Sacred Heart Parish

Homilies

Announcements

We are looking for persons able to transcribe the audio portion of our town meetings.
Please call the rectory if you can help.


19TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B)

  1. The bishops at the Second Vatican Council made a statement which, on the surface, seems most surprising: “The Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as the Church venerates the body of the Lord in the Eucharist since, especially in the Liturgy, the Church unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body.” The Lord gives us bread from heaven.

  2. We should note carefully what we have already said in prayer to the risen Christ – “You came in history to gather us into the peace of God’s kingdom”. We call this “objective redemption”. Christ the Lord, by his paschal mystery of dying and rising, has redeemed the world. We then said in prayer to the risen Christ – “You come now in word and sacrament to strengthen us in holiness”. This is what we call “subjective redemption”. What good would objective redemption be if men and women down the centuries do not or cannot encounter the risen Lord who meets his people in word and in sacrament? This suggests an urgent problem for each one of us – How am I to be linked up effectively with that great mystery of Christ’s death on the cross? When shall I know, how do I know, that Christ is not only the world’s redeemer but also and especially my redeemer? (Vonier) Mere membership with the human race does not link me up with the risen Christ, though it is true that Christ died for the whole human race. I become a member of Christ, I begin to understand that the risen Christ is my redeemer when I come to realize that the risen Christ encounters his people, and they encounter him, in word and in sacrament.

  3. For the past two weeks, for today, and for the next two weeks for our Gospel passage, we have been reading and will continue to read from Chapter 6 in John’s Gospel. This 6th chapter is an excellent example of how the risen Christ truly encounters his people and how they truly encounter him in both word and sacrament; that is, through Scripture, that is, through faith in God’s word expressed to us in the Scriptures and through the sacraments, especially the Eucharist. We should note how John structures his Chapter 6 which often bears the popular title – Christ’s “Bread of Life” discourse. Christ himself is our bread of life, extravagantly set before us on the two tables of his word and his Eucharist. In what way is Christ our bread of life?

  4. First of all, the expression “bread of life” means the teachings of Jesus, God’s wisdom, which enlightens our minds and shows us the road along which we must journey. In this context, the Lord says to us – I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger and whoever believes in me, accepts my teachings, trusts in my word, will never thirst.

  5. Our Gospel passage today gives us a second meaning for the expression “bread of life”. It turns our attention to that other table of God’s nourishing love which is the sacrament of the Eucharist. Now the Lord can say to us – “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” What an amazing gift – the Lord Jesus who is the bread of life when he teaches us the truth of faith becomes the bread of life in sacramental form whereby he enables us to put into action the faith that he gives us through his teachings.

  6. The Eucharist, as the Catechism has taught us, is both a sacrifice and a sacrament; in the Eucharist the risen Christ is contained, offered and received. When we say “contained”, we mean that consoling and wondrous teaching of our Catholic faith which we call the “Real Presence”; that is, under the outward, visible, tangible signs of bread and wine, the inner reality is no longer that of bread and wine but the very reality of the body and blood of the risen Christ. When we say that the risen Christ is “offered”, we mean the Eucharist as sacrifice, the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection, his self-offering on the cross made present for us in a sacramental manner. And when we say the risen Christ is “received”, we mean the risen Christ as sacrament, that is as holy Communion, the very reality of the risen Christ sacramentally present and given to us as our spiritual food and drink, the nourishment we must have if we expect to complete a successful journey to our transcendent God. We can take great inspiration from our first reading today. Elijah makes his forty-day journey a great success because of the nourishment God provided him in his great need.

  7. We should note immediately the vital distinction between receiving the Eucharist and truly entering into holy communion with the risen Christ and with the Father and with the Holy Spirit, and with our brothers and sisters who along with ourselves seek to enter into holy communion with the risen Christ and with the Father and with the Holy spirit. To communicate with Christ means to communicate with one another at the Eucharist in Christ. As theologians like to remind us, in my prayer at Holy Communion time, I must look totally toward Christ as I allow myself to be transformed by him. But as our Holy Father reminds us, I must also keep clearly in mind how our Eucharistic Lord unites us with every other communicant – “With the one next to me, with my fellow-parishioners, with certain ones who I may not like very much, but also with those who are far away in distant lands.” Eucharistic communion is a transforming event. Unlike our daily bread which is transformed and becomes part of ourselves to give us strength and nourishment, our Eucharistic Bread transforms us in Christ’s likeness. It is truly the sacrament of charity; it is truly the sign of unity and a bond of love.

    A final postscript: Last Thursday we celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration which opens the eyes of our faith to the true reality of the Lord Jesus and to the true reality God destines for us when he calls us to himself. This is the great work of the Eucharist. It transforms us. It transfigures us. As we persevere in faith and in the reception of the Eucharist, God continues to prepare us for our final transfiguration.