Corpus Christi, A June 14, 2020
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
Video of 8am Mass: https://youtu.be/sUR4Td2v0oI
People often like to make fun of the idea of a participation trophy. Some even claim we spoiled a whole generation by celebrating their ordinariness instead of challenging them to truly excel through competition. So, what do we hear when St. Paul talks about participation? When he says, “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” Does this mean the Eucharist is something you get for just showing up?
If we truly understood what the Eucharist is – the very body and blood of Jesus Christ – we could never think that. This feast, this solemn celebration of the Sacrament of Sacraments was added to our yearly calendar to remind us of how profound, and how important, this mystery is because it’s all too easy to take it for granted. Catholics do have a right to the sacraments, the Eucharist included, but every right also comes with a responsibility. Just showing up is not enough. To understand this, we need to really reflect on what “participation” means.
Let’s use a lightbulb as an analogy: Without some kind of electricity, a lightbulb does not make light. So, for something like the priesthood – which is not mine but is a is a participation in the priesthood of Jesus Christ – the fact that I can forgive sins or make bread into the Eucharist – depends on the power of Jesus Christ himself flowing through me. I’m just the lightbulb that does nothing without the electricity of Jesus’s priesthood.
Jesus tells us, “whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” And, the Church is the Body of Christ. So, receiving communion – participating in Christ’s Body and Blood – is what makes us members of the Church. It’s the reason that the Eucharist is called a sacrament of initiation. It’s what screws the lightbulb of our souls into the socket of the Church.
And this participation in Christ’s body, the Church, is the key reason for Mass. But this participation is not an idle thing, not a lazy thing. Just as simply being a priest is not enough – I still have to act like a priest and do priestly things for the participation to be real – so staying in communion with God is not a passive thing. Showing up is a start, but it’s not enough. Screwing in the lightbulb is necessary, but we still need to flip on the switch, to live and act like we participate in Jesus Christ.
So, as we celebrate the gift of the Eucharist, what do we have to do to “flip on the switch” of divine participation? Consider the other word we’ve been using: communion. Paul’s word for “participation” can also be translated as “communion.” The Eucharist is a communion with the Body of Christ, both in heaven and on earth.
This communion with the Body of Christ in heaven means accepting and trying to live according to divine revelation. If we reject Jesus’ teachings or contradict them with our way of life, then receiving communion can become a lie. Communion with the Body of Christ on earth means communion with the Church, with our fellow human beings. “We, though many, are one body.” Most of us get the heavenly communion, but do we slip into the isolation of thinking that going to Mass is just about “me and my Jesus” and “getting communion?” Or do we see it as it truly is, establishing and strengthening our bond to all Catholics and, we hope, to all human beings?
Especially as the world appears to be coming apart at the seams, this solemn feast is an occasion to renew our commitment to “participating” in the good of our fellow human beings. This requires being in communion with the hopes, disappointments, joys, and sorrows of others. Because communion with the body means acknowledging the pains of the body that maybe you don’t see or feel in your own life, but without obsessing over them; the balance of caring without controlling.
And let’s make it real for us here and now. Without making it about politics, what does communion and participation mean for us in the midst of the current unrest? Do we recognize that George Floyd, and many nameless others like him are part of the body of Christ because Christ died for them, regardless of their successes or mistakes? I mean no endorsement of any party or movement, but I try – and I encourage you to try – to see the truth of what others are experiencing, even when it’s mixed things that aren’t true. To acknowledge the good that is there, even when wicked forces try to distort that goodness to their own ends? Can we acknowledge and pray for those who genuinely feel like their lives don’t matter, so that they feel driven to chant in the streets that they do? Can we listen without a dismissive comeback?
There is already enough division and careless rhetoric going back and forth. Can we, even if we don’t understand or accept every aspect of the “other side,” make the effort to recognize, acknowledge, encourage, and be in communion with the goodness, truth, and beauty that is there for the sake of a deeper communion?
As you look upon the host and chalice today, recognize and rejoice in Jesus Christ truly present body, blood, soul, and divinity. As you look upon the host, strive to recognize too your fellow human beings from every race and culture who are members of that body. As you approach communion with his body and blood, consider how you can renew your commitment to participating in the life of grace God has offered us. As you approach the altar, consider how you can renew and deepen your participation in the efforts of the whole human race to find the justice, peace, reconciliation, and healing that only God can provide.
Discern if perhaps this effort, this channeling of God’s power, this becoming the light God wants us to be requires more prayer and sacrifice from you. Or some kind of peaceful outreach. Or having some difficult conversations. Then do it. The body of Christ is hurting as it always is on this earth. How will your participation in his Eucharistic body help to heal the wounds of his earthly body? Because the reward for that kind of participation is not some trophy, but eternal life.