Body and Blood of Christ - Homily 2

Homily 2 - 2015

[Today was a School Mass with young children attending. The homily was an interactive discussion with them.]

What is the Eucharist for? to celebrate and to remind us that Jesus is with us all the time. While his friends were having that last meal together, he said to them that He would be in them and they would be in him. He says the same thing to us. Why would He want that? Why in? because he loves us, and would love us to love him.

There was an unusual word in all three readings today: Covenant. A covenant is an agreement between people to be friends, to support each other, to be prepared to forgive each other. That is what it is like between Jesus and us. But we don’t see Jesus and we don’t touch Jesus. So Jesus uses real things that we can see and touch – real things – to remind us: food – bread and wine. Just as our food becomes part of us, becomes us, nourishes and strengthens our life,and we cannot separate them… Jesus becomes us and no one can separate us. His life nourishes and strengthens our life.

It is worth thinking about. Through Jesus, who is really God as well as man, God is with us; God is in us. God who is love, God who loves us is in us making us more alive! Where is God? in everything created. Where does God like being most? in us. What is it like when someone loves us and when we love them back? How does it help us feel? And when we feel loved, we find we have more energy to be in a good mood, even to be kind and to love others. When we really believe that God loves us, it makes such a difference. We are never alone. And God [God the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit] are the sort of persons who, whether we have been good or bad [and we are bit of both most of the time], never stop loving us – never!

What is a really good way to remember that God who loves us is with us? We can celebrate it at Mass. When we are not at Mass, and that is most of the time, we can spend time with God. We don’t even have to say anything. We do not need to know any prayers by heart - [though often they can help us].

Meditate…