Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of May 25, 2008

MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (YEAR A)

1st reading: Dt 8:2-3, 14-16; Psalm 147; 2nd reading: 1 Cor 10:16-17; Gospel: Jn 6:51-58

Zion, praise the Savior,

your guide, your shepherd

with hymns and songs.

Commit all your fervor:

he surpasses all praise,

there is no song that he is worthy.

Living bread, which gives life:

this is the theme of your song,

subject of praise.

It was actually donated

to the assembled apostles

in fraternal and sacred supper.

Full and resounding praise,

noble and serene joy

gush today from the spirit.

This is the solemn feast

in which we celebrate

the first sacred supper.

It is the banquet of the new King,

new Easter, new law;

the old has come to an end.

The ancient rite yields to the new,

reality scatters the shadow:

light, no more darkness.

Christ leaves in his memory

what he did at supper:

we renew it.

Obedient to his command,

we consecrate the bread and the wine,

host of salvation.

It is certainty for us Christians:

turns bread into flesh,

wine is made into blood.

You don't see, you don't understand,

but faith confirms you,

beyond nature.

What appears is a sign:

hide in mystery

sublime realities.

You eat flesh, you drink blood;

but remains whole Christ

in each species.

He who eats it does not break it,

neither separates nor divides,

intact he receives it.

May they be one, may they be a thousand,

equally receive it:

it is never consumed.

The righteous go, the wicked go;

but the fate is different:

life or death it causes.

Life to the righteous, death to the wicked:

in the same community

quite different is the outcome!

When you break the sacrament

fear not, but remember:

Christ is so much in every part,

as is in the whole.

Only the sign is divided

you do not touch the substance;

nothing has diminished

of his person.

Here is the bread of the angels,

The bread of pilgrims,

true bread of the children:

it must not be thrown away.

With symbols it is announced,

in Isaac given to death,

in the Easter lamb,

in the manna given to the fathers.

Good shepherd, true bread,

o Jesus, have mercy on us:

feed and defend us,

lead us to eternal good

in the land of the living.

You who know everything and can,

feed us on earth,

lead your brothers

at the table of heaven

in the glory of your saints.

Today you have listened to the entire sequence, but I cannot understand why, on the occasion of the feast of Corpus Christi, only a part is read. This sequence was composed by St. Thomas Aquinas and is part of a treatise he wrote on the Eucharist. After composing it, he received thanks and appreciation from Jesus. The Lord said to him: “Dear Thomas, you have written very well about Me and now what do you want as a reward?” and Thomas answered him: “Nothing, Lord, I only want You yourself”. I say this simply to make you understand that the great theologian is not the one who is familiar with theology, but is the one who has confidence in God and in the light of God he manages to understand, as far as humanly possible, the sublime truths and the great mysteries that are part of the heritage of Christian faith. The Eucharistic miracle of Bolsena had occurred recently enough, which you all know as the Eucharistic miracle of Orvieto. This miracle was immediately recognized by the Pope, who went to Bolsena to realize what had happened and a year later he established the feast of Corpus Christi for the whole Church. How different our ancestors were from us, how different the shepherds of that time were from the today’s shepherds, but this is not what matters. We are interested in seeing how St. Thomas came to say, in lyrical and poetic form, truths that today are not even accepted, actually, they are rejected by people who should defend the truth. This great theologian is probably the greatest, among the very first in terms of greatness and theological speculation who wrote and worked to defend, illuminate and show the truths of Christian faith.

The sequence is long and I have to do as Jesus said on the feast day of Palm Sunday, when, taking a hint from the donkey on which he entered Jerusalem, after having talked to us at length and about different things, he said: "With the speech I'm going hither and thither, like the little donkey...” (Letter of God, March 16, 2008). When one has so many things to say and time is short, he is forced to repeat Jesus' experience and I too will do as he did. Not being able to give a total, satisfactory and detailed explanation, I will be forced to take only a few verses and submit them to you so that you can deepen them. So let's skip the first verses that prepare the meeting with Jesus the Eucharist. Everyone knows that in the last supper, represented here, the Eucharistic mystery was given to us and in our daily Eucharistic celebration the mystery of the Cross is always present and actualized. This Eucharistic banquet, which is Communion and assumption of the Body and Blood of Christ, is completely different from the offerings of the Old Testament, where animals were offered to God and part of their flesh was given as food to the people: there they ate an earthly reality, while we eat a theandric reality, that is to say both human and divine. For this reason, the offering of the sacrifice of the Old Testament gives way to the offering of the New Testament where reality shines, there are no more shadows, but there is the radiance of the light that comes from the Eucharist. Christ leaves a memory of what he did at the last supper; it is not just a simple memory. The difference between us and our Protestant brothers is that for them it is a memory of a past, distant event, detached from them, while for us it is actualization and presence. Thus, in a mysterious and real way, the very event of Christ's death, anticipated in the Eucharist at the last supper, becomes a reality to us. No one can explain how, nor are we interested in its comprehension. Mystery is what surpasses human intelligence, consequently, what matters is believing in what Christ has done and what he gives to men, in all times and in all areas of the earth.

