Entry 0281: Reflections on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and
Blood of Christ by Pope Benedict XVI
On eight occasions during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delivered reflections on the Solemnity of the Sacred Body
and Blood of Christ, on 26 May
2005, 15 June 2006, 7 June 2007, 22 May 2008, 11 June 2009, 3 June
2010, 23 June 2011, and 7 June 2012. Here are the texts of the eight homilies delivered on these
occasions.
Corpus Christi
God, our Father, did not do this with humanity: he
sent his Son into the world not to abolish, but to give fulfilment also to the
sacred. At the height of this mission, at the Last Supper, Jesus instituted the
Sacrament of his Body and his Blood, the Memorial of his Paschal Sacrifice. By
so doing he replaced the ancient sacrifices with himself, but he did so in a
rite which he commanded the Apostles to perpetuate, as a supreme sign of the
true Sacred One who is he himself. With this faith, dear brothers and sisters,
let us celebrate the Eucharistic Mystery today and every day and adore it as
the centre of our life and the heart of the world. Amen.
MASS
AND EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION
ON
THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS DOMINI
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square
before the Basilica of St John Lateran, Thursday, 26 May 2005
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate
and in the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the feast of Corpus
Domini, the Church relives the mystery of Holy Thursday in the light of the
Resurrection. There is also a Eucharistic procession on Holy Thursday, when the
Church repeats the exodus of Jesus from the Upper Room to the Mount
of Olives .
In Israel , the night of the Passover was celebrated
in the home, within the intimacy of the family; this is how the first Passover
in Egypt
was commemorated, the night in which the blood of the paschal lamb, sprinkled
on the crossbeam and doorposts of the houses, served as protection against the
destroyer.
On that night,
Jesus goes out and hands himself over to the betrayer, the destroyer, and in so
doing, overcomes the night, overcomes the darkness of evil. Only in this way is
the gift of the Eucharist, instituted in the Upper Room, fulfilled: Jesus truly
gives his Body and his Blood. Crossing over the threshold of death, he becomes
living Bread, true manna, endless nourishment for eternity. The flesh becomes
the Bread of Life.
In the Holy
Thursday procession, the Church accompanies Jesus to the Mount
of Olives : it is the authentic desire of the Church in prayer to
keep watch with Jesus, not to abandon him in the night of the world, on the
night of betrayal, on the night of the indifference of many people.
On the feast of Corpus
Domini, we again go on this procession, but in the joy of the Resurrection.
The Lord is risen and leads us. In the narrations of the Resurrection there is
a common and essential feature; the angels say: the Lord “goes ahead of you to Galilee , where you will see him” (Mt 28: 7).
Taking this into
deep consideration, we can say that this “going ahead” of Jesus implies a
two-way direction.
The first is, as
we have heard, Galilee . In Israel , Galilee
was considered to be the doorway to the pagan world. And in reality, precisely
on the mountain in Galilee , the disciples see
Jesus, the Lord, who tells them: “Go... and make disciples of all the nations”
(Mt 28: 19).
The other
preceding direction of the Risen One appears in the Gospel of St John, in the words
of Jesus to Mary Magdalene: “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the
Father” (Jn 20: 17).
Jesus goes
before us next to the Father, rises to the heights of God and invites us to
follow him. These two directions on the Risen One’s journey are not
contradictory, for both indicate the path to follow Christ.
The true purpose
of our journey is communion with God. He himself is the house of many dwelling
places (see Jn 14: 2ff.); but we can be elevated to these dwelling places only
by going “towards Galilee ”, travelling on the
pathways of the world, taking the Gospel to all nations, carrying the gift of
his love to the men and women of all times.
Therefore, the
journey of the Apostles extends to the “ends of the earth” (see Acts 1: 6ff.).
In this way, Sts Peter and Paul went all the way to Rome , a city that at that time was the centre
of the known world, the true caput mundi.
The Holy
Thursday procession accompanies Jesus in his solitude towards the via
crucis. The Corpus Domini procession responds instead in a symbolic
way to the mandate of the Risen One: I go before you to Galilee .
Go to the extreme ends of the world, take the Gospel to the world.
Of course, by
faith, the Eucharist is an intimate mystery. The Lord instituted the Sacrament
in the Upper Room, surrounded by his new family, by the 12 Apostles, a
prefiguration and anticipation of the Church of all times.
And so, in the
liturgy of the ancient Church, the distribution of Holy Communion was
introduced with the words Sancta sanctis: the holy gift is intended for
those who have been made holy.
In this way a
response was given to the exhortation of St
Paul to the Corinthians: “A man should examine himself
first; only then should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup...” (I Cor 11:
28).
Nevertheless,
from this intimacy that is a most personal gift of the Lord, the strength of
the Sacrament of the Eucharist goes above and beyond the walls of our Churches.
In this Sacrament, the Lord is always journeying to meet the world. This universal
aspect of the Eucharistic presence becomes evident in today’s festive
procession.
We bring Christ,
present under the sign of bread, onto the streets of our city. We entrust these
streets, these homes, our daily life, to his goodness. May our streets be
streets of Jesus! May our houses be homes for him and with him! May our life of
every day be penetrated by his presence.
With this
gesture, let us place under his eyes the sufferings of the sick, the solitude
of young people and the elderly, temptations, fears - our entire life. The
procession represents an immense and public blessing for our city: Christ is,
in person, the divine Blessing for the world. May the ray of his blessing
extend to us all!
In the Corpus
Domini procession, we walk with the Risen One on his journey to meet the
entire world, as we said. By doing precisely this, we too answer his mandate: “Take,
eat... Drink of it, all of you” (Mt 26: 26ff.).
It is not
possible to “eat” the Risen One, present under the sign of bread, as if it were
a simple piece of bread. To eat this Bread is to communicate, to enter into
communion with the person of the living Lord. This communion, this act of “eating”,
is truly an encounter between two persons, it is allowing our lives to be
penetrated by the life of the One who is the Lord, of the One who is my Creator
and Redeemer.
The purpose of
this communion, of this partaking, is the assimilation of my life with his, my
transformation and conformation into he who is living Love. Therefore, this communion
implies adoration, it implies the will to follow Christ, to follow the One who
goes ahead of us. Adoration and procession thereby make up a single gesture of
communion; they answer his mandate: “Take and eat”.
