A Homily from the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Homily from the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Readings:  1st Kings 3:5, 7-12; Psalm 119:57, 72, 76-77, 127-128, 129-130; Romans 8:28-30; Gospel Matthew 13:44-52. Submitted by H. E. Deacon John Mahon – KLJ-Prof.

Amen, amen, amen I say to you… Today, [July 28th] we celebrate Blessed Stanley Rother and his death as a martyr for his Faith in Guatemala…  He struggled mightily to become a priest and especially with his Latin…  but once he became a priest, he learned his people’s language and helped translate the Bible into their language…  He spent 13 years in Santiago Atitlan and came home to Oklahoma for a brief time due to threats on his life before returning to the people he loved…  shortly after returning he was murdered in his rectory…. He found a pearl of great price in the land and especially in the people of Santiago Atitlan…  His successor, who wasn’t able to return to the parish for 3 years turned the room in which he was murdered into a chapel…  Blessed Stanley loved the people in his parish more than he loved himself… His body is buried in his shrine in Oklahoma City…  However, his actual heart, appropriately, is in Santiago Atitlan with his people – on the memorial in his parish Church the plaque quotes John 15:13: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”  Who else was hunted down and gave up His life for His people – Jesus. The same Jesus we worship and receive each week (and some of you every single day) in the Eucharist.

            I’d like to point out something many of us say during Mass without much thought the word “Amen.”  We’ve already said it four times during Mass today…  We’ll say it, ‘officially’ three more times as part of the Liturgy…  What does the word Amen mean? Google defines it as: “uttered at the end of a prayer or hymn, meaning ‘so be it.’” When we read one of Jesus’ quotes in the Bible, we know it’s serious when He says: “Amen, amen I say to you…”

When you come up for communion the Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion, Father or I will; before we give you Jesus, will say: “The Body of Christ;” to which you will say…. Amen. Right? I hope and pray so… 

            I’ve gone to these lengths today in order to prove a point. The point is, right now in these United States, 69% of the folks sitting in the pews…  Catholic Christians who have been either baptized as infants or converted to the faith and all of us Confirmed in the Faith…  69% do not believe Jesus is actually, really present; and not ‘just’ present in the Eucharist; He IS the Eucharist...  Body…  Blood…  Soul…  and Divinity…  Which means we as a Church and we as clergy haven’t done enough…  Which is to teach the Truth…  Jesus is the Truth…  

            Many who do not believe in His True Presence in the Eucharist and believe it is only a “symbol” must not believe Jesus when He says in the Gospels and through St. Paul’s letters…. 1 Corinthians 11:23 to 27: “For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is My Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord.”

            Either those 70% of Catholics who don’t genuinely believe (not to mention our Protestant brothers and sisters) are absolutely correct which means the remaining 30% of Catholics must be idolators and falsely worship God in a mere piece of bread and wine… Or… they have it all wrong and we are the only Christians, us, and the Greek Orthodox Church, who have it right. I don’t know about you… but if you ask me who to believe, Jesus or someone who says that’s not what Jesus meant… I’m gonna side with JESUS who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He knew exactly what He was saying and wanted us to do.

            Let’s look at this from another perspective… What does worship require to actually “be” worship? A sacrifice. In this Mass we’re attending…  Where is the sacrifice? The sacrifice is here on the Altar in a few minutes…   Why is any other Christian Sunday meeting called a ‘service’ and the Catholics gathering the Mass? Because they do not actually worship God…  they venerate Him. They venerate Him because there is no sacrifice at their “service.”  We, on the other hand, have an actual sacrifice…

            If you are one of those folks who has doubts about Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist…  please take it to prayer. Realize…  having a doubt here is not a sin. Ask God; ask Jesus; Ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten you…  However, please remember here – Jesus never said we had to understand His Real Presence…  we just have to have faith.  And that faith is an absolute gift…  One which we must unwrap and put to effective use daily… 

            Jesus said; “Take and eat,” not “Take and feel.” Nor did He say, “Take and understand.”  He said; “This is My Body,” not “This is My Mind.” Moses, Abraham, David, and Solomon…   Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle… St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas…  the Dalai Lama, Mohamed, and Buddha; they only left us their minds… but Jesus Christ left us His Body…  Had Jesus merely died in 33 A.D. He would have still been known…  However, His death was not the end…  It was the beginning because three days after His brutal death; He rose from the dead…  This is what separates our Lord and Savior from the prophets and sages of old – He rose from the dead. AND He left us instructions through the Apostles who became the Magisterium on how to continue after He went home to the Father.

            Why, why am I saying these things…  on a beautiful Sunday morning…  Because we all need to hear it and realize the Real Presence of our Eucharistic Lord in our lives…  Do you believe this? If you do not…  or if you have doubts…  Pray for the Grace and the zeal to believe…  Ask God the Father…  Ask Jesus our Brother and Savior…  to send Their Love, the Holy Spirit to infiltrate our souls in order to believe… 

            How do we get this fire rekindled? There is no gimmick. We first:  believe everything God has told us through the Church and Scripture; and second – respond with adoration.  And then everything else which is necessary will follow… 

            Adoration means especially Eucharistic adoration. In that heavenly silence there is a power greater than a thousand nuclear bombs, greater than the sun, greater than the Big Bang. It is the power of God, released when the atom of the Trinity was split on the Cross and the explosion of redeeming blood came out. In Eucharistic adoration we touch this power, which is the root of everything, for it is Jesus; not a symbol. Jesus, in the Eucharist is NOT a thing; He is a “Who…”  He is the second Person of the Trinity… 

            However, we must love Him for His sake, not for our sakes, and not even for the sake of the Eucharistic revival in the Church. In fact, our motive should not even be the salvation of the world first of all, but for Him first of all. He is not a means to any end; He is the end. He must be adored for His own sake, because of what He is. That is what love is: a holy Exchange.

            When we enter that holy Exchange; both in Adoration and in receiving Him in the Eucharist…  we enter the very life of the eternal Trinity. And God will never, never, never give up on us… even if we give up on Him… Amen. Amen. Amen! [Please note parts of this homily contain quotes from Jesus Shock, by Peter Kreeft.]