The Eucharistic celebration is a response to the command: "Do this in remembrance of me". Faced with this command, the commitment and the execution of the order must put us in the situation, by faith, not by rational demonstration, of having the certainty that what we see as bread and wine are Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ. Jesus, as he will say later, is present both under the species of bread and under the species of wine, that is, there is no separation where the body without the blood is present under the species of bread and the blood without the body is present under the species of wine. It is Christ "totus", total, who is simultaneously present in both species. The speech about the division of species is to remind us of the division that occurs in the sacrifice with death, just this. This dissertation is linked to the material; the choice of material to perform a sacrament is Christ's task, it is not a choice that can be attributed to the Church. This means that if, hypothetically, Christ had been born in Lapland or at the North Pole, where it was at least not easy to find bread and wine, with all due respect, he could have chosen fish as his raw material. You shouldn't be surprised, bread and wine are natural elements that can be easily found in the world where Christ lived and worked, therefore he chose the material that was available, but its choice belongs, as such, only to him. The Lord is not bound by anything, Christ is free in the institution of all the sacraments, to give the words, the so-called formula, to indicate the minister who must administer the sacrament and the material through which the sacrament is made present, Christ is free to make whatever choice he wants. Those who deprive Christ, even today after two thousand years, of this possibility, of this authority, of this reality are sinners, heretics and outside the Church. Christ can also do without any material to perform a sacrament, he can also do without the words he said, in fact for him, it is enough to say: "This is my Body" and here it is the Eucharist, it is sufficient that he says: "This is Bishop" and he is truly a Bishop and whoever says otherwise is outside the Church, even if they occupy very high positions. No one can impose constraints, laws, provisions and conveniences on Christ, because it is blasphemous just to think of it. Excuse me if I said it heatedly, but it's time to stop these people profaning the Eucharist, to offend God and to offend Christ. You must, we must have the courage, as I had, to say: "You are blasphemous, you are outside the Church, it's not me outside the Church and you have the huge responsibility of dragging many other people following you to hell”. We must fear only God, not men, much less those who deny the truth.

“You don't see, you don't understand, but faith confirms you…”. Of course it is so. Some are ironic, but if that great miracle by which a substance which is bread is transformed into the Body, Blood and Soul of Christ and if a substance which is wine is transformed into the Body, Blood and Soul of Christ, then won’t Christ be able to make blood gush from a host? It is blasphemy to say it is the work of the devil. If an authentically ordained priest says those words, uses that formula, then that is the Eucharist, even if the priest doubts what he is doing and the miracle of Bolsena bears witness to this. And I add, and this is a responsibility for which he will have to give account to God, even if a priest is in sin, he validly consecrates the Eucharist. No authority can say that this is not the Eucharist consecrated by a priest, even if he is thrown out of the institution. It's time to stop, we can no longer allow people who are supposed to defend the Eucharist, to offend and disregard it by blaspheming it. These are blasphemies because those who make such claims are desecrators of the Eucharist and, as desecrators of the Eucharist, are, ipso facto, excommunicated.

“You eat flesh, you drink blood, but remains whole Christ in each species…” This has already been highlighted above.

“He who eats it does not break it, neither separates nor divides, intact he receives it…” I have told you many times that, regarding profanation, when people foolishly offend God, thinking of harming Him by stabbing the Eucharist with daggers or burning the Eucharist or spitting at the Sacred Host, they do not strike God, they do not strike Christ. For example, nothing happens if we chew the Eucharist. Sometimes, even out of simplicity that borders on ignorance, some say: "I don't allow myself to chew the host so as not to offend Christ". I have never taught these things, instead I told you to take the host, but you must be in God's grace, that's what counts. Our Lady, actually it was Jesus who said it again today that if you have to chew it in order to swallow the Eucharist, do it without problems. Who told you it can't be done? Not me.

“May they be one, may they be a thousand, equally receive it, it is never consumed…” If all of Christ, as true God and true man, is taken simultaneously by a few people or by a vast multitude, it is not the number that makes the difference, but the condition of the soul.

“Life to the righteous, death to the wicked…” It is also reported in the scripture and Paul says that those who receive Christ unworthily sign their own condemnation.

“When you break the sacrament fear not but remember: Christ is as much in every part as is in the whole…” If you break the host and give a fragment or if you give the whole host, it makes no difference, Christ is present. Actually, there is a difference: the presence of Christ in Body, Blood, Soul and real and mysterious Divinity is linked to the consummation of the species, so within us priests the presence of Christ extends beyond yours, because you have a small host, while we have a large host. This is the only difference, there are no others. Hence those communities breaking up the Eucharist leaving fragments, which they then pick up and throw away, desecrate the Eucharist. If, by misfortune, it happens that even a single fragment falls to the ground, it must be taken and consumed and then purify where it fell. Surely this was taught to you as a child. God gave us intelligence, but sometimes I feel like we don't use it.

“Here is the bread of the angels, the bread of pilgrims…” We are pilgrims, but what is meant here is a huge truth. The Eucharist, due to its infinite greatness, can be given and is given both to angels and men. Who said angels can't take Communion? Angels take Communion, Our Lady takes Communion, Saint Joseph takes Communion. If we state otherwise we are stupid and in this stupidity we also drag others into making statements that are petty and contrary to the truth.

“True bread of the children…” The pilgrim is the one who goes to a place and to get there he struggles and prays. The place that has been indicated to us and that we must reach is the Heaven and one goes to Heaven only in an ordinary way, with the Eucharist.

“It must not be thrown away…” How many hosts have been thrown, how many hosts have been desecrated! This is awful, it's blasphemous.

“Good shepherd, true bread, o Jesus have mercy on us, feed and defend us, lead us to eternal good in the land of the living…” This is easy to understand.

“You, who know everything and can, feed us on earth, lead your brothers…” I read it because I wanted to indicate that St. Thomas thinks like your Bishop. It is he who says, addressing Jesus, that we are his brothers and therefore we have the right, by addressing Jesus, to call him brother, because this is what he wants, this is what he desires. There is nothing else to add, except that we must look into our hearts and ask ourselves the question: "Do I love the Eucharist?" If the answer is yes, and I hope it is the same for everyone, move on to the second question: "Why don't I grow in the love for the Eucharist?" I cannot give you the answer, each of you must give it to your own conscience and each of us, starting with the one speaking to you, can and must, daily, increase in the love for Jesus the Eucharist.

Praised be Jesus Christ.