Father Richard's words for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi
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The Eucharist - essential and cosmic
The Eucharist is essential to life. This truth is clear from Our Lord’s words in today’s Gospel: “I tell you most solemnly, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will not have life in you.” The celebration of the Eucharist, then, is the most important action which happens in the whole universe today. It is not merely an act of worship stemming from a “private” faith of individual Catholics (which is how it is portrayed by our civil authorities). Rather, the Mass is necessary for the salvation of the whole world.
The greatest of all Sacraments that we give thanks for today
is the way in which God the Creator of the Universe has chosen to continue to
be truly, substantially, physically present to his creatures. Fruits of creation
– from the vine and the earth – are turned into the Lord’s Body and Blood by
the words and actions of priests who imitate Christ the Head and Shepherd of the
Church. Whenever the Mass is celebrated – even as, at the moment, privately by
Canon Michael or myself – Christ the God-man truly becomes present in the Yorkshire
Dales. God has the power and the dominion to come down from heaven to earth to His
creation – and no authority can stop Him.
Nothing on the face of the earth, then, is comparable to the
Eucharistic mystery. The Sacrament of Sacraments cannot be for one moment
equated on the same level in society as shops, cinemas or concerts. It isn’t
even on the same level as earthly food and drink – although, of course, these
are essential for survival and for bringing people together in fraternity. Christ
our Eucharist, rather, is the Living Bread which has come down from heaven to
sustain us; to bring us closer to God and each other in charity; and be the
food for our journey to eternal life.
Even when Mass is celebrated privately by the priest, “it is
an act of Christ and His Church”. As Saint Paul VI taught, “such a Mass brings
a rich and abundant treasure of special graces to help the priest himself, the
faithful, the whole Church and the whole world toward salvation…” [Paul VI, Mysterium
Fidei, 32] Another saint of the Eucharist, Saint John Paul II, described the
“cosmic” significance of the Eucharist: “Yes, cosmic! Because even when it is
celebrated on the humble altar of a country church, the Eucharist is always in
some way celebrated on the altar of the world. It unites heaven and earth. It
embraces and permeates all creation.” [John Paul II, Ecclesia de Eucharistia,
8]
In truly believing what the Church celebrates today, we
therefore believe that the Eucharist is not simply important for us, but
essential for all of creation. On this year’s celebration of Corpus Christi, I’m
sure you can be in solidarity with the famished people of Israel in today’s first
reading. You know what, or rather Who, the Food of Eternal Life is, but you haven’t
been able to receive Him for three months. We know the Church only requires the
faithful to receive Holy Communion once a year at Easter (though even this duty
was dispensed with this year). But we know, in our lifetime, the Church has
strongly encouraged a frequent, even daily, reception. You may feel like the Israelites
wandering through the wilderness, wondering when you’ll be able to receive the Bread
of Life again. But when we’re deprived of the most important reality in our
lives, indeed in the whole world, it should deepen our hunger for it and love
of it.
To satisfy, in part, that hunger, with give thanks to God
that one of our churches (St Joseph’s in Richmond) is able to open safely tomorrow
and each day between 9-10am. I encourage you to come if you’re able. Why?
Because here Christ is truly present in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar.
Behind the veil of the tabernacle, Christ our Eucharist waits for us and longs
for us to be with Him.
Jesus remains in the tabernacle “like a prisoner of love”,
so says St Peter Julian Eymard, the 19th century French Catholic
priest named by John Paul II as ‘apostle of the Eucharist’. He says Christ “is
a prisoner of love, so that we can show our love to Him and gain the graces all
of us and our families so badly need…”*
Let us keep in fervent prayer the swift return to a safe
celebration of public Mass, where you’ll be able to receive the greatest Gift
of life. Until then, rejoice in coming to see Christ in the Tabernacle. As St
Peter Eymard says: “He is here awaiting our visit, and He rejoices when we come
to Him.”*
Reference
[*St Peter Julian Eymard, quoted in Rawley Myers, The
Saints show us Christ: Daily Readings on the Spiritual Life, (Ignatius
Press: San Francisco, 1996), entry for ‘November 5’.]
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