{"id":1366,"date":"2016-05-29T13:39:33","date_gmt":"2016-05-29T11:39:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/?p=1366"},"modified":"2016-05-29T13:40:36","modified_gmt":"2016-05-29T11:40:36","slug":"solemnity-of-corpus-christi-cycle-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/2016\/05\/29\/solemnity-of-corpus-christi-cycle-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Cycle C"},"content":{"rendered":"

The First Reading today shows us a foreshadowing of the gift we are celebrating today.\u00a0Abram, who we know today as Abraham, our father in faith, had just rescued his nephew Lot from kings who had raided where he was living and captured him.\u00a0Melchizedek was a mysterious figure in the Old Testament: he almost came out of nowhere to bless Abram for the rescue, and Abram paid a special tribute to Melchizedek for the blessing. A priest brings forth bread and wine and a blessing, and Abram gives him a tribute\u2026Does this sound familiar? Does it remind you of anything you do on Sundays? I\u2019m not referring to the collection plate.<\/p>\n

In the letter to the Hebrews we see the connection between Melchizedek and Christ: Christ is that priest who brings bread and wine, but above all a blessing, a transforming one or, as the theologians say and some zealous catechists, a transubstantiating one: through Christ\u2019s blessing that bread and wine become him: his body and blood, soul and divinity: the Eucharist.<\/p>\n

In Abram\u2019s case this blessing was not just for him, but for his descendants, and in the Second Reading today, Paul tells the Corinthians that he is just a bearer of the blessing too. Paul says, \u201cI received from the Lord what I also handed on to you,\u201d and then he recalls the words priests says every time Mass is celebrated over the bread and wine so that they become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.\u00a0As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the death of Jesus until he comes, as St. Paul tells the Corinthians,\u00a0and, as we pray in Mass, until he comes in glory. Every celebration of the Eucharist is a sacrifice. We offer up the sacrifice of the Son of God.<\/p>\n

We proclaim Jesus\u2019 death by Holy Communion because we are eating the sacrifice. Christ is not just the High Priest in the order of Melchizedek, as we prayed in the Psalm today: he is the sacrifice as well. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews explains why with Christ\u2019s sacrifice of himself the Old Testament priesthood is no longer needed. Christ is carrying out the real priesthood in Heaven: “For Christ has entered, not into a sanctuary made with hands, a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Holy Place yearly with blood not his own; for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:24-26).<\/p>\n

How does that priesthood and sacrifice reach us? Every Mass, every Holy Communion. Every time we celebrated the Eucharist we present to God the sacrifice of his Son. Christ\u2019s priesthood is made present through his priest, and the priest is the instrument Jesus uses to make bread and wine become Jesus\u2019 body and blood offered in sacrifice for the whole world. We partake of that sacrifice for our world: my life, my family, my friends.<\/p>\n

Jesus has given us our priest, his blessing, the bread and wine, our very selves, created by God, redeemed by God in Christ. Most importantly, he has given us his very self, under the appearance of bread and wine. What can we give him in return?\u00a0Every Mass we bring up the gifts, gifts that God has given us, a blessing is said over them,\u00a0and a few moments later, those gifts through the priest\u2019s words and God\u2019s power become God himself.<\/p>\n

Jesus in the Gospel today teaches us to bring everything to Him for His blessing:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Our sicknesses, spiritual and physical, so he can bless us with healing, spiritual or physical, as he sees best for our souls.<\/li>\n
  2. Our doubts and questions, so that he can teach us about the Kingdom of God.<\/li>\n
  3. Our problems–so many people, so late, so little food, what do we do?’–so that he can suggest a solution.<\/li>\n
  4. Our contribution and effort, big or small, toward solving that problem, even if it seems against all odds: a few loaves and fish, a lot of needy people, so that he can bless our efforts and make them fruitful. Our time, talent, and treasure.<\/li>\n
  5. Our thanks for his blessings: twelve wicker baskets full of them.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In today’s\u00a0Gospel Jesus teaches us that he never intended for us to go it alone.\u00a0When he ascended into Heaven, he promised he would be with is until the end of the age. He remains with us through the Eucharist.\u00a0He didn\u2019t tell the disciples, \u201csend them off, tell them to read a book, go see a doctor, apologize that the catering was not arranged.\u201d They came to Christ and received a blessing that transformed them and others.\u00a0If you don\u2019t see the blessings in your life, ask Jesus to show you. He is in every tabernacle so that you can approach him and ask him for guidance, healing, strength, direction. He comes into your heart every time you receive Holy Communion worthily.<\/p>\n

    He may ask something of you that makes no sense, that is hard to understand, that seems too much for your strength, beyond your means, but he will bless it. He will transform it into twelve wicker baskets full of blessings. They may not be the blessings you expected\u2014the disciples didn\u2019t expect at the end of the day that they would have twelve baskets full of food and thousands of people fed\u2014but Jesus will help you to count your blessings.\u00a0Let\u2019s offer Jesus our whole life so that he can bless it and transform it.<\/p>\n

    Readings:\u00a0Genesis 14:18\u201320;\u00a0Psalm 110:1\u20134;\u00a01 Corinthians 11:23\u201326;\u00a0Luke 9:11b\u201317.\u00a0See also Solemnity of Corpus Christi<\/a>,\u00a017th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B<\/a>,\u00a02nd Week of Easter, Friday<\/a>,\u00a01st Week of Advent, Wednesday<\/a>, and\u00a0Tuesday after Epiphany<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The First Reading today shows us a foreshadowing of the gift we are celebrating today.\u00a0Abram, who we know today as Abraham, our father in faith, had just rescued his nephew Lot from kings who had raided where he was living and captured him.\u00a0Melchizedek was a mysterious figure in the Old Testament: he almost came out … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[50,121,45],"class_list":["post-1366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-corpus-christi","tag-cycle-c","tag-ordinary-time"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65qtw-m2","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1368,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1366\/revisions\/1368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}