Corpus Christi - Christ's Greatest Gift to Us - June 22, 2025

About 20 years ago today, I was in Mexico for the summer, doing medical volunteer work. I had the Sunday off, and I was trying to take a siesta amid the summer heat. But right as I was beginning to doze off, I heard a loud bang. Then more: Bang – bang – bang!! At first, I was concerned these might be gunshots. But as the explosions continued, I realized they were fireworks. I went outside and beheld a sight: it was a Eucharistic procession. The Monstrance was born high by the priest, with a band and crowd following behind. In front, were boys lighting fireworks at intervals. And at the very front was a person dressed like the Devil, with a grotesque mask with horns. This figure was pantomiming dances and acting as if he was fleeing in fright before the Blessed Sacrament. I later learned that this Corpus Christi tradition – including with the Dancing Devil who finally kneels in submission when the procession reaches the church - is practiced in many countries in Latin America.

We’re a far cry from Mexican fireworks here in Massachusetts. Here in demure, reserved New England, some Catholics might think it’s a bit embarrassing or ‘cringe’ when we do our parish Eucharistic procession, parading around this quiet block after the 11A Mass. I’m here to announce that this is nothing to be embarrassed about, but immensely proud of.

The Eucharist is God’s greatest gift to us. Let me repeat: the Eucharist is God’s greatest gift to us, because it is Jesus Himself – His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. As the Catechism says, the Eucharist is ‘the Source and Summit of the Christian life.’

In an informal survey that Bishop Barron sent to discern why Catholics stay in the Church, the top answer was ‘The Eucharist’. 

Bishop Barron himself summarized well: [quote] “The Eucharist is the single most important reason for staying faithful to the Church. You can’t find it anywhere else.”

Or to quote St. Maximilian Kolbe, who died to give his life for another man in Auschwitz: "If angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion."

Other than our belief in Jesus as God-made-man, I’d argue that our most important Catholic doctrine is our belief in the Eucharist as true Body of Christ – the Corpus Christi.

          We believe that when Jesus meant what he said when he said: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. … For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” (Jn 6:53-54). Obviously, in this belief we differ from our Protestant brethren, who see the Eucharist as more of a symbol.

I could go into great detail why the Catholic view makes more sense, Scripturally and historically. John chapter 6 is not subtle, especially in the original Greek. Our belief is also supported by Eucharistic miracles, like hosts that bleed and look like cardiac muscle when examined under the microscope. Early Church history also supports the Catholic view: all the evidence suggests that  Christians in the first centuries unanimously believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It’s unfortunate that well-intentioned men like Martin Luther and John Calvin didn’t study the early Church Fathers much [I once published an academic essay specifically on Calvin's [Mis]use of the Church Fathers]. Of course, we have much in common with our Protestant brethren, but our belief in the Eucharist as Christ’s greatest gift on earth is what sets us apart.

          It makes us act differently.

I have a doctor friend, who was raised a good Protestant. When he started dating a Catholic woman, he was determined to prove her wrong.  So he started studying early Church history, but then he realized that the early Church looked a lot more Catholic than he expected. Eventually he became Catholic, and revealed to me one Catholic practice that he greatly admired.

          He was amazed that he could enter Catholic churches at random hours, and see people kneeling in prayer before the tabernacle. He had never seen this once in a Protestant church.

That’s because only Catholic Churches are literally houses of God, where Jesus himself dwells.

This is why, we teach our children that when we pass by a Catholic Church as we’re driving or walking, we should do the sign of the Cross, out of respect for The King who is inside.

The King abiding here in the tabernacle is the reason our Catholic churches are built with such splendor and beauty. It’s not for the clergy, but for God. Many cathedrals were funded and built by the working class poor – who wished to glorify God. We know from the Bible that YHWH desired a glorious Temple to be built Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant, which held the Ten Commandments, the staff of Aaron the high priest, and the manna bread. How much more do we please God when we honor his TRUE presence when we build a beautiful church: to house God Himself as the new manna come down from Heaven, who is also the New Lawgiver and the true High Priest?

Our belief in the Eucharist in the tabernacle is why we teach our children to genuflect when they walk in front of it.

We teach them that the tabernacle will always have a red candle burning nearby, telling us that Christ is there. It’s just like when you see the royal flag flying outside Buckingham Palace, and you know that the King is there. Our true King is here, and so we reverence him.

          We teach our children to kneel during the Eucharistic prayer at Mass, because this is what we would all do if Christ himself appeared in front of us right now – we’d kneel in worship.

So in the climax of the Mass, the moment of the consecration when the priest speaks in Persona Christi - in the Person of Christ - to say ‘This is my body… This is my blood... Do this in memory of me’… at this moment we kneel and sometimes we ring bells to help draw our attention – almost like those fireworks. In some parts of Latin America, people will cry out the words ‘My Lord, and My God’ when the priest elevates the host and the chalice.

This is the most important moment during the most important hour of our week.

There are further details that I’ve only come to appreciate since being ordained a deacon last year. The Missal that the priest reads from is adorned with beautiful artwork that recalls Christ’s passion. Even the sacred linens used here on the altar are finely embroidered, often with Biblical images – giving glory to the almighty God who condescends to give himself under the appearance of bread and wine. The Monstrance we use looks like a sun bursting with rays of light, because Jesus is the Light of the World.

Our chalices are made from gold, not because the Church is obsessed with wealth, but because they will hold something more precious than diamonds. Also, gold does not rust or oxidize. Thus, the sacred vessels are easier to clean.

