Father Paul Weinberger, Pastor
St. William the Confessor Catholic Church
Greenville, Texas
Feast of the Corpus Christi
June 18, 2006
On the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover Lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to Him, ‘Where do you want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen
About a month ago I read where the Episcopal Church had ordained a man. Evidentially they had struck up a correspondence with a man in prison and went there to ordain him. When the man was released from prison the Episcopal Bishop showed up and the man went right back into the prison to offer his first “mass” there. He had no vestments and stopped by a vending machine area and picked up a can of grape soda from one machine and a twinkie from another and this is what he used to offer the “mass.” Of course this is not according to the Catholic Church and it certainly wouldn’t be found in a book in the Episcopal church. The bishop was right there and saw everything his newly ordained used and saw this "mass" happen.
I was visiting with a friend a while back and she was telling me that where she is from, they had a First Communion Class ready to make their First Communion. All the kids were dressed appropriately and looked very nice, but on that day the children did not make their First Communion although they were all smiling. Now I know they didn’t make their First Communion because the children had prepared the bread that was used for the First Communion and it contained flour, water, and honey.
In your bulletin are five important documents and document #4 is only a couple of years old, dated March 25, 2004. This document is Redemptionis Sacramentum, which translated means, “The Sacrament of Redemption.
In the March 2004 document, "Redemptionis sacramentum " beautifully stipulates certain matters, which are to be observed or to be avoided regarding the Most Holy Eucharist. There is integrity to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which must be protected and maintained – at all times! This document is most specific concerning what is permitted during the Holy Mass.
So, only flour and water can be used in preparing Hosts; no baking soda, salt, chocolate chips, raisins, no pecans, peanuts can be added; flour and water…that is it!
Did you notice the first line of the Gospel today?
On the first day of the Feast of UNLEVEN BREAD.
To prepare unleven bread takes flour and water and NO HONEY! I could go through a very long explanation and you know I would but I refuse. Just trust me! All these children received that day was a piece of bread and they did not make their First Holy Communion. What is worse is that the priest knows better and he allowed that to happen in that place where that lady is from. How sad! How sad that Our Lord is so mistreated!
Today is the Feast of Corpus Christi, which means “The Body of Christ.” Corpus Christi, Texas is so named because they sailed into that beautiful bay on this Feast day hundreds of years ago. Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ.
If you look at the front of the bulletin you will see an image of the Sacred Heart. The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is Friday, June 23rd. In fact, it is always the Friday following Corpus Christi Sunday so Corpus Christi is connected to the Sacred Heart. You don’t see the Sacred Heart of Jesus just kind of floating in the ether. In fact, we are only allowed to view the Sacred Heart of Jesus in isolation apart from the Body in a drawing or some piece of art and in a private manner. In public veneration, the Sacred Heart always has to include His Corpus Christi…His Sacred Body and Blood. Corpus Christi is the Sacred Heart of Jesus situated in the context of His Most Sacred Body. You can see the balance that the Church has and must maintain in promoting the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Last week we celebrated the Feast of St. Anthony. That is a statue of St. Anthony over there.
Just so you can place him, St. Anthony died in the year 1231 at the age of 36. He was one of the first Franciscans; in fact St. Francis of Assisi himself named St. Anthony the first Professor of Theology of the Franciscan Order. St. Anthony drew great attention to the Corpus Christi but he wasn’t the first. The first in the scriptures to direct our attention to Corpus Christi is St. John the Baptist.
If you look at the bulletin you will see that the day after the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is the Solemnity of the Birth of St. John the Baptist. This Feast is always on June 24th. So, the first person to point out the Corpus Christi, point to the body of Christ and tell his disciples about it was St. John the Baptist. They all left him to follow Jesus and St. John didn’t call them back. This is why St. John was conceived, was born, why he lived and why he died.
The right hand of St. John the Baptist is still preserved, incorrupt to this day. Last week on the feast of St. Anthony, a story came out of Moscow about the right hand of St. John the Baptist visiting Moscow for the first time since 1917. And if you will remember, 1917 is the year Our Lady appeared to the three children in Fatima, warning us that if we didn’t pray and Russia wasn’t consecrated that there would be great wars and there were. Anyway, the story came out about the hand of John the Baptist on St. Anthony’s Feast Day.
We know that St. John the Baptist was a man. Oh wait…I am sorry. If the Da Vinci Code doesn’t say that I will change my story. Father is being sarcastic So, this saint was indeed a man and when he saw Jesus he said,
Behold the Lamb of God!
