SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI C
INCLUDED? EXCLUDED?
Lk 9: 11b-17
MESSAGE
When you receive Jesus in Holy Communion, is it because you feel holy enough to stand in his presence? When you spend time praying in a church or adoration chapel, is it because you think you are blameless? Due to your weaknesses, do you refrain from going to Mass or receiving Communion? Knowing your pattern of unfaithfulness, do you also think God’s heart is closed to you?
The first set of questions express the conviction that only the holy, the perfect, the chosen ones are called to be with the Lord. The second set of questions point to the belief that because you are sinful and weak, you have no place in Jesus’ heart, no part in God’s saving plan.
Both ideas are erroneous when it is connected to the Eucharist, the real presence of Jesus in his Body and Blood given at every Mass. Yes, the Lord delights in the fidelity of his people… and yet, did the Lord not say that he came to call, not the righteous but sinners? Since when did sin, any sin in the world, prevent God from loving, seeking, and providing for his people? God is greater than our hearts, his reasoning surpasses our own judgmental and prejudicial thinking.
Our Lord God calls all people to himself; that is why his Son died for all and rose from the dead for all! The truly holy ones among his children do not think they deserve God as a reward but in humility they acknowledge the great love that found them. Those who often fall and struggle as they follow the Lord are closest to his heart because he knows they need him more. Remember the prodigal son, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the repentant thief, and the sorrowful Peter?
REFLECT
When we succeed in living in fidelity, it is due to the grace God gives us. When we repeatedly fail in keeping his commandments, God neither abandons us nor tires in loving us. To those who wish to rise after every fall, who humbly desire to confess and receive mercy, he offers new life. Take these thoughts to Holy Mass and Holy Communion on this Feast of the Body of Christ!
