Are You a Mouse or A Man? A Homily for The Feast of Corpus Christi

062114In many places this Sunday, the (moved) Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Our Lord is celebrated.

While you may puzzle over my title for today’s blog, allow me to explain it a bit later. On a Solemn feast like this, many things occur that might be preached and taught. Allow three areas for reflection: the Reality of the Eucharist, the Requirement of the Eucharist, and the Remembrance of the Eucharist. We will look at each in turn.

I. The Reality of the Eucharist – On this solemn feast we are called above all to faith in the fact (as revealed by the Lord himself) that the Eucharist, the Holy Communion, is in fact a reception of the very Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ, whole and entire, in his glorified state. We do not partake of a symbol. The Eucharist is not a metaphor; it is truly the Lord. Neither is it a “piece” of his flesh, but it is Christ, whole and entire. Scripture attests to this in many places:

A. Luke 22:19-20 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”

B. 1 Cor 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a partaking in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a partaking in the body of Christ?

C. Luke 24:35 They recognized him in the breaking of the bread.

D. 1 Cor 11:29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

E. John 6:51 “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

This last quote is from the Gospel for today’s feast. The passage is a profound theology of the Eucharist from Jesus himself, and He makes it clear that we are not permitted to think of the Eucharist in symbolic or metaphorical terms.

When He referred to the bread as His flesh, the Jewish people hearing Him grumbled in protest. Jesus did not seek to reassure them or to insist that He was speaking only symbolically when He said that they must eat His flesh. Rather He became even more adamant by shifting his vocabulary from the polite form of eating, φάγητε (phagete – meaning simply “to eat”) to the impolite form, τρώγων (trogon – meaning to “munch, gnaw or chew”).

So insistent was He that they grasp this, that He permitted many to leave Him that day knowing that they would no longer follow in His company due to this very teaching (cf Jn 6:66). Yes the Lord paid quite a price for His graphic and “hard” teaching (Jn 6:60).

Today He asks us, Do you also want to leave me? (Jn 6:67). We must supply our answer each time we approach the altar and hear “The Body of Christ.” It is here that we answer the Lord, “Amen,”  as if to say, Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the word of eternal life! (Jn 6:68).

If only everyone would grasp that the Lord Himself is truly present in our Churches! Were that so, one could never empty our parishes of those seeking to pray with the Lord. As it is, only 27% come to Mass regularly. This is more evidence of the narrow road and how few there are who find it. Just as most left Jesus then, many continue to leave Him now, or stand far away through indifference or false notions.

What father would not be severely alarmed if one of his children stopped eating? Consider then God’s alarm that many of us have stopped eating. This leads us to the next point.

II. The Requirement of the Eucharist – When I was a kid I thought of Church and Communion as just something my mom made me do; it was just rituals and stuff. I never thought of it as essential for my survival. But in John’s Gospel today, Jesus teaches something very profound about Holy Communion (the Eucharist). In effect, He says that without Holy Communion we will starve and die spiritually.

Here is what Jesus says, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53).

As a kid and even a young adult I never thought of Holy Communion as essential for my life, as something that, if not received regularly, would cause me to die spiritually. But it makes sense doesn’t it? If we don’t eat food in our physical lives we grow weak and eventually die. It is the same with Holy Communion.

Remember this in the Book of Exodus: the people were without food in the desert and they feared for their lives. So God gave them bread from heaven, called “manna,” and they collected it each morning. Without eating that bread from Heaven they would never have made it to the Promised Land; they would have died in the desert.

It is the same with us. Without receiving Jesus, our Living Manna from Heaven in Holy Communion, we will not make it to our Promised Land of Heaven! I guess it’s not just a ritual after all. It is essential for our survival.

Don’t miss Holy Communion! Jesus urges you to eat.

A mother and father in my parish recently noticed that their daughter wasn’t eating. Within a very short time they took her to the doctor, who was able to cure the problem; now the young girl is able to eat again. Those parents would have moved Heaven and Earth to make sure their daughter was able to eat.

It is the same with God. Jesus urges us to eat, to receive the Holy Communion every Sunday without fail. Jesus urges us with this word: “Unless!” Holy Communion is our required food.

III. The Remembrance of the Eucharist – The word remembrance comes up a lot in reference to Holy Communion in today’s readings. Consider the following passages from Scripture:

A. Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert … and then fed you with manna (Deut 8).

B.  Do not forget the LORD, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Deut 8:24).

C. Do this in remembrance of me … (1 Cor 11:24 inter al).

What is remembrance and why is it important? In effect, to “remember” is to have present in your mind what God has done for you so that you’re grateful to have it so present to you, so that you’re different. God has saved us, made us His children, and opened Heaven for us. Yet our minds are very weak and too easily we let this slip from our conscious thoughts. Thus, the summons to an ἀνάμνησιν (anamnesin) or “remembrance” that is so common in the Eucharistic liturgy is a summons to our minds to be open to and powerfully aware of what the Lord has done for us. Don’t just stand or kneel there, forgetting; let this be present to you as a living and conscious reality that transforms you!

Are you a mouse or a man? And now to address the puzzling question I posed in my title. Back in my seminary days we were given the example of a mouse who runs across the altar, takes a consecrated host, and runs off and eats it. We were then asked, “Does it eat the Body of Christ?” Yes! For the Eucharist has a reality unto itself. “But does it receive a sacrament?” No! A mouse has no rational mind. It eats the very Body of Christ, but to no avail, for it has no conscious awareness or appreciation of what (whom) it is eating. And so here comes the question: “Are you a mouse or a man?”