After he said this he pointed, right? He pointed right at Jesus and after this his disciples left to follow Jesus; of course they would!
That right hand was on display in a special bulletproof case. It normally resides in Montenegro but as it is visiting Russia, it is working wonders as it visits Russia for the first time since it was smuggled out of the country after the 1917 revolution.
The story mentions a retired man, Vladimir Mastukov, who had lost the use of his legs after a stroke five years ago. It also says that the people there were lining up and the line stretched for miles, and there is not a Rock Concert on the other end or a new Star Wars movie, but the right hand of St. John the Baptist. The faithful were just to file past and reverence the hand in the case. This was taking place in the Cathedral in Moscow called Christ the Savior Cathedral.
Vladimir bent down to kiss the case that housed the hand of St. John the Baptist and moments later he cast aside his crutches and skipped out of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in central Moscow. No, he didn’t because men don’t skip but we will just say he was very excited. [Laughter] Right men? Yes…ok.
Vladimir said,
I felt such lightness in all my body. Thank You, GOD!
Vladimir understood that he’d kissed the case containing the right hand of the Baptist, but he’d received a miracle from God through the intercession of the saint. St. John the Baptist performed this miracle through God’s Power. The saint is still pointing to God’s power in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
As I said, this story came out on the Feast of St. Anthony. In the 36 short years lived by St. Anthony, he went around telling people about the Corpus Christi. So many people did not believe in the Eucharist in the Most Blessed Sacrament. There was a particularly influential man who did not believe in the Body of Christ so St. Anthony set about to convert him and to convince his disbelieving friends. The man was very public about his disbelief and he led many to go along with him.
St. Anthony asked the man if he would do a little experiment. The man had a certain donkey all his life…it was hard to tell the two apart. [Laughter] St. Anthony told the man that this donkey would help with the experiment. He said that they would take the donkey and put him in a stall in the barn and not feed him for three days. After three days they would release the donkey and the owner would stand on one side of the barnyard with hay, oats, or the donkey’s favorite meal and St. Anthony would stand on the other side of the barnyard with the Most Blessed Sacrament. St. Anthony told the man that the “dumb animal”, dumb meaning unable to speak, would reverence the Creator of all things before he would ever of and take a bite of any food.
The man agreed to this experiment and told the saint that it would be easy. They put the little donkey in a stall and didn’t feed him for three days and nights. While the donkey was in the stall St. Anthony went into prayer for three days and three nights and ate nothing as well. On the third day when the donkey was released, it had done just as the saint said it would. It left the stall, walked over to St. Anthony and bent down in reverence to the Most Blessed Sacrament, the Corpus Christi, which was in the hands of St. Anthony. The people around witnessing this and who had eyes to see believed. St. Anthony spent his life pointing to the Body of Christ! This Feast of Corpus Christi doesn’t come to us through St. Anthony, but the time that St. Anthony and St. Francis lived in the 1200s.
In fact, this year is the 800th Anniversary that Saint Juliana of Liege entered the Augustinian convent in Belgium. This is back when Belgium was Catholic. Belgium was Catholic up until WWII but now it is a land of disbelievers. While St. Juliana was in the convent the Lord appeared to her after many years there and told her that He wanted this Feast established. It took many years to get this done but at the end of the 1200s the Pope established this Feast of Corpus Christi.. The pope himself had to be convinced and it took a long time.
There was a priest and I believe he was from Poland or that area, and he did not believe totally that when he said the Words of Jesus at the Last Supper over the bread and wine that it really was the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. He had doubts so he resolved to finish this once and for all. As a priest he went to Rome on pilgrimage thinking God would resolve all this for him. He got to the outskirts of Rome in Lanciano and he was offering Mass and started to have doubts again about the Real Presence. As he said the Words that Jesus said at the Last Supper over the unleven bread it turned into flesh and started bleeding. Blood shot up to the rafters and it is still there; they didn’t clean it off. Blood came over the Altar and you can just imagine how stunning that would be on a white linen Altar cloth. The priest took the corporal and folded it over and ran out of the Church to find the pope, who was near by.