Our procession
finishes in front of the Basilica of St Mary Major in the encounter with Our
Lady, called by the dear Pope John Paul II, “Woman of the Eucharist”. Mary,
Mother of the Lord, truly teaches us what entering into communion with Christ
is: Mary offered her own flesh, her own blood to Jesus and became a living tent
of the Word, allowing herself to be penetrated by his presence in body and
spirit.
Let us pray to
her, our holy Mother, so that she may help us to open our entire being, always
more, to Christ’s presence; so that she may help us to follow him faithfully,
day after day, on the streets of our life. Amen.
HOLY
MASS AND EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION ON
THE
SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Saint
John Lateran, Thursday, 15 June 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the eve of
his Passion, during the Passover meal, the Lord took the bread in his hands -
as we heard a short time ago in the Gospel passage - and, having blessed it, he
broke it and gave it to his Disciples, saying: “Take this, this is my body”. He
then took the chalice, gave thanks and passed it to them and they all drank
from it. He said: “This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, to be poured
out on behalf of many” (Mk 14: 22-24).
The entire
history of God with humanity is recapitulated in these words. The past alone is
not only referred to and interpreted, but the future is anticipated - the
coming of the Kingdom
of God
These words are
inexhaustible. In this hour, I would like to meditate with you on just one
aspect. Jesus, as a sign of his presence, chose bread and wine. With each one
of the two signs he gives himself completely, not only in part. The Risen One
is not divided. He is a person who, through signs, comes near to us and unites
himself to us.
Each sign
however, represents in its own way a particular aspect of his mystery and
through its respective manifestation, wishes to speak to us so that we learn to
understand the mystery of Jesus Christ a little better.
During the
procession and in adoration we look at the consecrated Host, the most simple
type of bread and nourishment, made only of a little flour and water. In this
way, it appears as the food of the poor, those to whom the Lord made himself
closest in the first place.
The prayer with
which the Church, during the liturgy of the Mass, consigns this bread to the
Lord, qualifies it as fruit of the earth and the work of humans.
It involves
human labour, the daily work of those who till the soil, sow and harvest [the
wheat] and, finally, prepare the bread. However, bread is not purely and simply
what we produce, something made by us; it is fruit of the earth and therefore
is also gift.
We cannot take
credit for the fact that the earth produces fruit; the Creator alone could have
made it fertile. And now we too can expand a little on this prayer of the
Church, saying: the bread is fruit of heaven and earth together. It implies the
synergy of the forces of earth and the gifts from above, that is, of the sun
and the rain. And water too, which we need to prepare the bread, cannot be
produced by us.
In a period in
which desertification is spoken of and where we hear time and again the warning
that man and beast risk dying of thirst in these waterless regions - in such a
period we realize once again how great is the gift of water and of how we are
unable to produce it ourselves.
And so, looking
closely at this little piece of white Host, this bread of the poor, appears to
us as a synthesis of creation. Heaven and earth, too, like the activity and
spirit of man, cooperate. The synergy of the forces that make the mystery of
life and the existence of man possible on our poor planet come to meet us in
all of their majestic grandeur.
In this way we
begin to understand why the Lord chooses this piece of bread to represent him.
Creation, with all of its gifts, aspires above and beyond itself to something
even greater. Over and above the synthesis of its own forces, above and beyond
the synthesis also of nature and of spirit that, in some way, we detect in the
piece of bread, creation is projected towards divinization, toward the holy
wedding feast, toward unification with the Creator himself.
And still, we
have not yet explained in depth the message of this sign of bread. The Lord
mentioned its deepest mystery on Palm Sunday, when some Greeks asked to see
him. In his answer to this question is the phrase: “Truly, truly, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if
it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12: 24).
The mystery of
the Passion is hidden in the bread made of ground grain. Flour, the ground
wheat, presuppose the death and resurrection of the grain. In being ground and
baked, it carries in itself once again the same mystery of the Passion. Only
through death does resurrection arrive, as does the fruit and new life.
Mediterranean
culture, in the centuries before Christ, had a profound intuition of this
mystery. Based on the experience of this death and rising they created myths of
divinity which, dying and rising, gave new life. To them, the cycle of nature
seemed like a divine promise in the midst of the darkness of suffering and
death that we are faced with.
In these myths,
the soul of the human person, in a certain way, reached out toward that God
made man, who, humiliated unto death on a cross, in this way opened the door of
life to all of us. In bread and its making, man has understood it as a waiting
period of nature, like a promise of nature that this would come to exist: the
God that dies and in this way brings us to life.
What was awaited
in myths and that in the very grain of wheat is hidden like a sign of the hope
of creation - this truly came about in Christ. Through his gratuitous suffering
and death, he became bread for all of us, and with this living and certain
hope. He accompanies us in all of our sufferings until death. The paths that he
travels with us and through which he leads us to life are pathways of hope.
When, in
adoration, we look at the consecrated Host, the sign of creation speaks to us.
And so, we encounter the greatness of his gift; but we also encounter the
Passion, the Cross of Jesus and his Resurrection. Through this gaze of
adoration, he draws us toward himself, within his mystery, through which he
wants to transform us as he transformed the Host.
The primitive
Church discovered yet another symbol in the bread. The Doctrine of the Twelve
Apostles, a book written around the year 100, contains in its prayers the
affirmation: “Even as this broken bread was scattered over the hills, and was
gathered together and became one, so let Thy Church be gathered together from
the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom” (IX, 4).
Bread made of
many grains contains also an event of union: the ground grain becoming bread is
a process of unification. We ourselves, many as we are, must become one bread,
one body, as St Paul
says (see I Cor 10: 17). In this way the sign of bread becomes both hope and
fulfilment.
In a very
similar way the sign of wine speaks to us. However, while bread speaks of daily
life, simplicity and pilgrimage, wine expresses the exquisiteness of creation:
the feast of joy that God wants to offer to us at the end of time and that
already now and always anticipates anew a foretaste through this sign.
But, wine also
speaks of the Passion: the vine must be repeatedly pruned to be purified in
this way; the grapes must mature with the sun and the rain and must be pressed:
only through this passion does a fine wine mature.
On the feast of Corpus Christi Israel
during the 40 years in the desert. The Host is our manna whereby the Lord
nourishes us - it is truly the bread of heaven, through which he gives himself.
