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Monthly Archives: June 2018

Christ in the particular

30 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by mcummins2172 in homily, Uncategorized

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Christianity, Daughter of Jairus, faith, healing, Jesus, Jesus raising the dead

Daughter of JairusI recently read a daily reflection that made the following point: “Just as nature abhors a vacuum, Jesus abhors vagueness.” In one sense it is easy to speak in generalities and vagueness in regards to faith and God. “Yes, I love God. I love all people. I want to help and serve everyone. I want peace for the whole world.” It is easy to say these things in the general sense but how do we live in the particular moment? Can I show love to the person I don’t like or understand? Can I be patient in a chaotic moment of family life? Can I take time to pray even though the demands of the day seem unceasing? Can I choose hope even in a time of pain and loss? Can I seek justice in moments of injustice? Can I turn the other cheek even when I am wronged? It is not in speaking nice generalities but rather in the choices of particular moments that the Kingdom of God is found.

One of the teachings of the gospel for today is that our Lord does not disdain the particular. In fact, he chooses to enter into the particular moment as a privileged place of encounter. The gospel gives us two particular moments where Christ is present in his healing grace – the woman with the bleeding disorder and the young girl. We are told that the woman had the disorder for twelve years and that the girl was “a child of twelve”. The use of “twelve” links the older woman and the young girl. For a woman to have a bleeding disorder in Hebraic culture meant that she was perpetually unclean and that she could not have children which would be seen as a great dishonor. The young girl dies at the age of betrothal and near the time she can have a child. Both are tragic and particular circumstances where life is painfully denied. Into both of these particular tragedies Christ enters in and he brings light and healing!

Christ says to Jairus, “Do not be afraid: just have faith.” Christ says the same to us and we must take these words to heart, especially in those moments of struggle and tragedy in life. “Do not be afraid…” Christ is neither separated from pain nor struggle. Christ does not disdain the particular. Christ is even in those moments of pain and he is there with life, healing, peace and hope.

The Book of Wisdom tells us “God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living … God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him. But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world…” In the miracles presented in the gospels – the healing of the sick, the casting out of demons, the walking on water in the midst of a storm and the raising of the dead – we are taught that Christ as Lord has overcome all the forces of chaos and evil that would wound and kill body and spirit. We are also shown that God does not fear these moments and is willing to be present within these particularly tragic moments of human life offering his life, healing and grace.

We are not abandoned. Christ is with us. When the storms of life threaten to drown us, Christ is there. When the divisions caused by evil wear us down and threaten to overcome us, Christ is there. When illness and pain break us down, Christ is there. When death shatters us, Christ is there. Our God has overcome all these forces of evil and death. He does not fear them nor does he disdain the particular moment we find ourselves in. Christ is there for us in his life, his healing and his grace and he says to us, “Do not be afraid; just have faith.”

Archbishop Oscar Romero and the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

02 Saturday Jun 2018

Posted by mcummins2172 in homily, Uncategorized

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Archbishop Oscar Romero, Body and Blood of Christ, Body of Christ, Christianity, Corpus Christi, Eucharist, faith, Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

SALVADORAN ARCHBISHOP OSCAR ROMEROThe movie “Romero” tells the story of the events leading up to the assassination and martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador. (Archbishop Romero will be canonized a saint this coming fall.) Romero served as archbishop during a painful time of violence and unrest in his country. During this conflict, the archbishop made the choice to stand beside the poor and for this he was killed.

There is a powerful scene in the movie where the archbishop arrives at a church in his diocese which had been taking over by the government military. The soldiers had desecrated the church and were using it as sleeping quarters. The church tabernacle has been opened and the vessels stolen and the consecrated hosts had been spilled out on the floor. The archbishop, who was not a confrontational man, had come to collect the consecrated hosts. Entering the church he was blocked by an officer who yelled at him to exit immediately. As he retreated back to his car the archbishop was met by a crowd of people (his flock from that parish) who had gathered outside the church.

The movie presents an unspoken moment when the archbishop and these people – the poor, the elderly, youth, men and women – simply stare at one another. Nothing is said. These people are the body of Christ and their silent presence is what gives the archbishop the courage he needs to walk back into the church, past the officer and up to the ransacked tabernacle. Dropping on his knees, the archbishop gently begins to pick up each consecrated hosts. The officer grabs a machine gun, aims at the altar area above the archbishop and shoots up the back wall, yelling at Romero to stop and leave! The archbishop hunkers down on the floor underneath the gunfire. Once the shooting has stopped, he silently begins to pick up the hosts again. Eventually, Romero gets all the hosts just as soldiers pick him up and force him from the church.

It was his love of the Body of Christ both in the consecrated hosts and in the people of the Church that gave Romero the courage he needed in that moment. Just as the archbishop gently picked up each host scattered on the floor that day did he also seek to gently and truly heal the suffering of his people as well as the wounds of his society at that time.

Today, we as church, reflect on this great truth which Jesus leaves us when he says, “This is my body.” and “This is my blood.” The bread and wine – through the working of grace – truly becomes the very body and blood of Christ. Romero knew this in his heart and his action of gathering those hosts even under gunfire witnesses to his understanding of this great and holy mystery that we celebrate and receive every time we gather for Mass.

The unspoken encounter between the archbishop and the people gathered outside their church also gives witness to Romero’s understanding that the Eucharist taken and received transforms the people into the Church, the Body of Christ. We can say at this moment within the film the true “church” was actually the people gathered outside. In retrieving the consecrated hosts, Romero is returning the Eucharist back to the Church, to the people who are the beloved of God. This is the work of a true priest.

Every time that we gather for Mass, we gather with our Lord and his disciples in that upper room and in wonder we hear anew those words spoken by our Lord, “This is my body.” “This is my blood.” In wonder we take, we receive and we ourselves are transformed into the Body of Christ.

As we gather with the Lord and his disciples we also gather in wonder with all the holy men and women of the centuries who have cherished and received these words and this truth given by our Lord. Among this throng of witnesses with whom we stand is the soon-to-be canonized Archbishop Oscar Romero. May we learn from him and come to know as he knew – this is the Body and Blood of Christ and through our partaking of it we are transformed into the Body of Christ.

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