Homily Corpus Christi Sunday 2023

Franklin Fong, OFM

June 11, 2023

This Sunday’s readings give us insight into the life-giving aspects of the Body and Blood of Christ.

In the first reading from Deuteronomy reminds us of our link in spiritual history of people who admit hunger for more than bread alone.  Moses calls to the minds and hearts of his people that they do have a history!  Moses describes the events of the freeing, guiding and nourishing by God which they experienced as tests of their faith for many years in the desert.  There had been a hunger for closer ties to God and to each other over time.  So today, only if we celebrate the Eucharist with faith and love can we be hopeful of eternal life.  

As we heard in the second reading from the 1st letter to the Corinthians, our personal dying and rising with Christ makes us Church or community.  We become one body sharing in the one lone loaf and one cup!  Our union with Christ is directly connected to our oneness with each other in community.  For St Paul, however, eucharist binds one not only to Christ but also to one’s neighbors, to the Christian community, with all the obligations that entails. The Eucharist has a horizontal as well as a vertical direction.

Earlier in chapter six of John’s Gospel, Jesus insists on the necessity of our personal faith in him.  We enter into the risen life of Jesus through a believing reception of the Eucharist.  It is not simply receiving, but rather, what matters more is the personal disposition that we bring to the liturgical expression of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Through our sharing in the very life of Jesus is a pledge of eternal life.   

Jesus raises the point that this disposition in the desire is to “remain in him as he is in us”.   So, what enlivens us is a continuing intimate union with Jesus, and is a way of life of expressing love that Jesus himself witnessed to with his head, heart and hands.  Our sacramental communing with Jesus is to involve head, heart and hands so that it is not only a mental goal or physical activity or an emotional moment; it is all three together !

The Eucharist makes this possible.  It challenges us to share in both what Christ won for us and in how he won it.  The way of life is through giving of self.  It is in response to the word of God as we hear.

Jesus the loving bread, offers us a share in the very eternal life of God the Father.  Jesus won his life in dying and rising for us.  But what is expected of us?  How do we, through the Eucharist, make this life our own?

Our personal and public lives should be in order and should prepare us to receive holy communion.  The Eucharist is a constant source of blessing and strength to those who worthily receive it.  And it is a sacrament of remembrance.  In the mass, when we once more remember Jesus Christ in his passion, death and resurrection. He comes to us again in the forms of bread and wine. 

The Eucharist assures us of our salvation.  And the frequent reception of the Eucharist is an authentic sign of our deep relationship with Christ.

So what are the unifying themes of today’s readings?  The first reading reminds the people of the manna in the desert.  The Psalm exhorts us to praise God for giving us the best wheat!  The second reading is about our participation in eating and drinking of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.  And the gospel reading speaks about the importance of Eucharist.

So as you look back on how we have reviewed the life of Jesus from Ash Wednesday to Easter, to Pentecost to Holy Trinity and finally today the Corpus Christi Sunday, we have totally covered all the major points of our faith journey!  

As I have said before, we have our entire lives to work on connecting all these facts about our faith journey.  We are human beings with earthly minds, hearts and  hands!    I hope that this helps you to connect the dots of your faith journey thru the years !  

Aware that all that is to happen at Mass, at each eucharist, we might ask ourselves:

• To whom should we become fully alive?

• To what should we free ourselves from to be more fully alive to God and to one another?

• Are we becoming what we celebrate in the Eucharist today and all days?

• What ways have we deepened our sense of community over the past year?

So brothers and sisters of the Chinese Catholic Community,

 that is the Good News for this Corpus Christi Sunday!

Alleluia Alleluia !

(中文翻譯.原文以英文為準.)