In the
procession we follow this sign and in this way we follow Christ himself. And we
ask of him: Guide us on the paths of our history! Show the Church and her
Pastors again and again the right path! Look at suffering humanity, cautiously
seeking a way through so much doubt; look upon the physical and mental hunger
that torments it! Give men and women bread for body and soul! Give them work!
Give them light! Give them yourself! Purify and sanctify all of us! Make us
understand that only through participation in your Passion, through “yes” to
the cross, to self-denial, to the purifications that you impose upon us, our
lives can mature and arrive at true fulfilment. Gather us together from all
corners of the earth. Unite your Church, unite wounded humanity! Give us your
salvation! Amen.
HOLY
MASS AND EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION
TO
THE BASILICA OF SAINT MARY MAJOR
ON
THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square
in front of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Thursday, 7 June 2007
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
We have just
sung the Sequence: “Dogma datur christianis, / quod in carnem transit panis,
/ et vinum in sanguinem - this [is] the truth each Christian learns, /
bread into his flesh he turns, to his precious blood the wine”.
Today we
reaffirm with great joy our faith in the Eucharist, the Mystery that
constitutes the heart of the Church. In the recent Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis I recalled that the Eucharistic
Mystery “is the gift that Jesus Christ makes of himself, thus revealing to us
God’s infinite love for every man and woman” (no. 1).
The Eucharistic
celebration this evening takes us back to the spiritual atmosphere of Holy
Thursday, the day on which in the Upper Room, on the eve of his Passion, Christ
instituted the Most Holy Eucharist.
Corpus
Christi is thus a renewal of the mystery of Holy Thursday, as it were, in
obedience to Jesus’ invitation to proclaim from “the housetops” what he told us
in secret (see Mt 10: 27). It was the Apostles who received the gift of the
Eucharist from the Lord in the intimacy of the Last Supper, but it was destined
for all, for the whole world. This is why it should be proclaimed and exposed
to view: so that each one may encounter “Jesus who passes” as happened on the
roads of Galilee, Samaria and Judea ;
in order that each one, in receiving it, may be healed and renewed by the power
of his love. Dear friends, this is the perpetual and living heritage that Jesus
has bequeathed to us in the Sacrament of his Body and his Blood. It is an
inheritance that demands to be constantly rethought and relived so that, as
venerable Pope Paul VI said, its “inexhaustible effectiveness may be impressed
upon all the days of our mortal life” (see Insegnamenti, 25 May 1967, p.
779).
Also in the
Post-Synodal Exhortation, commenting on the exclamation of the priest after the
consecration: “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith!”, I observed: with
these words he “proclaims the mystery being celebrated and expresses his wonder
before the substantial change of bread and wine into the body and blood of the
Lord Jesus, a reality which surpasses all human understanding” (no. 6).
Precisely
because this is a mysterious reality that surpasses our understanding, we must
not be surprised if today too many find it hard to accept the Real Presence of
Christ in the Eucharist. It cannot be otherwise. This is how it has been since
the day when, in the synagogue at Capernaum ,
Jesus openly declared that he had come to give us his flesh and his blood as
food (see Jn 6: 26-58).
This seemed “a
hard saying” and many of his disciples withdrew when they heard it. Then, as
now, the Eucharist remains a “sign of contradiction” and can only be so
because a God who makes himself flesh and sacrifices himself for the life of
the world throws human wisdom into crisis.
However, with
humble trust, the Church makes the faith of Peter and the other Apostles her
own and proclaims with them, and we proclaim: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You
have the words of eternal life” (Jn 6: 68). Let us too renew this evening our
profession of faith in Christ, alive and present in the Eucharist. Yes, “this
[is] the truth each Christian learns, / bread into his flesh he turns, / to his
precious blood the wine”.
At its
culminating point, in the Sequence we sing: “Ecce panis angelorum, / factus
cibus viatorum: / vere panis filiorum” - “Lo! The angel’s food is given /
to the pilgrim who has striven; / see the children’s bread from heaven”. And by
God’s grace we are the children.
The Eucharist is
the food reserved for those who in Baptism were delivered from slavery and have
become sons; it is the food that sustained them on the long journey of the
exodus through the desert of human existence.
Like the manna
for the people of Israel, for every Christian generation the Eucharist is the indispensable
nourishment that sustains them as they cross the desert of this world, parched
by the ideological and economic systems that do not promote life but rather
humiliate it. It is a world where the logic of power and possessions prevails
rather than that of service and love; a world where the culture of violence and
death is frequently triumphant.
Yet Jesus comes
to meet us and imbues us with certainty: he himself is “the Bread of life” (Jn
6: 35, 48). He repeated this to us in the words of the Gospel Acclamation: “I
am the living bread from Heaven, if any one eats of this bread, he will live
for ever” (see Jn 6: 51).
In the Gospel
passage just proclaimed, St Luke, narrating the miracle of the multiplication
of the five loaves and two fish with which Jesus fed the multitude “in a lonely
place”, concludes with the words: “And all ate and were satisfied” (see Lk 9:
11-17).
I would like in
the first place to emphasize this “all”. Indeed, the Lord desired every human
being to be nourished by the Eucharist, because the Eucharist is for everyone.
If the close
relationship between the Last Supper and the mystery of Jesus’ death on the
Cross is emphasized on Holy Thursday, today, the Feast of Corpus Christi
In the Gospel
passage, a second element catches one’s eye: the miracle worked by the Lord
contains an explicit invitation to each person to make his own contribution.
The two fish and five loaves signify our contribution, poor but necessary,
which he transforms into a gift of love for all.
“Christ
continues today” I wrote in the above-mentioned Post Synodal Exhortation, “to
exhort his disciples to become personally engaged” (Sacramentum Caritatis, no.
88).
Thus, the
Eucharist is a call to holiness and to the gift of oneself to one’s brethren: “Each
of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of
the world” (ibid.).
Our Redeemer
addressed this invitation in particular to us, dear brothers and sisters of Rome , gathered round the
Eucharist in this historical square.
I greet you all
with affection. My greeting is addressed first of all to the Cardinal Vicar and
to the Auxiliary Bishops, to my other venerable Brother Cardinals and Bishops,
as well as to the numerous priests and deacons, men and women religious and the
many lay faithful.
