 giving what the people want to hear and see,
 rather than what God wants for them.
 Their aim is to please the people, not God.
 In effect, the Word of God is not preached faithfully and
prophetically,
 the celebration becomes like a performance, and
 the priest takes center stage acting like a host in a show.
 It is really unfortunate that many of us have lost sight of
 what is really essential in the liturgical celebration.
 As in a birthday celebration, it is the gift of life and family that is
essential,
  not the birthday cake and the party.
 So also in the Mass:
 it is not the priest,
 or the ministers,
 the congregation,
 the music or
 service that truly matters,
 but Jesus Christ, who personally offers His eternal Sacrifice of the
Holy Mass.
III. Pope Benedict XVI insists on this:
 “The Liturgy is God’s action.”
 The center of the liturgy is not man, but God.
 Therefore, no bishop or priest can mess with the liturgy just to please
and entertain the people.
 The General Instruction of the Roman Missal is very strong on this:
 “Nevertheless, the priest must remember that
 he is the servant of the Sacred Liturgy and
 that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative,
 to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass”.
 There is the classic saying in Catholic Theology,
 “Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi”
 (Latin loosely translated as "the law of praying [is] the law of
believing")
 is a motto in Christian tradition,
 which means that it is prayer which leads to belief,
 or that it is liturgy which leads to theology.
 It refers to the relationship between worship and belief,
IV. In other words,
 if we really believe that the Mass is the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross,
 that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ,
 that Jesus is truly present in the Holy Eucharist
 that we receive in Holy Communion,
 then we will do the best we can to behave properly during Mass and
 to worship solemnly and appropriately.
 And if we truly believe that the Eucharist is the sacrament of God’s
love for us,
 then we who partake of it must also be motivated and filled with
love.
 Saint Josemaria Escrivá said,
 “You say the Mass is long;
 and I add, because your love is short!”
 On this celebration of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ,
 let us renew our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.
 May we inspire and move us to come to Church every Sunday full of
joy and eagerness, and
 to make our Eucharistic celebrations meaningful, lively and truly
pleasing in God’s eyes.
 Therefore,
 First, to prepare ourselves properly.
i. This means,
ii. going to Confession,
iii. wearing the appropriate clothes,
iv. punctuality,
v. one-hour Eucharistic fast and
vi. removing all possible sources of distractions.
 Second, we should actively and meaningfully participate in the
celebration.
 Only then will we be able to receive Jesus in Holy Communion.
 Then the Mass ceases to be boring and dry.
 It truly becomes for us the source and the summit of our life as
Christians
 Amen!