鄺神父主日道理中譯本

甲年基督聖體聖血節主日講道 - 06/11/2023
讀經一: 申命紀 8:2-3, 14-16
讀經二: 格林多人前書 10:16-17

若望福音: 6:51-58

這個主日的讀經讓我們深入了解基督的身體和寶血賦予生命的方面。

在申命紀的讀經一中, 我們想起了我們與承認飢餓不僅僅是麵包的人的靈性歷史中的聯繫。梅瑟喚起他子民的思想和心靈, 他們確實有歷史! 梅瑟描述了他們在沙漠中多年經歷的天主釋放、引導和滋養的事件, 作為他們信仰的考驗。隨著時間的推移, 人們渴望與天主和彼此建立更緊密的聯繫。所以今天, 只有我們以信德和愛德來慶祝聖體聖事, 我們才有希望獲得永生。

正如我們在格林多前書讀經二中所聽到的, 我們個人與基督同死並復活使我們成為教會或團體。我們合而為一, 分享一個麵包和一個杯子! 我們與基督的聯合直接關係到我們在團體中彼此的合一。然而, 對於聖保祿而言, 聖體聖事不僅將一個人與基督聯繫在一起, 而且將一個人與一個人的鄰居、基督徒團體以及所有隨之而來的義務聯繫在一起。聖體聖事
有水平方向和垂直方向。

在若望福音第六章的早些時候, 耶穌堅持我們個人對祂的信仰的必要性。我們通過對聖體聖事的相信接受而進入耶穌復活的生命。這不僅僅是接受, 更重要的是我們在禮儀中表達耶穌的死亡和復活的個人意向。通過我們分享耶穌的生命是永生的保證。

耶穌指出, 這種渴望的傾向是“常在祂裡面, 如同祂在我們裡面”。因此, 讓我們充滿活力的是與耶穌的持續親密結合, 是一種表達愛的生活方式, 耶穌親自用祂的頭、心和手見證了這一點。我們與耶穌的聖事交流是涉及頭腦、心靈和雙手, 因此它不僅是一個精神目標或身體活動或一個情感時刻; 這是三個一起!

聖體聖事使這成為可能。它挑戰我們去分享基督為我們贏得了什麼, 以及祂是如何贏得的。生命之道是通過自我奉獻。

這是對我們所聽到的天主聖言的回應。

耶穌這慈愛的麵餅, 讓我們分享天主聖父的永恆生命。耶穌為我們死而復活, 贏得了生命。

但對我們的期望是什麼?

我們如何通過聖體聖事, 使這個生命成為我們自己的生命?

我們的個人生活和與其他人共處的生活應該井井有條, 並且應該讓我們準備好領受聖體。聖體聖事是配稱領受祂的人的祝福和力量的源泉。這是紀念聖事。在彌撒中, 當我們再次記起耶穌基督的受難、死亡和復活時, 祂以麵餅和酒的形式再次來到我們身邊。

聖體聖事向我們保證我們的救恩。經常領受聖體聖事是我們與基督深厚關係的真實標誌。

那麼今天讀經的統一主題是什麼? 讀經一提醒人們沙漠中的瑪納。聖詠勸告我們讚美天主賜給我們最好的小麥! 讀經二是關於我們參與吃喝耶穌基督的身體和寶血。福音讀經談到聖體聖事的重要性。

因此, 當您回想我們如何回顧耶穌的生平, 從聖灰瞻禮星期三到復活節, 到五旬節到天主聖三節, 最後是今天的基督聖體聖血節主日, 我們已經完全涵蓋了我們信仰之旅的所有要點!

正如我之前所說, 我們用一生的時間來連接所有這些關於我們信仰之旅的事實。我們是擁有塵世思想、心靈和雙手的人類! 我希望這能幫助您將多年來信仰之旅的點點滴滴聯繫起來!

意識到在彌撒中、每次在聖體聖事都會發生的一切, 我們可能會問自己:

• 我們應該向誰完全活著?
• 我們應該把自己從什麼事情中解放出來, 才能更充分地對天主和彼此充滿活力?
• 我們是否正在成為我們今天和所有日子在聖體聖事中慶祝的人?
• 在過去的一年裡, 我們通過那些方式加深了我們的團體意識?

所以華人天主教會的兄弟姐妹們, 這是基督聖體聖血節主日的好消息!

阿肋路亞, 阿肋路亞!