At the end of
the Eucharistic celebration we will join in the procession as if to carry the
Lord Jesus in spirit through all the streets and neighbourhoods of Rome . We will immerse him,
so to speak, in the daily routine of our lives, so that he may walk where we
walk and live where we live.
Indeed we know,
as the Apostle Paul reminded us in his Letter to the Corinthians, that in every
Eucharist, also in the Eucharist this evening, we “proclaim the Lord’s death
until he comes” (see I Cor 11: 26). We travel on the highways of the world
knowing that he is beside us, supported by the hope of being able to see him
one day face to face, in the definitive encounter.
In the meantime,
let us listen to his voice repeat, as we read in the Book of Revelation, “Behold,
I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I
will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rv 3: 20).
The Feast of Corpus Christi
“Very bread,
Good Shepherd, tend us, / Jesu, of your love befriend us.... /You who all
things can and know, /who on earth such food bestow, / grant us with your
saints, though lowest, / where the heav’nly feast you show, / fellow heirs and
guests to be”.
Amen!
HOLY MASS AND EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION
TO THE BASILICA OF SAINT MARY MAJOR
ON THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS
CHRISTI
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square in front of the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Thursday,
22 May 2008
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
After
the strong season of the liturgical year which, focusing on Easter spreads over
three months - first the 40 days of Lent, then the 50 days of Eastertide -, the
liturgy has us celebrate three Feasts which instead have a “synthetic” character:
the Most Holy Trinity, then Corpus
Christi
The
first action, therefore, is to gather together in the Lord’s presence.
This is what in former times was called “statio”. Let us imagine for a
moment that in the whole of Rome
there were only this one altar and that all the city’s Christians were invited
to gather here to celebrate the Saviour who died and was raised. This gives us
an idea of what the Eucharistic celebration must have been like at the origins,
in Rome and in
many other cities that the Gospel message had reached. In every particular
Church there was only one Bishop and around him, around the Eucharist that he
celebrated, a community was formed, one, because one was the blessed Cup and
one was the Bread broken, as we heard in the Apostle Paul’s words in the Second
Reading (see I Cor 10: 16-17). That other famous Pauline expression comes to
mind: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there
is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3: 28). “You
are all one”! In these words the truth and power of the Christian revolution is
heard, the most profound revolution of human history, which was experienced
precisely around the Eucharist: here people of different age groups, sex,
social background, and political ideas gather together in the Lord’s presence.
The Eucharist can never be a private event, reserved for people chosen through
affinity or friendship. The Eucharist is a public devotion that has nothing
esoteric or exclusive about it. Here too, this evening, we did not choose to
meet one another, we came and find ourselves next to one another, brought
together by faith and called to become one body, sharing the one Bread which is
Christ. We are united over and above our differences of nationality,
profession, social class, political ideas: we open ourselves to one another to
become one in him. This has been a characteristic of Christianity from the
outset, visibly fulfilled around the Eucharist, and it is always necessary to
be alert to ensure that the recurring temptations of particularism, even if
with good intentions, do not go in the opposite direction. Therefore Corpus
Christi reminds us first of all of this: that being Christian means coming
together from all parts of the world to be in the presence of the one Lord and
to become one with him and in him.
The
second constitutive aspect is walking with the Lord. This is the reality
manifested by the procession that we shall experience together after Holy Mass,
almost as if it were naturally prolonged by moving behind the One who is the
Way, the Journey. With the gift of himself in the Eucharist the Lord Jesus sets
us free from our “paralyses”, he helps us up and enables us to “proceed “, that
is, he makes us take a step ahead and then another step, and thus sets us going
with the power of the Bread of Life. As happened to the Prophet Elijah who had
sought refuge in the wilderness for fear of his enemies and had made up his
mind to let himself die (see I Kgs 19: 1-4). But God awoke him from sleep and
caused him to find beside him a freshly baked loaf: “Arise and eat”, the angel
said, “else the journey will be too great for you” (I Kgs 19: 5,7). The Corpus Christi Egypt , their long wandering through
the desert, as the First Reading relates. It is an experience which was
constitutive for Israel
but is exemplary for all humanity. Indeed the saying: “Man does not live by
bread alone, but... by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord”
(Dt 8: 3), is a universal affirmation which refers to every man or woman as a
person. Each one can find his own way if he encounters the One who is the Word
and the Bread of Life and lets himself be guided by his friendly presence.
Without the God-with-us, the God who is close, how can we stand up to the
pilgrimage through life, either on our own or as society and the family of
peoples? The Eucharist is the Sacrament of the God who does not leave us alone
on the journey but stays at our side and shows us the way. Indeed, it is not
enough to move onwards, one must also see where one is going! “Progress” does
not suffice, if there are no criteria as reference points. On the contrary, if
one loses the way one risks coming to a precipice, or at any rate more rapidly
distancing oneself from the goal. God created us free but he did not leave us
alone: he made himself the “way” and came to walk together with us so that in
our freedom we should also have the criterion we need to discern the right way
and to take it.
At this
point we cannot forget the beginning of the “Decalogue”, the Ten Commandments,
where it is written: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt Corpus
Christi
This is
why gathering, walking and adoring together fills us with joy. In making our
own the adoring attitude of Mary, whom we especially remember in this month of
May, let us pray for ourselves and for everyone; let us pray for every person
who lives in this city, that he or she may know you, O Father and the One whom
you sent, Jesus Christ and thus have life in abundance. Amen.
HOLY MASS AND EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION
TO THE BASILICA OF SAINT MARY MAJOR
ON THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS
CHRISTI
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square outside the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Thursday,
11 June 2009
“This is my Body.... This is my
Blood”.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
These
words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper are repeated every time that the
Eucharistic Sacrifice is renewed. We have just heard them in Mark’s Gospel and
they resonate with special power today on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi
“This
is my Blood”. Here the reference to the
sacrificial language of Israel
is clear. Jesus presents himself as the true and definitive sacrifice, in which
was fulfilled the expiation of sins which, in the Old Testament rites, was
never fully completed. This is followed by two other very important remarks.
First of all, Jesus Christ says that his Blood “is poured out for many” with
a comprehensible reference to the songs of the Servant of God that are found in
the Book of Isaiah (see ch. 53). With the addition “blood of the Covenant” Jesus
also makes clear that through his death the prophesy of the new Covenant is
fulfilled, based on the fidelity and infinite love of the Son made man. An
alliance that, therefore, is stronger than all humanity’s sins. The old
Covenant had been sealed on Sinai with a sacrificial rite of animals, as we
heard in the First Reading, and the Chosen People, set free from slavery in
Egypt, had promised to obey all the commandments given to them by the Lord (see
Ex 24: 3).
