2005 Corpus Christi This weekend, our nation celebrates - TopicsExpress

2005 Corpus Christi This weekend, our nation celebrates Memorial Day. It’s original purpose was to honor those who had died during the Civil war, but was gradually expanded to honor all those who died in the defense of our nation. It has become, unfortunately, simply another three-day week-end, but we really should use this week-end as a chance to pray for and to honor those who paid the ultimate price for our liberty and freedom. We owe it to them to remember their sacrifice. The purpose of our prayers for them should be obvious, but what is the purpose of remembering their sacrifice? To remember them means we show our appreciation for their willingness to put themselves in harm’s way for our sake. It offers us the chance to be grateful that we, as a nation, have so many liberties, not the least of which is the freedom to worship God as we know we should. We can argue about other aspects of our nation’s culture, and there are aspects of it that are not so good, but we also have the liberty of criticizing these wrongs, and of working to correct them. And remembering the sacrifice of the heroic fallen should inspire us to do what we can for the good of our nation. It is a natural virtue to love one’s nation and to work for its safety and welfare. God desires this virtue in us, and we owe it to Him, and to those who died for our nation, to practice it. So, there is a lot that we can learn from our nation’s holiday. Which brings me to today’s great feast of Corpus Christi, or, more correctly, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. This feast began in the 13th century, following the revelations of Blessed Juliana of Cornillon. Orphaned at an early age, she was raised by nuns and eventually became one herself. She had a tremendous devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. During her long prayers before Our Lord in the tabernacle, she had a vision of a moon with a black streak running across it. The Lord revealed to her that the moon was a symbol of the Church’s liturgical year, which lacked one important feast, one in honor of the Blessed Eucharist. Eventually, the Church, under Pope Urban IV, instituted this feast in the Church’s calendar. In most of the world, it is celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday (last Thursday); in the United States, it is moved to today. We celebrate this feast, after the Easter Season is over, to remind ourselves of the great gift that is Jesus Christ, Truly Present here, in His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. How easily we take the Blessed Eucharist for granted, perhaps receiving Him casually and merely as a matter of routine. Or worse, how easily some people deny themselves this great gift by not attending Mass every Sunday, as if sports or vacations were more important than union with Jesus Christ. Worse still are those who receive the Lord unworthily while they are in a state of mortal sin. I am perplexed, I must say, at the strange drop in confessions in this parish over the past few months. So many go to Communion; so few have been going to confession. But today we remember this gift in a new way. Today gives us the chance to examine our devotion to the Lord truly present in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the altar. We should remember that the Mass is “making present again” of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus: This is my Body, given for you; this is my Blood, shed for you. Every Mass is a memorial of the Lord’s own gift of Himself on the Cross. When the Church, following Scripture, speaks of a memorial, it is not just a calling to mind of something in the past, but rather, through the actions of the Liturgy, the very reality we remember is made present for us. The love that Jesus showed in dying on the cross is still alive; His willingness to give His life for our sake is here, because He is truly here. Because HE is made present, so is His sacrificial love; now under the appearances of bread and wine, but it is Jesus Who now is present among us once again. His death freed us from sin and damnation, and His resurrection freed us from death. Since He is now here, and will come again at the consecration in a few minutes, we should be moved to gratitude for such a great gift. If we owe it to the nation’s fallen to remember their sacrifice for the sake of our nation’s freedom, how much more to we owe gratitude and praise to the Lord Jesus for giving Himself so completely for our sake, not just in the past, but here today, in our very midst. When we come to Mass, we have the opportunity to recommit ourselves to living our faith. As the remembrance of the death of soldiers and sailors, marines and airmen should inspire us to serve our nation, so the remembrance of Our Lord’s Sacrifice, and the celebration of that Sacrifice every Sunday, indeed, every day, should inspire us to serve the Lord more devotedly, relying not on our own strength, but on the grace He so generously gives us in Holy Communion. We are so blessed to have this gift, which so many others do not know. It is a privilege to live in the United States, with all of the freedoms we enjoy; it is a greater privilege, indeed, it is a great grace from God Himself to be a member of His Catholic Church and to able to receive Jesus Himself in Holy Communion. When the Virgin Mary had conceived Jesus in her womb, she first went in haste to her cousin Elizabeth to share her good news, and help Elizabeth with her own pregnancy. In other words, the Virgin Mother put her faith into a loving action. Then, when she was praised by Elizabeth for her faith, Mary immediately responded with a hymn of praise to God, Who had done such great things for her. May our reception of that same Jesus, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, inspire us to put our faith into action through love, and lead us to praise the Lord, Who does such great things for us. and Holy is His name.