How do you receive Holy Communion? Do you go up mindlessly, shuffling along in the Communion line in a mechanistic way? Or do you go up powerfully aware of Him whom you are about to receive? Do you remember? Do you have vividly present in your mind what the Lord has done for you? Are you grateful and amazed at what He has done and what He offers? Or are you just like a mouse, receiving something mindlessly that has been put into your mouth?

Some people put more faith in Tylenol than they do in the Eucharist. Why? Because when they take Tylenol they actually expect something to happen! They expect the pain to go away, and for there to be relief and healing. But when it comes to Holy Communion, they expect next to nothing. To them, it’s just a ritual. Hey, it’s time to go up and get the wafer (pardon the expression).

Really?! Nothing? How can this be? Poor catechesis? Sure. Little faith? Sure. Boredom? Yes indeed. At some level it can be no better than a mouse eating a host. We are receiving the Lord of all creation, yet most expect little.

To this the Church says, “Remember!” “Have present to your mind all that the Lord has done for you and what he is about to do. Let this reality of the Lord’s presence be alive in your mind so that it changes you and makes you profoundly grateful and joyful. Become the One you receive!”

Jesus is more powerful than Tylenol, and we are men (and women), not mice.

On this Solemnity of the Body of Christ, we are summoned to deepen our faith in the Lord, present in the Eucharist and acting through His Sacraments. Routine may have dulling effects, but it cannot be such that we receive the Lord of glory each Sunday in any way that would be called mindless.

Ask the Lord to anoint your mind so that you remember and never forget.

14 Replies to “Are You a Mouse or A Man? A Homily for The Feast of Corpus Christi”

  1. Beautiful! I have never heard the “man or a mouse” story. It is an excellent “parable” to keep in mind as we contemplate our own response to our Eucharistic Lord. Thank you, Msgr., for your powerful messages! I have learned so much from you.

  2. “He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath everlasting life: and I will raise him up in the last day.” – John 6:55

    Jesus using His Body and Blood to save creation!
    Yes, God will use creation to save creation!

    Just like when He used the hem of His garment to cure the hemorrhaging woman.
    Healing and Life saving power transmitted through creation (the garment).

    Just like when He used the mud mixture to cure the blind man.
    God using creation to transmit healing to His creation (the blind man).

    Is this hard to believe Protestants?

    Man using medicine (creation) to transmit healing power through that medicine.

    So God can’t do the same thing?

    Ah, the mystery of faith remains for why did He tell us to ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ His Body and Blood?

    Perhaps I should leave you with a riddle:

    “The fruit of the just man is a Tree of Life: and he that gaineth souls, is wise.” – Proverbs 11:30

    Remember folks, there are ‘hidden meanings’ in the ‘Proverbs’!

    “He will search out the hidden meanings of proverbs, and will be conversant in the secrets of parables.”- Ecclesiasticus 39:3

  3. What a wonderful writing on the most wonderful event today. A beautiful explanation of being given versus receiving Jesus. As a sacrament only when received worthily.

  4. Rev. Msgr

    Good one, the constant struggle we the laity face today is lack of persistent faith and belief in Eucharist the source of Catholics faith and nourishment for sustaining Christian life, thanks for helping us to realize the vitality of Eucharist and receiving it with great respect and fear.

  5. Msgr. Charles, after reading the title of your sermon, I have wondered how many times I have eaten the host as a mouse. I need to go to confession more often, so I can prepare myself for Mass. I must do things to help me to remember how important it is to go to Communion with a deeper understanding that it is really Christ that is offering himself to me. My other goals are to go to Mass more often during the week and to study the bible more each day. I thank you Msgr. Charles for your sermon today.

  6. Father, if only our priest and deacons would speak more boldly about the reality of the Blessed Sacrement. So little reverence and defense of the Real Presence. I pray that I never again receive as a mouse.

  7. Yes, I can concur about weakening and eventually dying from lack of the Eucharist.

    If I have been without it for more than a week, I really start to feel it – it is a kind of anguish that builds up within my interior and a ravenous hunger for the Eucharist.

    When I receive the Eucharist, there is a kind of peace that is beyond peace – it is the very substance of peace itself.

    I try to receive every day now.

  8. The externals help increase belief and reverence-the internals. If the building and so forth is Catholic, we can then more easily have belief and a true reverence for the Corpus.

  9. Brilliant. At our Mass, on the actual feast day, our FSSP priest reminded us how in old testament times, when a man not of the tribe of Levi put out his hand to steady the Arc of the Covenant which was about to fall off its cart. He was struck down dead. And the Arc did not contain the Real Presence. How so much more grave it is to disrespect Our Lord in the Eucharist! Everyone knelt whilst Our Lord was on the Altar.

    Then, forced to attend a different Mass on Sunday due to a road closure, at a Mass supposedly celebrating the moved feast said by a modernist priest, the sermon just went on about bread, bread, bread. Nobody knelt, even at consecration.

    Bishops ought to take a long hard look at themselves, because clearly the message is not getting across in seminaries

  10. How quickly the Church can empty immediately following communion. I think this ranks as utter disrespect for the Eucharist.

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