In
truth, Israel showed immediately by making the golden calf that it was
incapable of staying faithful to this promise and thus to the divine Covenant,
which indeed it subsequently violated all too often, adapting to its heart of
stone the Law that should have taught it the way of life. However, the Lord did
not fail to keep his promise and, through the prophets, sought to recall the
inner dimension of the Covenant and announced that he would write a new law
upon the hearts of his faithful (see Jer 31: 33), transforming them with the
gift of the Spirit (see Ez 36: 25-27). And it was during the Last Supper that
he made this new Covenant with his disciples and humanity, confirming it not
with animal sacrifices as had happened in the past, but indeed with his own
Blood, which became the “Blood of the New Covenant”. Thus he based it on
his own obedience, stronger, as I said, than all our sins.
This is
clearly highlighted in the Second Reading, taken from the Letter to the Hebrews,
in which the sacred author declares that Jesus is the “mediator of a new
covenant” (9: 15). He became so through his blood, or, more exactly, through
the gift of himself, which gives full value to the outpouring of his blood. On
the Cross, Jesus is at the same time victim and priest: a victim worthy of God
because he was unblemished, and a High Priest who offers himself, by the power
of the Holy Spirit, and intercedes for the whole of humanity. The Cross is
therefore a mystery of love and of salvation which cleanses us as the Letter to
the Hebrews states from “dead works”, that is, from sins, and sanctifies us by
engraving the New Covenant upon our hearts. The Eucharist, making present the
sacrifice of the Cross, renders us capable of living communion with God
faithfully.
Dear
brothers and sisters whom I greet with affection, starting with the Cardinal
Vicar and the other Cardinals and Bishops present like the Chosen People
gathered on Sinai, this evening let us too reaffirm our fidelity to the Lord. A
few days ago, in opening the annual Diocesan Convention [of Rome] I recalled
the importance of remaining, as Church, attentive to the word of God in prayer
and in exploring the Scriptures, especially through the practice of lectio
divina, that is, through reading the Bible in meditation and veneration. I
know that in this respect many initiatives which enrich our diocesan community
have been promoted in parishes, seminaries and religious communities, in
confraternities and in apostolic associations and movements. I address my
fraternal greeting to the members of this multiplicity of Church bodies. Your
numerous presence at this celebration, dear friends, highlights the fact that
God moulds our community, characterized by a plurality of cultures and by different
experiences. God moulds it as “his” People, as the one Body of Christ, thanks
to our heartfelt participation in the twofold banquet of the Word and of the
Eucharist. Nourished by Christ, we, his disciples, receive the mission to be “the
soul” of this City of ours (see Letter to Diognetus, 6: ed. Funk, I, p.
400; see also Lumen Gentium no. 38), a leaven of renewal, bread “broken”
for all, especially for those in situations of hardship, poverty or physical
and spiritual suffering. Let us become witnesses of his love.
I
address you in particular, dear priests, whom Christ has chosen so that with
him you may be able to live your life as a sacrifice of praise for the
salvation of the world. Only from union with Jesus can you draw that spiritual
fruitfulness which generates hope in your pastoral ministry. St Leo the Great
recalls that “our participation in the Body and Blood of Christ aspires to
nothing other than to become what we receive” (Sermo 12, De Passione 3,
7, PL 54). If this is true for every Christian it is especially true for
us priests. To become the Eucharist! May precisely this be our constant desire
and commitment, so that the offering of the Body and Blood of the Lord which we
make on the altar may be accompanied by the sacrifice of our existence. Every
day, we draw from the Body and Blood of the Lord that free, pure love which
makes us worthy ministers of Christ and witnesses to his joy. This is what the
faithful expect of the priest: that is, the example of an authentic devotion to
the Eucharist; they like to see him spend long periods of silence and adoration
before Jesus as was the practice of the Holy Curé d’Ars, whom we shall remember
in a special way during the upcoming Year for Priests.
St John
Mary Vianney liked to tell his parishioners: “Come to communion.... It is true
that you are not worthy of it, but you need it” (Bernard Nodet, Le curé d’Ars.
Sa pensée - Son coeur, éd. Xavier Mappus, Paris 1995, p. 119). With the
knowledge of being inadequate because of sin, but needful of nourishing
ourselves with the love that the Lord offers us in the Eucharistic sacrament,
let us renew this evening our faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the
Eucharist. We must not take this faith for granted! Today we run the risk of
secularization creeping into the Church too. It can be translated into formal
and empty Eucharistic worship, into celebrations lacking that heartfelt
participation that is expressed in veneration and in respect for the liturgy.
The temptation to reduce prayer to superficial, hasty moments, letting
ourselves be overpowered by earthly activities and concerns, is always strong.
When, in a little while, we recite the Our Father, the prayer par excellence,
we will say: “Give us this day our daily bread”, thinking of course of the bread
of each day for us and for all peoples. But this request contains something
deeper. The Greek word epioúsios, that we translate as “daily”, could
also allude to the “super-stantial” bread, the bread “of the world to come”.
Some Fathers of the Church saw this as a reference to the Eucharist, the bread
of eternal life, the new world, that is already given to us in Holy Mass, so
that from this moment the future world may begin within us. With the Eucharist,
therefore, Heaven comes down to earth, the future of God enters the present and
it is as though time were embraced by divine eternity.
Dear
brothers and sisters, as happens every year, at the end of Holy Mass the
traditional Eucharistic procession will set out and with prayer and hymns we
shall raise a unanimous entreaty to the Lord present in the consecrated host.
We shall say, on behalf of the entire City: “Stay with us Jesus, make a gift of
yourself and give us the bread that nourishes us for eternal life! Free this
world from the poison of evil, violence and hatred that pollute consciences,
purify it with the power of your merciful love”. “And you, Mary, who were the
woman “of the Eucharist’ throughout your life, help us to walk united towards
the heavenly goal, nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, the eternal Bread
of life and medicine of divine immortality”. Amen!
