Homily for 2 June 2024 by Fr. Oscarito Antonio Boongaling

Corpus Christi Sunday

I remember my experience in my junior year in highschool when I joined the military training for cadet officers. One saturday morning after our jogging, the officers let us 30 cadets fall in line and at the front was the commander who with gloved hands sterilized our index finger with alcohol and using a small needle punctured it to let a small drop of blood fall into a cup filled with a liquid mixture of wine, water, vinegar, soy sauce, chili, garlic, onion, and other stuff. Then they made us sit down on the concrete ground, passed a large, round piece of bread that we had to partake and after that he handed over the cup that we were obliged to drink from. (It was similar to the Last Supper of our Lord with his disciples.) And he said that that ritual was a sort of the blood compact of our batch – that ritual signified we were no longer separate individuals but we have become one unit, one blood, we were like sisters and brothers. And we were to defend one another, support one another and bear with one another. Although we are celebrating the high feast of Corpus Christi (Corpus et Sanguinis Christi), I don’t think our Lord would mind if I focus our reflection on His blood, the symbolism of blood and its importance in our lives as Catholics.

In the first reading, we heard about the ritual of sacrifice of animals that Moses led with the Israelites. (Bulls were reserved for the priests while the goats or lambs were offered for the people.) When the animals were slaughtered, their blood was collected on bowls. Half of it was splashed on the altar while half of it was sprinkled on the people. Blood was sacred because it signified life, it was an important component of our bodies that carried nutrients to the different body parts. In the Old Testament, it was the blood of sacrificed animals that symbolized the covenant between God and his people. Blood of the animals were offered that the priest and people maybe cleansed from their iniquities and sins so that they can be reconciled with God. It was as if blood erased such hindrance to that relationship, such blood restored the Israelites’ dignity as God’s own.

But if we would recall the history of Israel through the writings of the prophets, God’s people did not remain faithful to the covenant. They have turned their hearts from God and served other gods. They did not experience pain because they did not shed their own blood, they did not offer their own lives. It was the innocent animals that suffered and died. The animals were tied – they did not willingly offered themselves. And worse, there were times when God’s people became blood thirsty because they have put to death the prophets who were sent by God to admonish them. That is why in the fullness of time God sent his only Son (Galatians 4:4-5) to serve as the priest who made the most worthy offering – his very self. The Son became also the lamb that was slaughtered. He offered his body and blood willingly as ransom for the punishment that was meant for us because of our sins and infidelity. (Hebrews 10:10-14) In the second reading, the author was saying that the ritual mentioned in the first reading became irrelevant. Because the sacrifice of old was fulfilled and replaced by the Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. The shedding of his blood cleansed our consciences from dead works, thus giving life to our worshipping and relating with God.

Before the Last Supper, Jesus must have been fully aware of the tendency of his disciples to forget what he taught them or the value of his good works. He understands their failure to remember the Father’s great love for them and for the rest of humankind. That is why he offered the sacred meal of the last supper where he gave them the gift of bread and wine – his body and blood. In our experience isn’t it that good moments happen when we share a meal with family and friends. When conflicting persons or groups sit before a table and eat together, it signifies their reconciliation. Through the Last Supper, Jesus reminded the 12 of God’s covenant with Israel where God shared his desire and dream that He will be their God and they will be his people.

The Jewish word for remember or reminder is “zakhor” which means we make what happened in the past relevant and present today, we make the past part of our lives in the here and now. That is why whenever we celebrate the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, Jesus remains present, his offering of his body and blood on the Cross continues to happen. When we receive holy communion, Jesus becomes part of us and we become more united to him. Each time we say “Amen” when we receive the Sacred Host and the Sacred Wine, we are saying yes to Jesus’ invitation to live and love in a deeper way like him. We strive to follow his example of witnessing to greater love by laying down our lives for those we are called to love through our families, our community, and through people we encounter daily. If we don’t take seriously the implication of Christ’s sacrifice and gift to us, then there is no sense and meaning when we receive Holy communion.

St. Therese of the Child Jesus, when she was assigned as the sacristan for the community mass, once reflected on the meaning of her receiving the body of Christ. She saw herself like the paten and the chalice, not just passively holding the sacred Body and Blood of Jesus, but being transformed into Jesus himself as she lives. Meaning she cannot remain the same person, she is changed by what she has received. Let us pray for the grace to experience what St. Therese has realized, that as we are nourished by Jesus in every mass we participate – when we listen to God’s word and receive Jesus’ body and blood – may we also be an instrument of nourishment to one another and to others. We ask for the help of the Holy Spirit that after receiving the host and wine, whenever we say Amen we may be serious in our commitment to share in God’s dream in renewing the earth, that we be instruments of transformative love, and that we may give direction to where God is leading all of us.