Homily for Corpus Christi Sunday, June 2, 2024. Gospel of St. Mark 14:12-26. Theme: Looking Beyond the Senses
Today’s celebration of Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, became a special liturgy in the Church in a very unusual way back in the 13th century. At that time, a priest from the Czech Republic, known today only as Fr. Peter was on a pilgrimage to Rome. Along the way he stopped in Bolsena, Italy, to celebrate Mass. He had been struggling with questions about the Eucharist, debating within himself as to whether it was simply specially blessed bread and wine or in fact the Flesh and Blood of Christ. Such thoughts as these were troubling his mind as he began Mass that morning. Then during the consecration when he repeated Jesus’ words from the Last Supper, crimson red blood started dripping from the Consecrated Host in his hands and fell upon the altar cloth!
Fr. Peter wrapped the Host in the blood-stained linen and, along with those who had witnessed the miracle, brought it to Pope Urban IV who happened to be in the nearby town of Orvieto. After a detailed investigation into the alleged miracle the Holy Father concluded that it was genuine and had the sacred altar cloth enshrined in the cathedral of Orvieto (where it can still be seen and venerated). He established the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in thanksgiving for the gift of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and he commissioned the great St. Thomas Aquinas to compose prayers and Eucharistic hymns for its celebration that we still use today.
But this Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena was not an isolated event in Church history. There have been about 130 documented and scientifically examined similar experiences, all of which point to the fact that what our senses tell us about the Eucharist is not the whole story. Or to put it more simply, when it comes to the Blessed Sacrament what we see is not what we get! The most recent and amazing of these eucharistic miracles happened in Buenos Aires in 1996 and the bishop who investigated it is now Pope Francis. In that particular case, the Host did not just bleed as in Bolsena but part of it actually turned into tangible human flesh while the remainder of it retained its usual appearance.
Without revealing anything of its backstory, Church authorities sent a specimen of this transformed host to the most well-respected and state-of-the-art research lab in New York. The forensic results concluded that it contained blood type AB+, which is the same blood type that has been discovered in lab tests of other eucharistic miracles. Curiously, it is also the same blood type that was found on the famous Shroud of Turin. In addition, the tissue sample was assessed as coming from the heart of a Middle-Eastern male, which shouldn’t surprise us because Jesus was a Galilean Jew and the Eucharist is often referred to as a gift of love from his Sacred Heart. But most astounding is that even though the specimen was 3 years old at the time of its examination, the researchers concluded that it was taken from a living person because of the microscopic presence and behavior of active white blood cells. This discovery reminds us that in Holy Communion we do not receive the Body and Blood of a dead and long-gone Savior but rather that of a Risen and Living Lord. This is why our cantor today sang Jesus’ words during the Alleluia that proclaim: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven…”.
The Living Bread.
I think most of us can honestly admit that at one time or another we have had our own questions about the Eucharist. After all, it's only natural that such thoughts should eventually come to mind. And we may have also wondered why Jesus didn't just do it differently so that the full reality of this Sacrament could be beyond any question or doubt. But when you really think about it, it makes sense that the externals of bread and wine remain unchanged, because who of us would want to receive Holy Communion if they visibly became what they really are? Who among us would approach this Holy Sacrament if the reality of flesh and blood was tangible to our senses?
The tension that exists between what our human senses perceive and what our faith tells us is really nothing new about Jesus. After all, when he lived on planet Earth the full reality of who he really was couldn’t be experienced by the senses either. What I mean is that when people looked at the man they called Jesus of Nazareth, what they saw and smelled and touched and heard was an ordinary Jewish man, in his 30’s, fit and strong from his work as a laborer, speaking with a heavy Galilean accent, and having the smell of many days on the road without a bath. However, what their senses could not tell them was that the Eternal Son of God, the Lord of Glory, was standing right there in front of them! This truth was hidden from them by the outward appearances of flesh and bone just as the truth about the Eucharist is hidden from us by the outward appearances of bread and wine.
And so, recalling the words of Jesus and reaffirming what the Catholic Church has always taught about the Eucharist, we have to look beyond what our senses tell us. We have to admit that there is so much more to reality than only what we can see and touch and understand. We need to trust, to make an act of faith, knowing that God would not and could not deceive us. And so we must look beyond the appearance of the Consecrated Host held up before our eyes at Holy Communion and remember that Jesus said, “This is my body given for you…”. We must look beyond the Consecrated Wine in the chalice and remember the words of Christ at the Last Supper: “This is my blood, poured out for you.”
Photos of Some Authenticated Eucharistic Miracles
where the Host turned to Flesh & Blood.
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