HOLY MASS AND EUCHARISTIC PROCESSION
TO THE BASILICA OF SAINT MARY MAJOR
ON THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS
CHRISTI
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square outside the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Thursday,
3 June 2010
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The
priesthood of the New Testament is closely linked to the Eucharist. For this
reason today, on the Solemnity of Corpus
Christi
The
Second Reading and the Gospel focus attention on the Eucharistic mystery
instead. From the First Reading of the Letter to the Corinthians (see 11:
23-26) is taken the fundamental passage in which St Paul reminds this community
of the meaning and value of the “Lord’s Supper”, which the Apostle had
transmitted and taught and which risked being lost. Whereas the Gospel is St
Luke’s version of the account of the miracle of the loaves and fishes: a sign
attested to by all the Evangelists and that foretells the gift that Christ was
to make of himself in order to give to all humanity eternal life. Both these
texts highlight the prayer of Christ, in the act of breaking bread. There is of
course a clear difference between the two moments: when he breaks the loaves
and fishes for the crowds, Jesus thanks the heavenly Father for his providence,
trusting that he will not let the people go hungry. In the Last Supper,
instead, Jesus transforms the bread and wine into his own Body and Blood so
that the disciples may be nourished by him and live in close and real communion
with him.
The
first thing always to remember is that Jesus was not a priest in accordance
with the Jewish tradition. He did not come from a family of priests. He did not
belong to the lineage of Aaron but rather that of Judah and was therefore legally
barred from taking the path of the priesthood. Jesus of Nazareth himself and
his activities do not follow in the wake of the ancient priests but rather in
that of the prophets. And in this line Jesus took his distance from the ritual conception
of religion, criticizing the structure that gave value to human precepts linked
to ritual purity rather than to the observance of God’s commandments: namely,
love of God and of one’s neighbour which, as the Lord says, “is much
more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mk 12: 33). Even in the Temple of Jerusalem Jerusalem .
In what
sense, therefore, was Jesus a priest? The Eucharist itself tells us. We can
start with the simple words that describe Melichizedek: He “brought out bread
and wine” (Gen 14: 18). This is what Jesus did at the Last Supper: he offered
bread and wine and in that action recapitulated the whole of himself and his
whole mission. That gesture, the prayer that preceded it and the words with
which he accompanied it contain the full meaning of the mystery of Christ, as
the Letter to the Hebrews expresses it in a crucial passage that we should
quote: “In the days of his flesh”, the author writes of Our Lord, “Jesus offered
up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to
save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear. Although he was a
Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and being made perfect he
became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by
God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (5: 8-10). In this text,
which clearly alludes to the spiritual agony of Gethsemane ,
Christ’s Passion is presented as a prayer and an offering. Jesus faces his “hour”
which leads him to death on the Cross, immersed in a profound prayer that
consists of the union of his own will with that of the Father. This dual yet
single will is a will of love. Lived in this prayer, the tragic trial that
Jesus faces is transformed into an offering, into a living sacrifice.
The
Letter to the Hebrews says that Jesus “was heard”. In what sense? In the sense
that God the Father liberated him from death and restored him to life. He was
heard precisely because of his total abandonment of himself to the Father’s
will: God’s plan of love could be perfectly fulfilled in Jesus who, having
obeyed to the end, to his death on the Cross, became a “cause of salvation” for
all who obey him. In other words, he became the High Priest for having taken
upon himself all the sin of the world, as the “Lamb of God”. It is the Father
who confers this priesthood upon him at the very moment in which Jesus passes
over from his death to his Resurrection. He is not a priest according to the Mosaic
law (see Lev 8-9), but “after the order of Melchizedek”, according to a
prophetic order, dependent only on his special relationship with God.
Let us
return to the words of the Letter to the Hebrews which say: “Although he was a
Son he learned obedience through what he suffered”. Christ’s priesthood
entailed suffering. Jesus truly suffered and did so for our sake. He was the
Son and did not need to learn obedience but we do, we did need to and we always
will. Therefore the Son took upon himself our humanity and for our sake he let
himself be “taught” obedience in the crucible of suffering, he let himself be
transformed by it like the grain of wheat that has to die in the earth in order
to bear fruit. By means of this process Jesus was “made perfect” in Greek, teleiotheis.
We must pause to reflect on this term because it is very important. It
indicates the fulfilment of a journey, that is, the very journey and
transformation of the Son of God through suffering, through his painful
Passion. It is through this transformation that Jesus Christ became the “high
priest” and can save all who entrust themselves to him. The term teleiotheis,
correctly translated by the words “made perfect”, belongs to a verbal root
which, in the Greek version of the Pentateuch, that is, the first five Books of
the Bible, is always used to mean the consecration of the ancient priests. This
discovery is very valuable because it tells us that for Jesus the Passion was
like a priestly consecration. He was not a priest according to the Law but
became one existentially in his Pasch of Passion, death and Resurrection: he
gave himself in expiation and the Father, exalting him above every creature,
made him the universal Mediator of salvation.
Let us
return in our meditation, to the Eucharist that will shortly be the focus of
our liturgical assembly. In it, Jesus anticipated his Sacrifice, a non-ritual
but a personal sacrifice. At the Last Supper his actions were prompted by that “eternal
spirit” with which he was later to offer himself on the Cross (see Heb 9: 14).
Giving thanks and blessing, Jesus transforms the bread and the wine. It is
divine love that transforms them: the love with which Jesus accepts, in
anticipation, to give the whole of himself for us. This love is nothing other
than the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, who consecrates
the bread and the wine and changes their substance into the Body and Blood of
the Lord, making present in the Sacrament the same sacrifice that is fulfilled
in a bloody way on the Cross. We may therefore conclude that Christ is a true
and effective priest because he was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit,
he was filled with the whole fullness of God’s love and precisely “in the night
on which he was betrayed”, precisely, “in the hour... of darkness” (see Lk 22:
53). It is this divine power, the same power that brought about the Incarnation
of the Word, that transformed the extreme violence and extreme injustice into a
supreme act of love and justice. This is the work of the priesthood of Christ
which the Church inherited and extended in history, in the dual form of the
common priesthood of the baptized and the ordained priesthood of ministers, in
order to transform the world with God’s love. Let us all, priests and faithful,
nourish ourselves with the same Eucharist, let us all prostrate ourselves to
adore it, because in it our Master and Lord is present, the true Body of the
Jesus is present in it, the Victim and the Priest, the salvation of the world.
