20th Sunday Year B - Homily 1

Homily 1 - 2006

Sometimes our appreciation of the real presence of Jesus in the sacrament of Communion leads us to take less note of a more important real presence of Jesus that is the effect and purpose of his presence in Communion. 

As the Gospel put it today: Whoever eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I live in them. Instead of simply putting live in, other translations express Jesus’ comment as "live continually", "dwell continually", "abide". All the options give us a better idea of what Jesus was saying. The momentary presence of Jesus in us in the action of Communion is the source of a continuing presence of Jesus with us in our daily lives. This abiding, continuing presence of Jesus in us is the presence of the real Jesus – (There is only one Jesus!). He is present in us, not through a change of our substance into his (as happens with the bread and wine), but through a change in our attitudes, our relationship with him, the depth of our intimacy. This change does not happen immediately, automatically, though (as it does with the bread and the wine). They are not alive, and free; they have no say.

But when we cooperate, freely, the real Jesus, really present to us, gradually changes us so that our lives - our thoughts, our attitudes, our choices - become conformed to his. As St Paul could say: I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me. It is a mysterious change – but wonderful. That is the purpose of Communion – what it’s for.

How do we cooperate with this fantastic opportunity - with the real Jesus constantly present with us, in such a way that we do change? This is an important question because, without our cooperation, his presence within us achieves nothing.  How do we allow anyone to influence us, and to change us profoundly? We need to connect; we need to dialogue; we need to make choices.

So we need to connect with Jesus, in some kind of I-Thou, one on one, dialogue. This is the task of prayer in one shape or other.  We need to listen to him, to seek to know him well, to touch in, if we can, to his heart, and to what burns within him.  This can be helped and nourished by meditatively reading the scriptures.  It can be helped, too, by taking time in quiet prayer and stillness to plumb the meaning of the shared eating and drinking of his body and blood in Communion - because the shared bread and wine are sacraments of his presence; they are signs. What are they telling us? What do they reveal of his heart and mind, his values, his priorities?  We spend a brief time of quiet prayer and stillness together after Communion. We can also spend time in quiet thought afterwards, before the Blessed Sacrament, or anywhere.  

We need to put our insights into practice in our daily lives. There is no formation without action. But we also need to reflect on our actions - on their outcomes on us and on others - and where they come from in us.  Again, that can be one of the things we do in our praying.

The purpose of Communion is so that, as Jesus draws the Father’s life into him, we too might draw Jesus’ life into us: As the Gospel said: As I who am sent by the living Father myself draw life from the Father, so whoever eats me will draw life from me. The reality is mind-blowing. Communion is the source of a challenging transformation, a call to a profound commitment.