There’s a story about Dorothy Day, that saintly woman who founded the Catholic worker movement. One day in the 1960s, a progressive priest decided to celebrate Mass using a ceramic coffee cup and saucer. After the Mass, Dorothy Day reverently buried this cup and saucer in the dirt outside. She thought that these vessels had held the body and blood of Christ, should no longer hold ordinary food or drink.’

All of the saints revered the Eucharist. Starting with St. Ignatius in the 2nd century, many saints compared the Eucharist to a necessary medicine.  St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta attributed all her strength to the Eucharist and adoration. Bishop Nguyen Van Thuan, who spent 9 years in solitary confinement in communist Vietnam, celebrated Mass in his dark cell by using a few drops of wine in his hand as his makeshift chalice. You can read about his experiences in the book called Five Loaves and Two Fish – a reference to our Gospel from today.

Our belief in the Eucharist is why we take seriously that not even a drop of the previous Blood or fragment of the Host would fall on the ground. We see echoes of this practice in today’s Gospel, when the apostles gather the fragments of bread left over.

Our belief in the Eucharist is why the Church has rules about receiving.

First, we should be fasting for an hour before we receive. You don’t want the taste of your tuna sandwich lingering in your mouth when you receive the Host.

Second, only Catholics in a state of grace can receive Catholic Holy Communion.

The Church follows seriously the words of St. Paul, which continue from our 2nd Reading today: “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord… For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.” (1 Cor 11:27f)

We admire and encourage non-Catholics to join us at Mass – thank you for being here – but Holy Communion is meant only for those with whom we have full Communion. It meant for those who believe in the gift of the Eucharist as we do.

In addition, we believe that if we have a mortal or serious sin on our conscience, that this should be confessed before we receive the Eucharist.

This isn’t the Church being ‘judgy’, but following Scripture and looking out for us: as Paul says: ‘Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.’  So this is why we encourage anyone who is non-Catholic or who does not feel prepared to receive the Host to come forward for a blessing with crossed arms, like this.

          When we do receive, we are encouraged to receive in one of two ways. Either we receive on our tongue, which is a venerable tradition which goes back centuries, and which decreases the risk that the Host falls to the ground or that fragments stick to the hands. Or we can receive with our hands, which was the practice in the Early Church.

In the 4th Century, St Cyril of Jerusalem wrote:

‘Coming up to receive… do not approach with your wrists extended or your fingers splayed, but making your left hand a throne for the right (for it is about to receive a King) … so receive the Body of Christ; and answer: “Amen.”’

So we put one hand on top of the other, like a throne for the King.

Of course, if this Eucharist was just a symbol, none of this precautionary reverence would be necessary. We could drink from plastic cups and wouldn’t worry if some fell on the ground. We wouldn’t need a tabernacle or have to genuflect.

To quote the famous American writer Flannery O’Connor: “If it's just a symbol, to hell with it.”

But it’s no mere symbol: indeed, even Hell acknowledges the Eucharist. Sadly, Satanists seek out Catholic hosts for their Black Masses, because they know it’s the real thing. Satan hates the Eucharist. Just ask exorcists who use the Blessed Sacrament in their exorcisms.

Certainly, this was the idea behind the Mexican Corpus Christi procession that I witnessed 20 years ago. The dancing devil was fleeing before the Monstrance. The proud father of lies was fleeing before Jesus in this most humble form of plain, unleavened bread.

          As we continue the Most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, I’d like to challenge everyone here – including myself.  It’s very easy to get distracted in Mass, to let your mind take a mental siesta. Pray for the grace to pay close attention, and let the reality of the Real Presence to hit you like a firework. 

The Eucharist is THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ON EARTH, because it is Christ himself, sacrificed to save us and bring us to eternal joy with him.

If you’re overdue for Confession, make a mental note to schedule time for Confession. If you come to receive Communion, when you hear the words ‘the Body of Christ’, try to say ‘Amen’ – which means ‘So be it’ or  ‘I believe’ – like you really believe it.

          If you can, make the time to attend a Eucharistic procession today – whether our parish procession or the seaside procession that Archbishop Henning is doing across Boston.

Or another idea: try to go to a weekday Mass some time this month. This is the daily food the saints used to become saints – the best spiritual medicine God offers us -- why not receive as often as you can? To give an analogy: imagine you’re a runner, and you realize that the winners of the Boston Marathon ate the same superfood every day… wouldn’t you want to eat the same superfood? This is more than a superfood – it’s the Bread of Angels.

Try to make this Mass special. If you’re sitting near a Missalette -- I’ll ask you to pick it up and flip to the back. Go to page 835. You see the ‘prayer of St Thomas Aquinas’, for Preparation for Mass? This is an awesome prayer, I’d encourage you to pray it some time before you receive Communion. I know that I not infrequently come to Mass distracted by anxieties about work or the kids. This prayer is a wonderful way to get yourself in the right mindset. St Thomas Aquinas also composed the Latin hymns we use for Eucharistic Adoration -- he composed these specifically when the pope started the feast of Corpus Christi.

Each time we come to Mass, let us reaffirm our belief in the Eucharist as God’s greatest gift on earth. There is no place we should rather be than right here, and no moment more important than a few minutes from now, when the Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ - will become present on this altar. 

O Sacrament most Holy, O Sacrament Divine, All praise and all thanksgiving, Be every moment Thine!

Amen – so be it.