CORPUS CHRISTI
Sermon preached at the Church of S. Mary, Lewisham
at Parish Mass on June 2nd, 2013
"To be possessed by Jesus and to possess Him - that is the perfect
reign of Love."
INTRODUCTION
Last Thursday the Church celebrated the great Feast of
Corpus et Sanguis Christi – the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. Like many others (not least those in Ghent
where many from here will be attending Mass this morning) we are observing the
Feast today. And, in so doing, we are
affirming the Real Presence of Christ in our midst and of the real importance
of loving devotion of giving praise, glory and profound respect for
God-with-us. We give thanks that we are
in the midst of Divine Love. That is our
faith.
On Maundy Thursday we worshipped with Jesus in Jerusalem as
he observed the Passover Feast before His Passion and Death and shared His life
with his disciples. Now that we have
also celebrated the glory of His resurrection, we recognise His continuing
presence with us, a presence made explicit in those words: ‘This is my Body,
which is for you.” So, today, we give
our attention to Jesus present with us in the Blessed Sacrament. We are at-one with Divine Love made explicit
in those words of the 19th c. French priest S. Peter Eymard: "To be possessed by Jesus and to
possess Him, that is the perfect reign of Love."
A friend and contemporary of S. Peter was S. John Marie
Vianney, better known as the Curé d’Ars.
There is a moving story told about him that some of you may know which
tells of the way he would watch an old farmer enter his church every day and
sit before the Tabernacle in which, of course, resides the Blessed Sacrament,
just as it does here. Eventually S. John
decided to ask what the old man did when he sat there. His response was very simple and has become world
famous: “I look at him, he looks at me
and we tell each other that we love each other.”
That old farmer was contemplating for, as one commentator
has said: ‘Contemplation is gazing on God
with the eyes of the heart.’
DEVOTION IN THE LIFE
OF THE CHURCH
I often wonder if our Church really encourages people to
adopt this contemplative gaze in church – or in life. We’re very good at making people feel
welcome, we are well known for great social events and for the care we show one
another, especially those in need. But
are we well known for our devotion to Jesus?
When I was growing up in the church I was taught to spend time with God
before Mass and to spend time with others afterwards. Nowadays, if you go into many churches, they
are often full of noise and activity and I wonder if that old farmer would have
found the stillness and silence in which he could simply gaze on Divine Love.
GIVING ATTENTION
I am sure we are all aware of the way in which what we give
our attention to – what we gaze upon – helps mould who we are. Give your attention to violence, envy,
greed, lust and so on and you may find yourself becoming violent, envious,
greedy and lustful. The human heart, the
centre of who we are, is moulded by its desires. So giving attention, giving our devotion, to
Jesus is of greatest importance. That
contemplative prayer of what might be called ‘loving regard’ is essential in
developing our life in Christ. All the
great saints have realised this and one of them, S. Ignatius Loyola, encourages
us to take time to recognise the power of evil that would draw us away from
that fullness of life God offers, and actively gaze upon Christ. To re-direct our attention, if you like, to
Jesus.
When I was a parish priest I used to ask people what they
did when they first entered the church.
Did they acknowledge that ‘this is the House of God and the Gate of
Heaven’ or did they ignore the Host? Of
course it’s right to be welcoming and there are practical things many need to
do, but to make a practice of genuflecting to the Blessed Sacrament and then
kneeling in prayer as one’s first activity helps to get the attention
right.
But it’s not only in church we may need to re-direct our
attention. If, like me, you have a
constant, often critical, dialogue going on in your head, or find what might be
called ‘negative thoughts’ easily taking hold, then one needs to do something
to alter where one’s attention is given.
Recently I have come across a really helpful Buddhist prayer-practice. It’s called the ‘Metta Brahvana’ and simply
involves three intentions: ‘May I be well’, ‘May I be happy’, ‘May I be free
from suffering’ and then expanding that desire to those we love, like – and
loathe! – until, finally, we direct that desire to the whole world.
This matter of giving attention to a desire to love lies, of
course, at the heart of our faith. As
Jesus said: “Love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse
you, pray for those who treat you badly.” (Lk.6:27-28). There’s nothing to prevent you from devising
your own ‘Metta Bhavana’. For example,
one might use phrases like: ‘May I – may John – know love’, ‘May John know
joy’, ‘May John come to fullness of life’ and so on. It’s a way of re-wiring the heart’s desire to
attend to what is life-giving.
THE SACRED HEART
At the end of this week when we have given our attention to
God’s loving gift of Himself to us in the Eucharist, when we are invited to
wonder at His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament that we might “be possessed by Jesus and … possess Him –
(in) the perfect reign of Love"
comes another great Feast which reinforces this profound invitation. The Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is
celebrated on Friday to complement Corpus Christi by its focus on the Divine
Compassion of God in Christ.
In 1673, eight days after Corpus Christi, a young sister of
the Visitation Order, Margaret Mary Alaqoque, received the first of a number of
revelations concerning Christ’s love for humankind. In a vision she was invited to rest her head
on the heart of Jesus and, in so doing, began a devotion that was to sweep the
world. Of course for centuries before Mary Margaret people had been aware of
God’s love. Indeed, that is the bedrock
of our faith. St. Bonaventure, one of
the great saints of the Franciscan Order, wrote: ‘I have found this Heart in the Eucharist when I have found there the
Heart of my Sovereign, of my Friend, of my Brother, that is to say, the Heart
of my friend and Redeemer. … Come, my
brethren, let us enter into this amiable Heart never again to go out from It.’
CONCLUSION
To some modern ears all this talk of devotion to the Blessed
Sacrament and the Sacred Heart can seem very flamboyant. But there is a truth here upon which each of
us needs to reflect; the truth that it is only in and through love that the
world can be saved. That you and I can
come to fullness of life. These twin
Feasts hold us into that deep truth and invite us to allow it to possess
us.
The importance of Corpus Christi is to proclaim, year in and
year out, that: ‘Through faith, Christ's
presence becomes no longer just a presence for the believer, but also a
presence with the believer.’ (ARCIC - Agreed Statement on Eucharistic Doctrine)
which takes up one of St Augustine's favourite sayings: "We become
that which we have received". And
the Feast of the Sacred Heart directs our attention to the fact that it is
Divine Love that we both consume and by which we are invited to be consumed. So, today as every day, and in every moment,
let us take to heart those words of S. Peter Eymard: "To be possessed by
Jesus and to possess Him, that is the perfect reign of Love.”
Amen.
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