Through Holy Week, Easter and the Sundays after Easter, and then, of course, the Ascension, Pentecost and last week, Trinity Sunday we have submerged ourselves into the wonders, the treasures, the mysteries of that most precious of all gifts, our Catholic Faith.
A Faith that enables us rise above heart breaking examples of perversion, ineptitude, greed, weakness and fear that cast dark shadows over Jesus’ mystical body... over us.
And rise above it we will because we are sons and daughters of the Resurrection... of Pentecost, of God whose love for us is immeasurable.
Today we celebrate Corpus Christi. The Feast of the Body and blood of Christ. To say that we have left the best celebration for the last would border on disrespect not to mention bad theology, however I suggest that it is the most intimate... and intimacy means a lot to us.
It is in the Eucharist that God comes to each of us, individually, and unites himself to us in a flesh and blood relationship that is real and physical.
Now at this point, the first thing that comes to mind is likely a discomfiting sexual analogy and that, though perhaps a little superficial, is fine because I believe that there is a potential for a rich and significant common ground to be found in the intimate and in the Eucharistic lives of Catholic people.
I firmly believe that when we strip away from our notions and experiences of sexuality, all of the cheapening, all of the commercializing, all of the distortions, all of the indignities, all of the repression and inhumanity, all of the selfishness and violence.
When all of these accretions are stripped away, we are left with something priceless in both its language and its significance.
We are left with something good and holy. We are left with an intimacy that is admittedly a relatively pale but none the less, true reflection of that Eucharistic intimacy that unites us to God and subsequently to each other.
This relationship is not one that I have only recently come to recognize.
Years ago as a young priest, I was frequently moved at the sight of married couples of various ages, kneeling at the altar rail and receiving Holy Communion side by side, holding hands and together consciously reinforcing their love for each other and for God...
Two in one flesh, together and with God.
I suppose that my theological appreciation developed with time but that image as projected by those couples, has always enhanced my awareness of the treasure that is our Eucharistic liturgy.
I sincerely pray that it will always be the centre of your lives.
