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Introduction
It is true, of course, that we
live one day at a time but it seems just now we are living through
three years at once: the Year of St. Paul; the Year of the Priest,
and the Year of the Volunteer. Are we in danger of a spiritual
overload or is there a way to tie together these three important
and converging observances?
Well, obviously I think there is
a way to tie them together otherwise I would never have posed
the question in the first place! Today is Corpus Christi, the
Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Not only is it is
a beautiful feast, but it also illuminates and integrates the
Year of St. Paul, the Year of the Priest, and indeed the Year
of the Volunteer and the benefits we hope to derive from those
observances.
The Year of St. Paul
Let’s begin with St. Paul and
for good reason. St. Paul provides us with the earliest written
testimony to the Eucharist: “For I received from the Lord what
I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night before
he died, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it
and said, ‘This is my Body given for you. Do this in remembrance
of me.’ In the same way, also the cup, after supper, saying:
‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often
as you drink it, in remembrance of me!’” (2 Cor. 10:23-26)
St.
Paul’s account, reflected in the words of consecration uttered
at every Mass, can be traced to the very words of Jesus and to
the Eucharistic experience of the early Church right from the
start. (AA 2:42) As one renowned author put it, the Eucharistic
words of Jesus are "the primeval rock of tradition." (Oscar
Cullmann, The Eucharistic Words of Jesus, London:
SCM Press, 1973, p. 189). St.
Paul handed on to the Corinthians and to us what he received
from the Lord. Based on what Christ said and did at the Last
Supper and upon the earliest Eucharistic gatherings of the Church,
we profess that the Eucharistic bread is, in fact, the Body of
the Lord, and that the cup is truly the Blood of Christ in which
the new covenant was sealed.
In acknowledging this mystery of
faith, we often employ words of praise and thanksgiving we first
learned from St. Paul. It is Paul who teaches us to rejoice in
the Lord, to acclaim the crucified Savior, to acknowledge Him
who is head of His Body of the Church. It is Paul who enabled
us to recognize Christ as the Paschal Lamb: “Christ our Passover
is sacrificed,” he wrote yet again to the Corinthians. (1 Cor.
5:7)
The Year for Priests
Yet, as we saw in last Friday’s
Scripture readings, St. Paul never regarded the death of the
Lord as a mere idea to be propagated. He was more than a bearer
of a message, rather, he carried about in his body, in the depth
of his being, the dying of Jesus. In a priestly way, Paul the
Apostle was identified with the death of the Lord so that he
could impart to the nations the new life Christ had won for humanity
by his death and resurrection. (See, 2 Cor. 4:7-15)
In Galatians,
(2:20) St. Paul tells us that he has been crucified with Christ
and that the life he leads is Christ’s life, not his own: “It
is Christ who lives in me!” In yesterday’s reading from 2 Cor.
5:20, Paul called himself an ambassador of Christ and elsewhere
he refers to himself as a steward of God’s mysteries. (1 Cor.
4:1) In both cases, the ambassador and the steward speaks and
acts in the place of the one he represents – and Paul was keenly
conscious that he represented Christ. In fact, Paul even speaks
of forgiving “in the person of Christ.” (2 Cor. 2:10) Paul was
identified – heart, soul, mind, and body – to the mysteries he
proclaimed and celebrated.
Pope Benedict said something very
similar to the priests of the world: “Becoming Eucharist: let
this be our constant desire and commitment! So that the offer
of the Body and Blood of the Lord we make upon the altar may
be accompanied by the sacrifice of our own lives. Every day we
draw from the Body & Blood of
Christ the free and pure love that makes us worthy ministers
of Christ and witnesses to his joy.” (Corpus Christi Homily 2009)
Priests don’t just celebrate the Eucharist – they are the Eucharist,
for they bear in the depth of their being the imprint of Christ’s
priestly sacrifice. That is why every priest must spend time
before the Blessed Sacrament daily and that is why Eucharistic
adoration begets vocations. When you befriend a priest, when
you encourage a vocation, you are at the same time expressing
your deep love for the Eucharist!
Year of the Volunteer
Finally,
how does the Eucharist shed light on the Year of the Volunteer?
Of course, we know that in the Eucharist we receive the strength
not only to do good for others but also to create a bond of love
with them & for them. We know that authentic works of love
are a manifestation of the free, undeserved love that we experience
in the reception of the Eucharist.
Yet, perhaps we can take this
one step further. Think about the Latin root of the word “volunteer”.
Does it not come from “voluntas” – the word for “will”? When
we volunteer, we make a conscious choice to help another not
because we hope to be compensated but rather out of love. Strictly
speaking, volunteering is not something we have to do. Yes, we
can be cajoled into volunteering by good peer pressure and sometimes
our motives as volunteers can be mixed. But if we are really
going to observe the Year of the Volunteer in the spirit of the
Knights of Columbus, then our first principle, “charity” must
be heart and driving force of the good works we do for others.
In the Eucharist, we encounter the saving will of Christ. St.
Paul exclaims in Galatians, “He loves me and gave himself for
me!” (Gal. 2:20) The Incarnate Son of God, throughout his life
and especially in the Garden, accepted the saving will of the
Father and freely gave his life for us. Recall what we say in
the II Eucharistic prayer, at the consecration, “a death he freely
accepted” … a love of infinite proportions, freely given. It
is in this love that our gift to others is anchored, here in
the Eucharist where our gift takes root, where it is nourished,
where it becomes not merely a good deed but an act of love, here
in the Eucharist where we become what we offer: an everlasting
gift to the Father.
Conclusion
In the light and strength that
comes from the Eucharist, may we have the zeal of St. Paul for
the mission of the Church, a true love for the priesthood and
vocations, combined with the will to offer ourselves in love
for others, loving others with the love we have received from
our Eucharistic Lord!
Vivat Jesus!
Return to the Writings of Bishop
Lori
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