NB. I had some "things" to say, so the Holy Spirit got real quiet. Then I realized that the "things" I had to say weren't what the HS wanted me to say. . .so, I shut up and cribbed this homily from 2016.
Corpus
Christi 2020
Fr.
Philip Neri Powell, OP
As
should be plainly obvious to all, I love to eat! And I love to cook.
Unfortunately, everywhere I've lived as a Dominican friar, we've had
someone to cook for us. One exception: during my time at Blackfriars
Hall at Oxford U. the brothers took turns cooking. I loved it b/c I
got to show off my southern cooking skills – fried chicken, baked
pork chops, garlic mashed potatoes, cornbread. The last time I was up
to cook for the 23 of us in the house, I chose to go out with an
American bang – hamburgers, fries, and cole slaw. I've never seen a
bunch of Brits so excited about a meal! To this day, some 16 yrs
after that American blow-out, my Blackfriars brothers remember my
burgers. And even the friars who joined up recently – have never
even met me – know me as the Burger King! That is the power of
food. That's the power of good food. . .a truth all the good
citizens of New Orleans know from birth. If food this side of heaven
can form the foundation of our memories, what can the Food of Heaven
do for us? The Food of Heaven – the Body and Blood of Christ –
can get us into heaven! But before we are ready for heaven, we have
some holy work to do down here.
And
helping us with our holy work is part of what the Body and Blood of
Christ does. Jesus tells his disciples at one point, “You can do
nothing w/o me.” He also promises them (and us), “I will be with
you always.” We know that after he ascends to the Father and sends
his Holy Spirit among us, Christ remains with us always in the Body
of his Church – that's
us.
And like any hardworking body, we need good food and good drink to
stay alive and working. Not just any old hamburger and diet cola will
do! If we are to do the holy work we've been given to do, then we
need holy food and holy drink. We need the Body and Blood of Christ
to keep us alive and working. And so, Paul writes to the Corinthians,
“The cup of
blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of
Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the
body of Christ?” Every
time you eat his Body and drink his Blood, you celebrate the death,
resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus, and you do so until he
comes again. That celebration, that proclamation of Christ's death,
resurrection, and ascension is the source of our strength to do holy
work.
When
we take into ourselves his Body and Blood, we come closer to being
who and what Christ himself is. My job for me is to become as
much like Christ as I can this side of heaven. Your job for you
is to become as much like Christ as you can this side of heaven. Why
do we need to become like Christ? I need to become as much like
Christ as I can so I can help you become as much like Christ as you
can. I help you as a priest. You help me to become more like Christ
as faithful lay men and women. We help one another according to our
individual gifts, but we are all working on the same holy work:
becoming Christs for one another. To
be clear here: we are not just imitating Jesus to be good moral
examples for one another. By worthily receiving his Body and Blood,
we are made Christs for
one another. Around 350 A.D., St. Cyril of Jerusalem*, addresses a
group of people who were just baptized and confirmed. He says to
them: “. . .having therefore become partakers of Christ
you are properly called Christs. .
.because you are images of Christ.” We are partakers of
Christ in baptism, confirmation
and, most especially, in the Eucharist; therefore, we are images of
Christ and properly called Christs.
Now,
I mentioned earlier that good food makes for good memories. In my
family, no event of any significance goes without a meal. We say,
“When two or more Powell's are gathered together, there
is a pecan pie.” I remember
the big pots of seafood stew I made for my novitiate classmates. I
remember the 20 course meal we made to celebrate the turn of the
millennium. I remember the Memphis ribs we served at my priestly
ordination. And I remember my mama's fried chicken. God
rest her soul. Like I said, I
like to eat. But I don't eat to remember. Remembering just comes
along for the gastronomical ride. Jesus tells us to eat and drink to
remember him. Not just to recall him in memory, but to re-member. .
.to make us once again a member of his Body. To strengthen our
attachment to his Body. To reinforce our belonging to his ministry.
There's no magic to this remembrance. He says do it, and so we do. He
says that the bread and wine are his Body and Blood, and so they are.
He is made present in the sacrament. We eat and we drink. And grow
just that much closer to him. We become just that much more like him.
The
solemnity of Corpus
Christi
sharpens
our focus on the vitality and necessity of the Eucharist to our
growth in holiness. Without it, we can do nothing. Without it, we
cannot thrive as followers of Christ. He is our food and drink, our
life and our love. For the Eucharist, we need priests. Chicken won't
fry itself. And gumbo don't grow on trees. Simply put: no priests, no
Eucharist. I will end with a challenge: once a week, once a month
find a chapel of perpetual adoration – we have one at St.
Dominic's, there's another at St. Catherine of Siena. While in the
presence of the sacramental Christ, pray for vocations to the
priesthood and religious life. Specifically, pray that the men God
has called to priesthood will find the courage to say Yes to that
call. Pray that the men and women called to religious life will say
Yes to their call. Many bishops and vocation directors in this
country have testified to the power of Eucharistic Adoration to send
them men for the priesthood, and men and women for religious life. We
will have 150 seminarians at NDS next year. Men from about 22
dioceses from El Paso, TX to Savanna, GA. We need ten times that many
for several more decades to meet the needs of Catholics in the South.
We need the Body and Blood! “Unlike
your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread [and
drinks this blood] will live forever.”
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