Homily for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Year B Exodus 24:3-8/ Psalm 116/Hebrews 9:11-15/ Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 THEME: The Eucharist is a sacrifice

Today’s liturgy presents the Eucharist as the sacrifice of the New Covenant. The First reading describes a ceremony in the Old Covenant. To understand what happened at the foot of Mount Sinai is indispensable for an understanding of the meaning of the Eucharist. The Gospel reading presents Christ giving his life as the sacrifice of the New Covenant. It is through his blood that the New Covenant between God and humanity is enacted. The Letter to the Hebrews shows the superiority of the New Covenant over the old. The First reading places our understanding of the Eucharist in its proper perspective by emphasizing its sacrificial character. Having read out the Words of God to the people, we are told that Moses “… rose early morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain…” (Exodus 24:4). Not only that “Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people and said, see the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words” (Exodus 24:8). The mention of blood presupposes sacrifice. Here it was the blood of bulls and lambs. Just as the blood sprinkled on the Israelites was the seal of God’s covenant with them, the Eucharist becomes the seal of the covenantal relationship we have with God in the New Testament. This is because in it Christ offers his life; a re-presentation of bloody sacrifice on the Cross. Here we are privileged to dine with the Lord. Here we meet him face to face unlike the Israelites who were afraid to behold the face of God or even get near him. Indeed, Christ offer himself to us as food as a priest, victim and altar of sacrifice. There is no religion in our world in which the priest offers his very life for his members. Christ did it for us all whether we believe it or not. St. Paul puts it beautifully: “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Corinthians 11:26). The Gospel reading presents Jesus as the mediator of the New Covenant. At the institution of the Holy Eucharist, he told his apostles: “…this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many” (Mark 14:24). By this very fact Jesus brings out clearly the communal aspect of the Eucharist. By the nature of its celebration, the Eucharist guarantees salvation. It is poured out for the salvation of many. To show the link between the Eucharist and Jesus’ death on the cross, St. Mark tells us in the Last Supper narrative that “… when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives (Mark 14:26). Thus after the unbloody sacrifice in the form of Bread and wine, Jesus goes on to give a concrete expression to his total self-giving to the entire world by his bloody sacrifice on the cross. What have we become after partaking of the Eucharist? Jesus sacrificed his life for us. We are called to do same namely to sacrifice for one another. Among the New Testament books, it is the Letter to the Hebrews that brings out clearly the concept of the Priesthood. It shows that Jesus’ priesthood is superior to that of the Old Testament priesthood and it has a sacrificial character. The author says, “For if the sprinkling of defiled persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heifer sanctifies for the purification of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, how much more shall the blood of Christ…” If we are privileged to have some share in the Eucharistic sacrifice, then let us join the Psalmist in saying, “How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness to me? The cup of salvation I will raise; I will call on the name of the Lord…” (Psalm 116:12-13). Let us imagine you are taking a course in school, that I am your teacher, and that I have assigned you to write an essay on the Church, asking you to set forth in your essay the true nature of the Church along with describing it to me. If you devoted your essay to describing your parish and wrote of its nature, structure, and purpose I would not give you a passing grade. If instead you wrote about the diocese, the diocesan offices, departments and commissions, and further wrote about the bishop and his responsibilities, I would not give you a passing grade. If you wrote about the Pope, the Cardinals, and the offices of the Vatican, I would likewise not give you a passing grade. The structure of the Church with all of its offices, functions, and presence within the social order of our world, while important and very necessary, is not the Church in its essential reality. The core and essence of the Church is found in what the New Testament calls “The Mystical Body of Christ.” In the Church’s Sacraments we encounter the located presence of the risen, Spirit-filled Christ. And so where do we find the Church? Within us! But there is more, something that is astonishingly greater… and that is found in God’s becoming one with us in the Eucharist. The Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus the Son of God, brings to us God’s very Presence. And not only that, it joins God’s very own life into ours. The Eucharist is not only a symbol; it is more than a symbol; it is Christ. Receiving the Eucharist is receiving within us God’s very own life. In the Eucharist, God’s life and our human life are, by His power, fused together. Why would anyone ignore or even refuse this gift? And yet, as we all know so very well, many do. You and I have heard any number of excuses made by others, even members of our own families, for not coming to Mass. It is boring, we are told. Priests do not preach good homilies, we are told. Those who go to Mass are hypocrites, we are told… and so on, and so on. Excuses, excuses… we have heard them all. They all ignore what God is doing here. According to Pope John Paul II of blessed memory in his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, “The Church draws her life from the Eucharist. This truth does not simply express a daily experience of faith, but recapitulates the heart of the mystery of the Church. In a variety of ways she joyfully experiences the constant fulfilment of the promise: “Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Mt 28:20), but in the Holy Eucharist, through the changing of bread and wine into the body and blood of the Lord, she rejoices in this presence with unique intensity. Ever since Pentecost, when the Church, the People of the New Covenant, began her pilgrim journey towards her heavenly homeland, the Divine Sacrament has continued to mark the passing of her days, filling them with confident hope.” The Second Vatican Council rightly proclaimed that the Eucharistic sacrifice is “the source and summit of the Christian life”. “For the Most Holy Eucharist contains the Church's entire spiritual wealth: Christ himself, our Passover and living bread. Through his own flesh, now made living and life-giving by the Holy Spirit, he offers life to men”. Consequently the gaze of the Church is constantly turned to her Lord, present in the Sacrament of the Altar, in which she discovers the full manifestation of his boundless love. By giving the Eucharist the prominence it deserves, and by being careful not to diminish any of its dimensions or demands, we show that we are truly conscious of the greatness of this gift. We are urged to do so by an uninterrupted tradition, which from the first centuries on has found the Christian community ever vigilant in guarding this “treasure”. Inspired by love, the Church is anxious to hand on to future generations of Christians, without loss, her faith and teaching with regard to the mystery of the Eucharist. There can be no danger of excess in our care for this mystery, for “in this sacrament is recapitulated the whole mystery of our salvation” (104). The Church draws her life from Christ in the Eucharist; by him she is fed and by him she is enlightened. The Eucharist is both a mystery of faith and a “mystery of light”. Whenever the Church celebrates the Eucharist, the faithful can in some way relive the experience of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus: “their eyes were opened and they recognized him” (Lk 24:31). In sum, in the opening prayer of this Mass, we prayed that: “O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption…”. May we become what we celebrate and may the fruits of our redemption be seen by all. Like St. Thomas Aquinas once said: “No sacrament contributes more to our salvation than this; for it purges away our sins, increases our virtues and nourishes our minds with an abundance of all the spiritual gifts”. The Mass is our celebration of the most beautiful and precious gift that God has given us. May we always receive the Body and Blood of Christ, now and forever, with our deepest respect and love.