Full text of homily
Fr. Anthony Brankin
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This weekend we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi—the Feast of the Body of Christ-and it has always been one of the most beautiful of feasts—So full of traditions and ceremonies—music and color.
I remember seeing a travelogue once. I cannot remember in what country it was filmed. Italy or Spain—perhaps Mexico—but on the Feast of Corpus Christi, the whole plaza, in front of the church, was covered with a huge, huge mosaic of flowers—from one end of the plaza to the other—and in beautiful painstaking detail. It was breathtaking.
Then at the end of Mass as the bells are ringing and the choirs are singing and incense is billowing—the doors of the church burst open and the priests and deacons and acolytes stream through with the Monstrance with the Blessed Sacrament is held high and they all wade into the flowers—ankle deep through a sea of color. To have seen it on television was absolutely beautiful. I cannot imagine what it must be like to see it in person.
But think about it: Could anyone do this—flowers and Mass and song and procession and not believe in the literal truth of Christ’s declaration—that this was actually His Body and Blood? Could any of these people who were involved in this festival have not believed that it was literally true that He would give us His Flesh to eat and His blood to drink—and that it was right here in Church—in Holy Communion and really and truly and substantially?
If they did not believe in the truth of what they were doing they just wouldn’t do it.
By the same token, we can ask: Could our people have built this church if we did not believe Him when He said “My Flesh is real Flesh, and my blood is real drink.”
Indeed, could anyone have built any church or painted any picture or carved any statue or composed any chant or sung any hymn or laid one flower in honor of Our Lord’s Presence in Holy Communion if it were not really Jesus?
As Flannery O’Connor, the Catholic author from the 50’s, said when she was asked if she thought Holy Communion might be a symbol, “Well if it is just a symbol, then the heck with it!”
Holy Communion is not a symbol pointing to anything else—where this means that and that means this. It is as real and direct as anything in our experience. If it is not Jesus—why bother?—why bother?
And in 2000 years, the Church of Christ, the Catholic Church, has never once flinched from preaching and teaching this truth— whole and entire and literal. It is His Body—it is His Blood. It is Jesus Himself given to us as our spiritual food.
Now the Church has tried to understand this incredible miracle—without destroying the Mystery—by using the word “transubstantiation”.
Transubstantiation basically means that in Holy Communion we begin with the substance of bread—the thing that makes bread to be bread—and the substance of wine—the thing that makes the wine to be wine.
And at the moment of Consecration—probably at the moment when the priest says the word “This”— the substance of bread and the substance of wine change into the substance of Christ’s Body and Blood.
To all appearances it still looks like bread and wine—it tastes like it—it has the same outward effects; but there is bread no longer— There is wine no longer. It is gone—changed into Christ himself.
This is the reason for the bells—the reason for the marble—the reason for the gold—the reason for the vestments—the reason for the genuflections—the bows, the incense. We have—in front of us—and then within us—the very Son of God—who proceeded from the Father and was born of the Virgin Mary. If we truly believed in all this—could we stay away?
When we go to Communion today—let there be no doubt in our hearts: this is He. Let there be no relaxation of our literal belief: this is Our Lord. Let there be no compromise: this is Jesus Christ.
You may have read that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has decided that from now on—every time that he says Mass, the people who come to Holy Communion to him are to kneel and receive on the tongue—just as we did in the old days.
It would seem by this personal rule that the Pope is trying to teach us. In a very mild manner, that a more beneficial way of receiving Jesus in Holy Communion—might be in the old posture—where we kneel quietly and then in all humility allow Jesus to be placed in our mouth—without ever touching Him or grabbing for Him. Our bodies at prayer—just like our souls and minds.
The Holy Father has not said yet that everyone must receive Communion in this way—but he is obviously convinced that receiving Holy Communion the way we used to receive It—on our knees and on our tongue—could very well be the way we recapture all those lost old feelings and beliefs we used to have about Jesus and Holy Communion.
I do not remember when they first changed the way we received Holy Communion. I know that it happened around the same time we had all the other changes in the Mass when we went from Latin to English. I certainly don’t remember seeing any major documents from Rome or the Pope or the Bishops—it just happened. One Sunday we are kneeling for Communion and, then, all of a sudden the next Sunday we are standing in a line.
I was never too sure about the wisdom of that move. (Actually anything that came out of the 60’s—anything –really needs to be rethought.)
But I remember one priest in the seminary who was giving out Communion so fast that he dropped a Host and told the seminarian, “Pick it up, its yours.” That’s exactly what he said, “Pick it up, it’s yours.” I wonder where that seminarian is these days, and I wonder if he receives Holy Communion any more. I do know the priest himself eventually quit the priesthood. Back in the 60’s there was a new feeling about Holy Communion going around and it wasn’t really productive of holiness.
It was actually a few years later when Communion in the hand began—with people on their own initiative grabbing for the Host.
I remember at Our Lady of Charity when this first started in the parishes—it must have been about 1977 or so—and someone—not from the parish—came up to Holy Communion and reached up for the Host with his fingers.
I was so surprised that I held the host back, and before you know it we were having a tug-of-war over the Body of Christ! Once I realized what was going on, I let him take it, but I thought that this is pretty ugly!
Well within a year or two the idea of receiving Communion in the hand had spread so far and wide that the Pope just gave in and said people could receive in the hand if they wanted—but only as an exception. Well it pretty much became the norm.
Now in recounting the history of how we have received Holy Communion in the last forty years, I am only remembering out loud what actually happened. I am not second-guessing the patterns we have been in for forty years. I know all our people at St. Odilo receive the Body of Christ truly devoutly and mostly in the hand—because you believe in Holy Communion deeply.
Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.
But how about those who aren’t here? The 75% who used to come to Mass before the changes? Might their faith have been a bit more strengthened in the face of modern life’s assaults had they been kneeling all the time when they received? Perhaps. I don’t know.
But what I do know is that we would not kneel if this were only bread—we would not kneel if this were only wine. We kneel to remind ourselves as surely as possible that this is Our Blessed Lord come to us as the Food of the Angels.
I know that those who stand for Holy Communion believe and believe deeply. When the Church says standing and receiving in the hand is OK, I say it is ok. But there is no clearer reinforcement about what we believe about Holy Communion than to go to our knees before the Lord of Hosts. And that, I would think, is what the Pope is talking about.
If you haven’t knelt for Holy Communion in the last forty years—I warmly invite you to try it today—or maybe next Sunday. Think about it. See if I am wrong. But I truly believe that if you want your hearts to melt at the moment you receive Holy Communion— just like those hearts did when you were younger—this is the way.
And then when we return to our seats, let us lower our heads, close our eyes and whisper our prayers and needs to Him.
Actually move our lips—so that our hearts may be moved with the conviction that He who said He was our Food—dwells really truly and substantially and personally within us.
Let us be absolutely confident that He who has the words of everlasting Life is the One whom we consume on this beautiful feast of Corpus Christi.