Come let us exult with joyful songs! Come, let us adore him! Amen.
SOLEMNITY OF
CORPUS CHRISTI
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Square outside the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, Thursday,
23 June 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The
Feast of Corpus Christi
What
Jesus gave to us in the intimacy of the Upper Room today we express openly,
because the love of Christ is not reserved for a few but is destined for all.
In the Mass in Caena Domini last Holy Thursday, I stressed that it is in
the Eucharist that the transformation of the gifts of this earth takes place —
the bread and wine — whose aim is to transform our life and thereby to
inaugurate the transformation of the world. This evening I would like to focus
on this perspective.
Everything
begins, one might say, from the heart of Christ who, at the Last Supper, on the
eve of his passion, thanked and praised God and by so doing, with the power of
his love, transformed the meaning of death which he was on his way to
encounter. The fact that the Sacrament of the Altar acquired the name “Eucharist”
— “thanksgiving” — expresses precisely this: that changing the substance of the
bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ is the fruit of the gift that
Christ made of himself, the gift of a Love stronger than death, divine Love
which raised him from the dead. This is why the Eucharist is the food of
eternal life, the Bread of Life. From Christ’s heart, from his “Eucharistic
prayer” on the eve of his passion flows that dynamism which transforms reality in
its cosmic, human and historical dimensions. All things proceed from God, from
the omnipotence of his Triune Love, incarnate in Jesus. Christ’s heart is
steeped in this Love; therefore he can thank and praise God even in the face of
betrayal and violence, and in this way changes things, people and the world.
This
transformation is possible thanks to a communion stronger than division, the
communion of God himself. The word “communion”, which we also use to designate
the Eucharist, in itself sums up the vertical and horizontal dimensions of
Christ’s gift.
The
words “to receive communion”, referring to the act of eating the Bread of the
Eucharist, are beautiful and very eloquent. In fact, when we do this act we
enter into communion with the very life of Jesus, into the dynamism of this
life which is given to us and for us. From God, through Jesus, to us: a unique communion
is transmitted through the Blessed Eucharist.
We have
just heard in the Second Reading the words of the Apostle Paul to the
Christians of Corinth: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a
participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a
participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are
many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:16-17).
St
Augustine helps us to understand the dynamic of Eucharistic communion when he
mentions a sort of vision that he had, in which Jesus said to him: “I am the
food of strong men; grow and you shall feed on me; nor shall you change me,
like the food of your flesh into yourself, but you shall be changed into my
likeness” (Confessions, vii,
10, 18).
Therefore
whereas food for the body is assimilated by our organism and contributes to
nourishing it, in the case of the Eucharist it is a different Bread: it is not
we who assimilate it but it assimilates us in itself, so that we become conformed
to Jesus Christ, a member of his Body, one with him. This passage is crucial.
In fact, precisely because it is Christ who, in Eucharistic communion changes
us into him, our individuality, in this encounter, is opened, liberated from
its egocentrism and inserted into the Person of Jesus who in his turn is
immersed in Trinitarian communion. The Eucharist, therefore, while it unites us
to Christ also opens us to others, makes us members of one another: we are no
longer divided but one in him. Eucharistic communion not only unites me to the
person I have beside me and with whom I may not even be on good terms, but also
to our distant brethren in every part of the world.
Hence
the profound sense of the Church’s social presence derives from the Eucharist,
as is testified by the great social saints who were always great Eucharistic
souls. Those who recognize Jesus in the sacred Host, recognize him in their
suffering brother or sister, in those who hunger and thirst, who are strangers,
naked, sick or in prison; and they are attentive to every person, they work in
practice for all who are in need.
Therefore
our special responsibility as Christians for building a supportive, just and
brotherly society comes from the gift of Christ’s love. Especially in our time,
in which globalization makes us more and more dependent on each other,
Christianity can and must ensure that this unity is not built without God, that
is, without true Love, which would give way to confusion, individualism and the
tyranny of each one seeking to oppress the others. The Gospel has always aimed
at the unity of the human family, a unity that is neither imposed from the
outside nor by ideological or economic interests but on the contrary is based
on the sense of reciprocal responsibility, so that we may recognize each other
as members of one and the same Body, the Body of Christ, because from the
Sacrament of the Altar we have learned and are constantly learning that
sharing, love, is the path to true justice.
Let us
now return to Jesus’ action at the Last Supper. What happened at that moment?
When he said: “this is my body which is given for you, this is the cup of my
blood which is poured out for many, what happened? In this gesture Jesus was
anticipating the event of Calvary . Out of love
he accepted the whole passion, with its anguish and its violence, even to death
on the cross. In accepting it in this manner he changed it into an act of
giving. This is the transformation which the world needs most, to redeem it
from within, to open it to the dimensions of the Kingdom of Heaven
However,
God always wishes to bring about this renewal of the world on the same path
followed by Christ, that way which is indeed he himself. There is nothing magic
about Christianity. There are no short-cuts; everything passes through the
humble and patient logic of the grain of wheat that broke open to give life,
the logic of faith that moves mountains with the gentle power of God. For this
reason God wishes to continue to renew humanity, history and the cosmos through
this chain of transformations, of which the Eucharist is the sacrament. Through
the consecrated bread and wine, in which his Body and his Blood are really
present, Christ transforms us, conforming us to him: he involves us in his work
of redemption, enabling us, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, to live in
accordance with his own logic of self-giving, as grains of wheat united to him
and in him. Thus are sown and continue to mature in the furrows of history
unity and peace, which are the end for which we strive, in accordance with God’s
plan.
Let us
walk with no illusions, with no utopian ideologies, on the highways of the
world bearing within us the Body of the Lord, like the Virgin Mary in the
mystery of the Visitation. With the humility of knowing that we are merely
grains of wheat, let us preserve the firm certainty that the love of God,
incarnate in Christ, is stronger than evil, violence and death. We know that
God prepares for all men and women new heavens and a new earth, in which peace
and justice reign — and in faith we perceive the new world which is our true
homeland.
This
evening too, let us start out: while the sun is setting on our beloved city of Rome : Jesus in the
Eucharist is with us, the Risen One who said: “I am with you always, to the
close of the age” (Mt 28:20). Thank you, Lord Jesus! Thank you for your
faithfulness which sustains our hope. Stay with us because night is falling. “Very
bread, Good Shepherd, tend us, Jesus, of your love befriend us, You refresh us,
you defend us, Your eternal goodness send us in the land of life to see”. Amen.
