The Dynamic Presence of Christ
(Homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi)
"Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
his blood,
you have no life in you." (John 6:53)
What are we to make of these stark words in the Gospel
According to
John, which have scandalized generations of Christians, not
to say
countless unbelievers? If Jesus really did say this, and
really did
give us his flesh and blood as food, then what are we to
make of this?
How explain what is going on?
One way the Church has tried to explain this, through its
traditional
doctrine of "transubstantiation" is that while the
"accidents",
appearances, or outward forms remain those of bread and
wine, the
"substance" or inner reality is not that of bread and wine,
but of the
body and blood of Christ. In other words, what you see here
is not
what you get!
The problem is, however, that despite the clear and forceful
intent of
such an explanation, it is based on very ancient ideas about
the
nature of matter (those formulated by Aristotle nearly. four
centuries
before Christ) which just don't line up very well with what
we know
about physics today. What we know today is that what we
call "matter"
is itself just an appearance, a particular form taken by
energy
existing under certain specified conditions, and that energy
itself is
a "happening" (what scientists call "quanta" or "quantums")
which
interacts in certain ways that bind these quanta or
happenings
together into energy fields. In other words, you and I, the
wood of
this lectern, the pew you are sitting on, the bricks or
other
materials that make up this building, and even the ground on
which it
is built upon, are made up of tiny packets of energy
existing in a
dynamic relationship to each other within what is for the
most part
empty space!
Back on the Feast of the Ascension, I promised (at least to
those who
were at the early Sunday Mass at 8 AM) that I'd say more
about this --
especially after I asked whether or not we really thought
that Jesus
had been taken to some locality up in the sky beyond the
clouds.
Instead, I suggested that the risen Christ has been taken
up, as the
Epistle to the Ephesians says, into the "Church, [which is]
the
fullness of him who fills the universe in all its parts" (or
as some
translations put it, "fills the universe in every way"). In
other
words, we might say that from the time of his Ascension
onwards, the
risen body of Christ is not in any one place but has become
a new form
of energy that permeates that universal field that we call
time and
space. And if this is true, then the "Church" itself (and
here we're
not talking about the organization, much less the building,
but the
"mystical" -- that is "hidden" -- Body of Christ) is itself
that
special energy field in which this divine power of the risen
Christ
becomes manifest or shows itself to the world. You and I,
to the
extent that we are powered or energized by the risen Christ
are the
Body of Christ today in this world.
Now if this is true, then the critical question becomes
exactly how we
are so energized. Last Sunday (again at the 8 AM Mass) I
ended up
comparing the Holy Trinity (since it was Trinity Sunday) to
the
electric power system on which modern life so vitally
depends. God
the Father is something like the power plant, which being
many miles
away from us, few of us ever see from day to day. Instead,
what we
see is the system of transmission lines, poles and wires --
a system
that I likened to Jesus, the Church he started, and the
Sacraments.
But the whole point or purpose of the system is the unseen
electric
energy or current which powers so much that we consider
essential in
our daily life. That power or energy we call the "Holy
Spirit",
"grace" or a share in divine life.
Now (to take this analogy a step further) each of our houses
(or at
least a group of homes if they are close together) has
outside of it,
a device called a "transformer" which steps down the line
current to a
voltage that makes it usable in our household in our daily
life. If
it weren't for that transformer doing its job, all our
appliances
would quickly burn up and our lights would be blown to
smithereens.
So what I'm suggesting is that the function of the Holy
Eucharist (of
the Mass and Holy Communion) is very similar to that of a
transformer.
It is the principal means of converting the high voltage
energy of the
risen Christ into a form of divine energy ("grace") that we
can use in
our daily life. It is, like the food and drink we consume
(and note
how much of modern food preparation depends on electric
energy) that
without which life comes to a halt or even dies. If you
doubt that,
then just think back to the last prolonged power failure and
how much
your daily life was crippled by the lack of electricity. So
too what
can happen to our sharing divine life unless the
transmission lines
and transformers do their work.
This is not suggest that the Eucharist is the only way this
divine
energy can reach us. Many of our Christian brothers and
sisters
(despite their claim to basing their beliefs solely on the
Bible)
belong to churches that somehow lost belief in the real
presence of
Christ in the Eucharist or who deliberately eliminated the
jobs of the
linemen (the priests and bishops) whose function is to keep
the
electricity flowing. For these separated brethren, I
suppose we can
always say that God will provide -- by way of gas-powered
generators
(preaching) or biblical battery packs. Then too, there is
always
lightning direct from the sky -- which God sometimes
arranges to even
upset the main power grid from time to time!
Which brings up one last point -- a warning. In the
"sequence" or
special poem written by St. Thomas Aquinas especially for
this feast,
the great theologian wrote:
"Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers doom preparing,
Endless death or endless life."
Electricity is a wonderful, but dangerous thing. So is
God's grace.
Play with electricity, and you can get fried. Even as
stepped down by
the transforming action of the Eucharist, we have here a
"hot line" to
divine grace. We must not treat it casually, but with
caution.
Besides being dangerous, electricity is expensive and must
not be
wasted. Like the snow and the rain that God sends down to
the earth
to make our crops grow, this special divine energy must not
be
returned to God without it having totally transformed and
lit up our
lives. God help us and bless all of you.
(Homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi)
"Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
his blood,
you have no life in you." (John 6:53)
What are we to make of these stark words in the Gospel
According to
John, which have scandalized generations of Christians, not
to say
countless unbelievers? If Jesus really did say this, and
really did
give us his flesh and blood as food, then what are we to
make of this?
How explain what is going on?
One way the Church has tried to explain this, through its
traditional
doctrine of "transubstantiation" is that while the
"accidents",
appearances, or outward forms remain those of bread and
wine, the
"substance" or inner reality is not that of bread and wine,
but of the
body and blood of Christ. In other words, what you see here
is not
what you get!
The problem is, however, that despite the clear and forceful
intent of
such an explanation, it is based on very ancient ideas about
the
nature of matter (those formulated by Aristotle nearly. four
centuries
before Christ) which just don't line up very well with what
we know
about physics today. What we know today is that what we
call "matter"
is itself just an appearance, a particular form taken by
energy
existing under certain specified conditions, and that energy
itself is
a "happening" (what scientists call "quanta" or "quantums")
which
interacts in certain ways that bind these quanta or
happenings
together into energy fields. In other words, you and I, the
wood of
this lectern, the pew you are sitting on, the bricks or
other
materials that make up this building, and even the ground on
which it
is built upon, are made up of tiny packets of energy
existing in a
dynamic relationship to each other within what is for the
most part
empty space!
Back on the Feast of the Ascension, I promised (at least to
those who
were at the early Sunday Mass at 8 AM) that I'd say more
about this --
especially after I asked whether or not we really thought
that Jesus
had been taken to some locality up in the sky beyond the
clouds.
Instead, I suggested that the risen Christ has been taken
up, as the
Epistle to the Ephesians says, into the "Church, [which is]
the
fullness of him who fills the universe in all its parts" (or
as some
translations put it, "fills the universe in every way"). In
other
words, we might say that from the time of his Ascension
onwards, the
risen body of Christ is not in any one place but has become
a new form
of energy that permeates that universal field that we call
time and
space. And if this is true, then the "Church" itself (and
here we're
not talking about the organization, much less the building,
but the
"mystical" -- that is "hidden" -- Body of Christ) is itself
that
special energy field in which this divine power of the risen
Christ
becomes manifest or shows itself to the world. You and I,
to the
extent that we are powered or energized by the risen Christ
are the
Body of Christ today in this world.
Now if this is true, then the critical question becomes
exactly how we
are so energized. Last Sunday (again at the 8 AM Mass) I
ended up
comparing the Holy Trinity (since it was Trinity Sunday) to
the
electric power system on which modern life so vitally
depends. God
the Father is something like the power plant, which being
many miles
away from us, few of us ever see from day to day. Instead,
what we
see is the system of transmission lines, poles and wires --
a system
that I likened to Jesus, the Church he started, and the
Sacraments.
But the whole point or purpose of the system is the unseen
electric
energy or current which powers so much that we consider
essential in
our daily life. That power or energy we call the "Holy
Spirit",
"grace" or a share in divine life.
Now (to take this analogy a step further) each of our houses
(or at
least a group of homes if they are close together) has
outside of it,
a device called a "transformer" which steps down the line
current to a
voltage that makes it usable in our household in our daily
life. If
it weren't for that transformer doing its job, all our
appliances
would quickly burn up and our lights would be blown to
smithereens.
So what I'm suggesting is that the function of the Holy
Eucharist (of
the Mass and Holy Communion) is very similar to that of a
transformer.
It is the principal means of converting the high voltage
energy of the
risen Christ into a form of divine energy ("grace") that we
can use in
our daily life. It is, like the food and drink we consume
(and note
how much of modern food preparation depends on electric
energy) that
without which life comes to a halt or even dies. If you
doubt that,
then just think back to the last prolonged power failure and
how much
your daily life was crippled by the lack of electricity. So
too what
can happen to our sharing divine life unless the
transmission lines
and transformers do their work.
This is not suggest that the Eucharist is the only way this
divine
energy can reach us. Many of our Christian brothers and
sisters
(despite their claim to basing their beliefs solely on the
Bible)
belong to churches that somehow lost belief in the real
presence of
Christ in the Eucharist or who deliberately eliminated the
jobs of the
linemen (the priests and bishops) whose function is to keep
the
electricity flowing. For these separated brethren, I
suppose we can
always say that God will provide -- by way of gas-powered
generators
(preaching) or biblical battery packs. Then too, there is
always
lightning direct from the sky -- which God sometimes
arranges to even
upset the main power grid from time to time!
Which brings up one last point -- a warning. In the
"sequence" or
special poem written by St. Thomas Aquinas especially for
this feast,
the great theologian wrote:
"Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers doom preparing,
Endless death or endless life."
Electricity is a wonderful, but dangerous thing. So is
God's grace.
Play with electricity, and you can get fried. Even as
stepped down by
the transforming action of the Eucharist, we have here a
"hot line" to
divine grace. We must not treat it casually, but with
caution.
Besides being dangerous, electricity is expensive and must
not be
wasted. Like the snow and the rain that God sends down to
the earth
to make our crops grow, this special divine energy must not
be
returned to God without it having totally transformed and
lit up our
lives. God help us and bless all of you.
