Catholic Churches in the Machars of Galloway - Newton Stewart, Wigtown and Whithorn.

Newton Stewart, Wigtown and Whithorn RC Churches

Catholic Churches in the Machars of Galloway

The Eucharist

(25th May ‘08)

My Dear Friends,

Although the homily today is replaced by the Mission Appeal in all three of our parishes, I feel that I cannot let this feast of Corpus Christi pass by without at least a few written remarks. In today’s Gospel, which is one small section of chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus uses very controversial language in addressing the Jews. Indeed, the Jews are scandalized, and react to him by arguing sharply among themselves. Towards the end of chapter 6, their argument leads most of them to abandon Jesus completely because of his “intolerable language.”

What is this language? It is his teaching about “eating his flesh and drinking his blood.” It has to be admitted that this is very difficult, even off-putting, language. Because of it, in the early years of the Church’s life, Christians were accused of being cannibals. Jesus himself cannot have been unaware of the scandalous nature of his words, and of their implications for his followers; and yet he insists, repeating again and again in chapter 6, that we must eat his flesh and drink his blood, otherwise we will have no real life, eternal life, within us.

Those who are experts in the language Jesus spoke (Aramaic) and in the language in which the Gospel was written (Greek), tell us of the “stark realism” of the terms Jesus chose. In other words, it is impossible to conclude that Jesus was speaking only in a figurative or symbolic way. Had Jesus intended to speak metaphorically, he would have used other words. And so we are faced, as believers in Jesus, with the “stark realism” of the Eucharist, of Holy Communion, of the Body and Blood of Jesus. This realism has been conserved in the constant teaching of the Catholic Church right from the time of the Apostles up to the present day. Sometimes our tradition has tried to find ways of explaining the realism of the presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. One such explanation is very famous but not easy to understand (and even less easy to pronounce): transubstantiation. But whatever words we use, the core truth of the Eucharist is the Real Presence of Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine.

In the Middle Ages, through Francis of Assisi, adoration of the Eucharist began to become more widespread (although it is recorded in sporadic forms from as early as the 4^th century). The notion of “adoration” itself implies that the “adorers” are aware that the Host is no mere bread. Only God merits adoration, otherwise we would be idolaters. Indeed, adoration of he Eucharist saves us from adoring human beings, things and ideologies. Adoration expresses the faith of the Church in the Real Presence of the Son of God in the Eucharist; it also strengthens that faith and helps those who adore to participate with greater depth and awareness in the Mass itself. Before the Eucharist we come quite simply before the Lord himself. In what way can Jesus be present in a piece of bread or a drop of wine? And if we are speaking of Jesus’ flesh and blood, “which” flesh and blood are they? His mortal flesh and blood or his risen flesh and blood?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says very clearly that, as he draws eternal life from God the Father, so whoever eats him (Jesus) will draw eternal life from him. So, we are not dealing with the mortal Jesus (Holy Communion in this case would be an unholy eating of the bread of death), but with the immortal, the risen and ascended Lord. He is the Bread of Life: alive and life-giving. We must also remember that the Risen Body of the Lord is of a completely different order to his mortal body. St. Paul speaks of the mortal body as being like a seed; when it dies in the earth it rises as some beautiful flower or plant. The plant is connected to the seed, but far surpasses it in beauty, texture, etc.. So long as we ourselves are mortal, we cannot grasp how we shall be when we are raised immortal like Christ. But we know this much: like the risen Lord, we will not be confined to space or time. Like him, we will be everywhere and eternal. We will be present in and to creation in a completely new and unheard of way.

The Risen Lord is the one who, in the beginning, created all things. His power over creation makes it possible for him to do as he wills for our good. In the Eucharist, he “alters” the nature of a created thing so that it can still look the same but actually be something else – and in this case, Someone else - himself, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity. For the eyes of faith, the Eucharist is the proof in time of the Resurrection, of Christ’s promise to “be with us to the end of time”, of his words that believers (of all generations) are to feed on him, draw eternal life from him. In adoring the Eucharist we increase our longing to be one with him; he himself intensifies that longing in us, and as he does so, he imparts to us graces and blessings beyond number and comprehension. When we actually receive the Eucharist, we truly receive him in whom the fullness of divinity abides. Our whole being is drenched in God!

Of course, in relating to each of us, the Lord draws us all to himself. He therefore draws us more deeply to one another. Through the Eucharist, Jesus creates and feeds the Church. When we eat his flesh and drink his blood we are actually absorbed by him into his Risen Body, that Body which reconciles all people and all things in himself. When we receive the Eucharist we are drawn into the heart of all creation: we stand, united, as Church, at the core of history and of the universe. There can be no greater way of loving anyone than by receiving the Eucharist in communion with them.

This is why it is so important that we all prepare well for the Eucharist, especially from two points of view. The first is that our lives be as free as possible from sin, at least from what is called “mortal sin”, the kind of sin which breaks our relationship with God. The Church puts it this way: if anyone is “conscious of having committed mortal sin”, he/she should receive the sacrament of reconciliation before coming to Communion. If this is not possible, then a person can make a perfect act of contrition, go to Communion, but must then go to confession as soon as possible. So, we need to know what constitutes mortal sin, not out of a morbid preoccupation with evil, but out of the desire not to offend our loving Lord and his Body, the Church, and not to put ourselves in grave spiritual danger. There are three conditions which must be present all together for a sin to be mortal: (1) full knowledge that (2) something is seriously wrong and (3) full awareness in committing it. If any one of these is absent, sin may have been committed, but not mortally. To know what is “seriously wrong”, we have, e.g., the Ten Commandments, the “seven deadly sins” and the moral teaching of the Church. These are given, not to oppress us, but to help us be free of the oppression of sin.

The second point on which we must be prepared for Communion is even more fundamental. We must believe in it as Jesus himself taught it! Recent statistics from the United States suggest that a certain percentage of those who profess the Catholic faith do not actually believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. For them it is just a symbol. They have similar difficulties to those who heard Jesus himself speak. Still, the Real Presence remains the truth, not just “for me” or “for you”, but in itself, objectively. The truth about the Eucharist is absolute. Countless martyrs have died for this truth! For this reason, and out of respect for the Church, for the believing community present at Mass, anyone who finds that he/she cannot believe in the Real Presence should not receive Communion. Such abstention would seem more in keeping with a person’s own conviction that the host is merely a symbol when, in reality, at Mass, it is explicitly presented as Christ himself. This does not mean that such a person need not be at Mass at all: on the contrary, they can still listen to God’s Word and both contribute to, and benefit from, the prayers of the whole community! Indeed, they can come forward and receive a blessing from the priest as others come up for Holy Communion.

Receiving the Eucharist worthily, then, means that we believe it to be what it is and that our lives be free from mortal sin. These are not arbitrary impositions; they are essential if receiving communion is to be meaningful, for our benefit and not to our detriment. Whether or not we believe in the Eucharist, and whether or not we are in mortal sin, we are all surely profoundly loved by the Lord who calls us to faith and repentance. May this great Feast of Corpus Christi inspire us to renew our faith in the Real Presence and to live with hearts free from sin.