Homily: Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ: 2007

Dear brothers and sisters, while I am skeptical of polls, and especially those that are parroted over and over throughout the years -- and so, no, I don't necessarily believe the poll that says 70% of churchgoing Catholics do not believe what the Church teaches about the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament -- I do realize that there is a real crisis of catechesis in this country, a crisis of belief, and that includes the belief in the Eucharist.

Father Benedict Groeschel says: "Nothing would restore Catholic life more strongly and pointedly than a return to true veneration and custody of the Holy Eucharist and the deeply reverent celebration of Mass. If you think I am exaggerating, ask yourself: How many who receive Holy Communion hardly know what they are doing?"

And I realize that familiarity can breed indifference; you do something over and over and over again and it can -- doesn't mean it will, of course -- become routine. Which is why I myself do little things to try to increase my reverence at Communion. I take It on the tongue, for instance, because it helps me to pause and reflect (be repentant and be grateful) that this is not like ordinary food; I am not waiting in a bread line to receive a ration or even a receiving line to pay my respects, but I am there to commune with my God. How often does someone put something directly in your mouth? Not often. So I have trouble with the words of the otherwise beautiful and melodic song we sometimes sing at Communion, "Make Of Our Hands a Throne" which goes something like:
Make of our hands a throne
To hold the bread of heaven,
Make of our hearts a home
To hold the very Lord of Life."
And I don't think they're the best lyrics because not all of us DO "make of our hands a throne" -- even if 90% of us do -- and we are completely within our rights not to do so.

And I like what Father Groeschel (in his book "The Rosary" -- published on the occasion of the publication of the Apostolic Letter "Rosarium Virginis Mariae" ["The Rosary of the Virgin Mary"] by John Paul II, which promulgated the saying of the rosary and the addition of the luminous mysteries which include the Institution of the Holy Eucharist) said about "true veneration and custody," the custody part meaning reservation of the Body of Christ and implying adoration. Parishes that start and those that continue exposition of the Eucharist, with opportunities for people to adore It, have been blessed in many other, seemingly unrelated ways. They gain a school, in one case, or find enough money to pay off bills -- and even expand, or see a renewal in faith in the pews, fervor in youth, etc., etc. Some of these facts are presented in the video "In the Presence of the Lord." All of which points to the fact that this Sacrament is the source and summit of Christian life. And one great analogy would go, It is like a fountain -- a source -- set in a high and prominent place -- a summit -- and from It flows the gifts and graces that every parish needs . . . including ours.

And finally, let us consider the miracle that Tradition says prefigured the Eucharist, the miracle in our Gospel reading this day (Luke 9:11-17). We can imagine ourselves gazing from the middle distance, puzzled and awed by the fact that Jesus just keeps handing out the bread and fish and He keeps breaking it in pieces, but they are not successively smaller pieces: that basket just never seems to empty. It's not a loud, strident miracle, as if bells and whistles are going off as if to say, "Look here! Look! Look!" but a quiet miracle that makes you go, "Now wait a minute. Surely there is not enough to feed us all. I'm not going crazy, am I?" No, you're not going crazy. Because this is the One, the God, the Holy One of Israel and there is always enough to feed us all.

Let us now profess our faith . . .