That Sacred Host is still preserved in a special container and this is called the Miracle of Lanciano. The pope was so impressed that he had St. Thomas Aquinas write the hymns and the office and prayers that are used at this Mass, the Mass of Corpus Christi. So, the Feast of Corpus Christi is a result of doubts. When they scientifically inspected this Miracle of Lanciano they found that what they were examining was not just flesh but human flesh from the heart, cardiac tissue.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus desires that we adore His Most Sacred Heart, which is found in His Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ. We know about the Sacred Heart because the Sacred Heart revealed Himself to St. Margaret Mary in the late 1600s in the South of France. I mentioned St. Margaret Mary last Sunday. Before the Sacred Heart appeared to St. Margaret Mary He sent her a spiritual guide, someone to help her in the same way that He sent the children in Fatima and angel, who prepared them for a year before Our Lady’s visit. St. Francis of Assisi was given to St. Margaret Mary and she writes,
On the Feast of St. Francis Our Lord let me see in prayer, this great saint dressed in a garment of light and unspeakable brilliance.
It goes on to speak of the vision and then she says,
After I had seen all of this, the Divine Bridegroom, as a token of His love gave me St. Francis as my soul’s guide. He was to lead me through all the pains and sufferings, which awaited me.
There will be more about St. Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart in just a moment.
St. Francis lived at the same time as St. Anthony in the 1200s as I have already said. He is the first man known to us, who received the five wounds of Christ on his body. Do you know why he was the first one to receive the marks of the nails on his hands and feet and the wound in his side? It is probably because he was the first one in 1200 years to request them. Now, I have read about St. Francis, have I ever requested the stigmata? He might give it to me! St. Francis begged for the five wounds. St. Francis is beloved of Catholics, non-Catholics, and even pagans love him; he is revered by so many!
What I am holding up are the combined works of St. Francis, which I am going to read right now…all of them. I am joking! I will read a few that I have made note of to help us with Corpus Christi and His Feast Day. This is from St. Francis’ letters to all Superiors of the Franciscan Order. Now remember that St. Francis was not a priest but a religious.
In all your sermons you shall tell the people of the need to do penance, impressing on them that no one can be saved unless he receives the Body and Blood of Our Lord.
The reference here is to Jesus’ words in John, chapter 6.
Unless you eat My Flesh and drink My Blood you have no life within you!
Ok?
I will continue with the words of St. Francis.
When the priest is offering the Sacrifice at the Altar or the Blessed Sacrament is being carried about, everyone should KNEEL down and give praise, glory, and honor to our Lord and God, Living and True.
In another section of his letters he says,
All those who refuse to taste and see how good the Lord is and who love the darkness rather than the light, are under a curse.
So those who refuse to eat love darkness and are under a curse.
Moreover we should confess our sins to a priest and receive from him the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. The man who does not eat His Flesh and drink His Blood cannot enter the Kingdom of God; only he must eat and drink worthily because he who eats and drinks unworthily without distinguishing the Body, eats and drinks judgment to himself.
Now this means that if the person eats and drinks unworthily, he sees no difference between the Corpus Christi and other food. Think of it…if we do not speak to Our Lord, this Divine Guest after we receive Him in Holy Communion, then we have received Holy Communion as though it is just other food like popcorn or some other delicacy of our day. It is like giving Jesus the experience of just passing through from my mouth and into my body and then out of my body. "What a terrible insult this is to Our Lord," says St. Francis.
Continuing with St. Francis’ letters…
All those who refuse to do penance and receive the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ are blind because they cannot see the true light, Our Lord Jesus Christ. They indulge their vices in sins and follow their evil longings and desires without a thought for the promises they made. (In baptism) In body they are slaves of the world of their desires of their lower nature and in all the cares and desires of this life, in spirit they are slaves of the devil. They have been led astray by him and have made themselves his children, dedicated to doing his work. They lack spiritual insight because the Son of God does not dwell in them and it is He who is the True Wisdom of the Father. It is of such men as these that scripture says, “Their skill was swallowed up.” They can see clearly and are well aware of what they are doing. They are fully conscience of the fact that they are doing evil and knowingly lose their soul.
St. Francis charges priests to take excellent care of the linens, corporals, chalices, and everything having to do with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He says,
…and besides, many priests reserve the Blessed Sacrament in unsuitable places or carried about irreverently or receive it unworthily or priests give it to all comers without distinction.
Can you recall the mention that I make just before Holy Communion? It is so that all do not feel invited or welcome to receive Holy Communion. That goes for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. Again, it is to point out that there is a distinction and when the priest elevates the Corpus Christi and a person says “Amen”, they are saying that they believe and are trying to live everything that Jesus teaches them through the One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Why would someone who is not of our faith want to receive Holy Communion when they don’t believe and are not trying to live everything that Christ teaches through the Church? The paragraphs I just read to you are the writings of a saint who bore the wounds of Christ on His body, the marks of the Crucifixion.