HOLY
MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS
CHRISTI
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Basilica
of Saint John Lateran, Thursday, 7 June 2012
Dear Brothers and
Sisters,
This
evening I would like to meditate with you on two interconnected aspects of the
Eucharistic Mystery: worship of the Eucharist and its sacred nature. It is
important to reflect on them once again to preserve them from incomplete
visions of the Mystery itself, such as those encountered in the recent past.
First
of all, a reflection on the importance of Eucharistic worship and, in
particular, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We shall experience it this
evening, after Mass, before the procession, during it and at its conclusion. A
unilateral interpretation of the Second Vatican Council penalized this
dimension, in practice restricting the Eucharist to the moment of its
celebration. Indeed it was very important to recognize the centrality of the
celebration in which the Lord summons his people, gathers it round the dual
table of the Word and of the Bread of life, nourishes and unites it with
himself in the offering of the Sacrifice.
Of
course, this evaluation of the liturgical assembly in which the Lord works his
mystery of communion and brings it about still applies; but it must be put back
into the proper balance. In fact — as often happens — in order to emphasize one
aspect one ends by sacrificing another. In this case the correct accentuation
of the celebration of the Eucharist has been to the detriment of adoration as
an act of faith and prayer addressed to the Lord Jesus, really present in the
Sacrament of the Altar.
This
imbalance has also had repercussions on the spiritual life of the faithful. In
fact, by concentrating the entire relationship with the Eucharistic Jesus in
the sole moment of Holy Mass one risks emptying the rest of existential time
and space of his presence. This makes ever less perceptible the meaning of
Jesus’ constant presence in our midst and with us, a presence that is tangible,
close, in our homes, as the “beating Heart” of the city, of the country, and of
the area, with its various expressions and activities. The sacrament of Christ’s
Charity must permeate the whole of daily life.
Actually
it is wrong to set celebration and adoration against each other, as if they
were competing. Exactly the opposite is true: worship of the Blessed Sacrament
is, as it were, the spiritual “context” in which the community can celebrate
the Eucharist well and in truth. Only if it is preceded, accompanied and
followed by this inner attitude of faith and adoration can the liturgical
action express its full meaning and value. The encounter with Jesus in Holy
Mass is truly and fully brought about when the community can recognize that in
the Sacrament he dwells in his house, waits for us, invites us to his table,
then, after the assembly is dismissed, stays with us, with his discreet and
silent presence, and accompanies us with his intercession, continuing to gather
our spiritual sacrifices and offer them to the Father.
In
this regard I am pleased to highlight the experience we shall be having
together this evening too. At the moment of Adoration, we are all equal,
kneeling before the Sacrament of Love. The common priesthood and the
ministerial priesthood are brought together in Eucharistic worship. It is a
very beautiful and significant experience which we have had several times in St
Peter’s Basilica, and also in the unforgettable Vigils with young people — I
recall, for example, those in Cologne , London , Zagreb and Madrid . It is clear to
all that these moments of Eucharistic Vigil prepare for the celebration of the
Holy Mass, they prepare hearts for the encounter so that it will be more
fruitful.
To
be all together in prolonged silence before the Lord present in his Sacrament
is one of the most genuine experiences of our being Church, which is
accompanied complementarily by the celebration of the Eucharist, by listening
to the word of God, by singing and by approaching the table of the Bread of
Life together. Communion and contemplation cannot be separated, they go hand in
hand. If I am truly to communicate with another person I must know him, I must
be able to be in silence close to him, to listen to him and look at him
lovingly. True love and true friendship are always nourished by the reciprocity
of looks, of intense, eloquent silences full of respect and veneration, so that
the encounter may be lived profoundly and personally rather than superficially.
And, unfortunately, if this dimension is lacking, sacramental communion itself
may become a superficial gesture on our part.
Instead,
in true communion, prepared for by the conversation of prayer and of life, we
can address words of confidence to the Lord, such as those which rang out just
now in the Responsorial Psalm: “O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant,
the son of your handmaid. / You have loosed my bonds./ I will offer to you the
sacrifice of thanksgiving /and call on the name of the Lord” (Ps 116[115]:16-17).
I
would now like to move on briefly to the second aspect: the sacred nature of
the Eucharist. Here too so we have heard in the recent past of a certain
misunderstanding of the authentic message of Sacred Scripture. The Christian
newness with regard to worship has been influenced by a certain secularist
mentality of the 1960s and 70s. It is true, and this is still the case, that
the centre of worship is now no longer in the ancient rites and sacrifices, but
in Christ himself, in his person, in his life, in his Paschal Mystery. However
it must not be concluded from this fundamental innovation that the sacred no
longer exists, but rather that it has found fulfilment in Jesus Christ, divine
Love incarnate.
The
Letter to the Hebrews, which we heard this evening in the Second Reading,
speaks to us precisely of the newness of the priesthood of Christ, “high priest
of the good things that have come” (Heb 9:11), but does not say that the
priesthood is finished. Christ “is the mediator of a new covenant” (Heb 9:15),
established in his blood which purifies our “conscience from dead works” (Heb
9:14). He did not abolish the sacred but brought it to fulfillment,
inaugurating a new form of worship, which is indeed fully spiritual but which,
however, as long as we are journeying in time, still makes use of signs and
rites, which will exist no longer only at the end, in the heavenly Jerusalem,
where there will no longer be any temple (see Rev 21:22). Thanks to Christ, the
sacred is truer, more intense and, as happens with the Commandments, also more
demanding! Ritual observance does not suffice but purification of the heart and
the involvement of life is required.
I
would also like to stress that the sacred has an educational function and its
disappearance inevitably impoverishes culture and especially the formation of
the new generations. If, for example, in the name of a faith that is
secularized and no longer in need of sacred signs, these Corpus Christi
processions through the city were to be abolished, the spiritual profile of
Rome would be “flattened out”, and our personal and community awareness would
be weakened.
Or
let us think of a mother or father who in the name of a desacralized faith,
deprived their children of all religious rituals: in reality they would end by
giving a free hand to the many substitutes that exist in the consumer society,
to other rites and other signs that could more easily become idols.
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