Homily for Corpus Christi - Sunday 11th June 2023

Homily for Corpus Christi

Sunday 11th June 2023

This week I took my mum to Benburb so that she could go to communion in the Anglican Church. As usual, we were all made welcome. This was also a special occasion because Revd Suzanne is being moved to Tuam, County Galway to continue her ministry there. So, this was to be the last time my mum would be able to go to St Patrick’s in Benburb to receive Holy Communion on Wednesday, as the parish will be vacant for a while. As part of our gathering including going for coffee or tea afterwards, we made our way to Blackwatertown to a new coffee shop that had opened there.

My mum and I only go once a month as I am tied up with work and on the weekends I am involved with parish work as a deacon.

When it came time to go it was hard for Revd Suzanne to say goodbye, in the hope my mum and I would see her with the group before she and her family move away. It was important that this was a good memory. One that we all shared in the future.

As the group of Apostles gathered to break bread and drink wine, most probably imagined this was a normal event leading up to the celebrations in Jerusalem for the Passover. They sang hymns and were merry. They were not aware of what was unfolding before them.

Jesus had mentioned several times he is the lamb of God, living bread who came from heaven. He says in today’s Gospel eating this bread will give eternal life. This bread is his flesh. When the objections came, he replied ‘if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. Anyone who does eat his flesh and drinks his blood will live forever.

This is the mystery of our faith, when we eat this bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.

Judas had left the gathering; everything was almost in place. Jesus knew the time was near. He could see the smiles on the disciples' faces. The big fishermen, the tax collector, his friends. There was a moment of hush. All eyes focused on Jesus. They gathered around the table. Jesus’s words were solemn, “I have longed to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; because I tell you, I shall not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God”. He took the cup and said the same regarding the wine. He took the bread, broke it and shared it with them, saying “This is my body which is given for you: do this as a memorial of me”. Once they had finished eating, he did the same with the cup, saying “This cup is the new covenant in my blood which will be poured out for you”.

The words Jesus said and the actions he presented to his disciples have been an everlasting memory for all those who believe in him, because through them we each here are able to be in communion with Our Lord. Through a single sacrifice upon the cross Jesus died for us as God Our Father’s Paschal Lamb, linking the first Passover, where the blood of the lamb place on the doorpost became the sign to say the Jews would be saved from destruction, where all the firstborns died. This time it was God’s first born who is the sacrifice that spares us from destruction, if we believe in him, and believe when we take the Eucharist, we are receiving the body and blood of Jesus.

In the second reading Paul talks about the blessing of the cup and breaking of bread are a communion with the blood and body of Christ. He recognises that as there is one loaf, even though we the Church, are many people, we form a single body which shares in the one Christ. We are in communion with Christ every time we receive the Eucharist, which connects us to a single moment in time when Jesus died on the cross for us all. At the same time, anyone who eats this bread will live forever.