Last week I mentioned this but I added something. It concerns the steps contained in the Spirit of the liturgy written Pope Benedict XVI when he was Cardinal Ratzinger. They are beautiful words and tremendous in their insight and can be of assistance to us in many ways. Let me just quote my own imperfect words from your bulletin.
So, the next time you receive Holy Communion, after you return to your place, kneel down or sit down – as you choose – then pray in these or similar words:
Jesus, my Living Lord, I know You have just entered my soul…my heart. I surrender myself to You. Please raise me up and transform me. Amen.
You can use this but we need to make it our won. We cannot merely allow Jesus to pass through us without speaking to this Divine Guest.
There is a book written by Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, current President of Christendom College, which is one of the most excellent catholic Colleges in this country. Dr. O’Donnell has written “Heart of the Redeemer” on the Sacred Heart of Jesus and he mentions the second or third time that Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary and in this case, it was 1674. Here is her account of what Jesus said to her. She describes how beautiful Christ is and describes His five wounds as thought they were five suns.
His five wounds shining like five suns, flames issuing from all parts of his human form, (His Corpus Christi) especially from His Divine Breast, which was like a furnace.
The Sacred Heart speaks to St. Margaret Mary about the many ways He is insulted and hurt. Jesus said,
This hurts Me more than everything I suffered in My passion. Even a little love from them returned and I should regard all that I have done for them as next to nothing and look for a way of doing still more. But no, all my eager efforts for their welfare meet with nothing but coldness and dislike.
He has laid down His life for you and me and what does He get in return? He gets cold shoulders and indifference.
You know that today is Father’s Day. Father’s will understand this. Do you know that today most collect calls are placed than any other day of the year?
“Hi dad! Will you accept this collect call? Happy Father’s Day! You’ll be getting the bill! ”
Fathers and mothers know that they are taken fro granted. I said this at the Vigil last night and my mother was sitting on the front row. I say it to my shame, but hopefully we grow past that point where we take our parents for granted, where we are cold and indifferent about how they lay down their lives for us if they are good mothers and fathers. We learn how much they love us.
A while back I had a funeral. I walked through the Church to see if the body had arrived and then I came right back into the Church a couple of minutes later and there was a woman visitor along with a whole row of women, Catholics and non-Catholics as well. This is great. But there was one woman, a senior citizen sitting about four rows from the back and as I came back into the Church I interrupted her “phone call”. While I was outside someone had called her. You know, cell phones will always go off in Catholic Churches from now on. People accidentally forget to turn them off but when someone actually takes a phone call in Church there has to be…well, lets just say they are tempting fate. We will leave it at that and thus save myself some time in Purgatory.
Father’s voice starts to grow louder.
When I came through, I heard her from the middle isle talking on the telephone!
”I gotta go, this terrible priest is coming by.”
That is probably what she was saying. If looks could kill we would have probably had her funeral the next week! [Laughter] But I looked at her and I said,
“TURN IT OFF!”
Do you know what happens almost every time I have to tell someone this in Church? They say to their caller,
”Oh, I gotta go.”
You know, if a priest looked at me and gave me THE LOOK while telling me to turn the phone off, I would swallow the cell phone! [Laughter] Forget turning it off, swallow it and we would figure out how to get it later! [Laughter]
When we recognize that the Corpus Christi is here in the Tabernacle and that when the priest elevates the Sacred Host and says, “The Body of Christ,” contained in that unleven bread is the very God whom will one day judge me for all eternity. It is NOT a symbol but the LIVING GOD! Jesus told St. Margaret Mary that people flee from His Presence. I have to admit, I am a priest and I figure out ways where I don’t spend enough time in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I have to do this or I have to do that. It is to my shame. What part of me is telling me to pull away from His Presence? I know what part of me is telling me that and I know who is whispering in my ear. We DON’T love Him as He should be loved and we DON’T adore Him as we should. We DON’T give Him our attention.
How many times during Mass have you seen someone balance their checkbook, make a grocery list, listen…to…the…game. You know the old secret! They have an earphone and think no one knows. Yea right! Everyone around you knows that you are listening to whatever game it is. These are insults to Our Lord as well as the insult of receiving Him unworthily.
Jesus wants to enter into my body and He wants me to surrender to Him so that He can raise me up and transform me.
On the first day of the Feast of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover Lamb Jesus’ disciples said to Him, ‘Where do you want us to go and prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
In the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
Amen