Last week I suggested that a better way to understand hard-to-understand concepts like “the Trinity” is through our hearts.  In understanding the theology of Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ; again, it would be good to leave logical thinking and reasoning behind, entering this mystery too through our hearts.

   In the past, I have used a story about my dad to help us make sense of this mystery of physical presence and I’d like to repeat that today as a good model for us. My dad died in 1986, nearly 39 years ago, and for the last year and a half of his life, he lived at Lake Winona Manor in Room 105.  In those days, it was called the C &R Unit which stood for Convalescence and Rehabilitation.  It’s curious when I think about it now—he was not convalescing, nor was he being physically rehabilitated; he was dying the slow death of one with emphysema and congestive heart disease.

   Even though he couldn’t get physically better, the rehabilitation that I saw going on for him was in a spiritual way.  For the first time in his life, he was given the opportunity of time—time to reflect on what was really important in life and I believe he grew closer to God, to Jesus, his brother, during that time.  He also made it his mission to know who his “neighbors” were in the Unit and to be kind to them.

   For all intents and purposes, Room 105 became my dad’s home his last year and a half of life, and this was where I went to spend time with him, to reflect on all that life had been for us and our family.  After he died, in the first weeks of grieving his loss, I had the strange sense that if I wanted to see him, I could go to Room 105 and find him.  Intellectually I knew this was wrong, but on the heart level, it seemed right.

   In relationship to this feast, it strikes me that Jesus, in giving us the Eucharist, may have been on the same wavelength—using it as a way to remain close once he was no longer physically present.  The bread and wine don’t look like Jesus, but it is Jesus, in our need to have him close—still a part of our lives.  Just like room 105 had become the place where I could find my dad, the Eucharist is the place where we can find Jesus in a tangible way and be comforted and strengthened by that presence. 

   We might ask in this regard, does the Eucharist have a purpose other than comfort? I believe that Jesus always meant for the “Bread on our Tables” at Mass to be a starting place—to receive strength and then move into our world, picking up the pieces of life and carrying on with all that he taught us—to share all that he gave us with the world of people that we meet each and every day.

    As I was reading and praying over the Gospel, it came to me what a gift Jesus gave to the people gathered, starting from something so small, a few loaves and fishes. It struck me that if we each took seriously our mission, our call to be his followers, what great things we could do in this world, starting from our own small places, our “loaves and fishes.”

   Jesus no doubt intended that we would see and feel his presence within the community here gathered, because if we don’t, or can’t see and feel him here, then we can never truly know his presence in the bread and wine either.  In fact, Karl Rahner has said that “the presence of Christ in the community gathered precedes the possibility of the presence of Christ in the Eucharistic elements.”

   In addition, Edward Schillebeeckx stresses the importance of seeing Christ’s presence as ultimately not toward the bread and wine, but toward the community.  He goes on, “If participants want to understand the Eucharist as sacrament, they should understand themselves first as the Body of Christ.” In this sense, it has been said, “the Eucharist” is really not static, a noun, but an action word, a verb, and to not see it this way misses the main point of what the Eucharist is all about. 

   I always used to struggle with this homily each year for fear that the older theology of transubstantiation and of its tendency to plant us in front of the tabernacle, the altar, instead of the community. The old theology spoke of the “altar” as if what we do here each Sunday is a sacrifice—it is not, and thus, calling this piece of furniture, “a table,” instead of an altar, serves us much better, as here, at this table, we remember the life, death, and resurrection of our brother Jesus, and celebrate his presence within us as we become, now, his body in our world.

   Indeed, the Eucharist was always meant to be a starting, not an ending place.  This is why we say at the conclusion of our liturgies, “Let our service begin or continue!”  And just like with Room 105 and my dad’s physical presence, at some point, I needed to re-engage in life, to come to terms with my loss, to carry all that my dad meant to me into my life going forward—he would continue to live on now through me and my siblings’ lives—through our families—every time we remembered him and chose to live out what he taught us.  When I perform funeral liturgies, I always remind the grieving families that they honor their loved ones best when they carry on in their own lives what their loved ones taught them about right-living.  Our Redig family celebrated the life of one of our own in a special liturgy this past Thursday, that of our brother-in-law, Pat Gannon, remembering him and hoping to carry his goodness onward.   

   For Jesus’ followers, all of us, it is about fulfilling his mission.  Jesus has called all his followers to be his presence in their communities—for us specifically, to see his presence in the greater family of our world—to do all that we can to see that Jesus continues to have a body, eyes, ears, mind, and heart in our world.  And we will continue to need the comfort of the Eucharist, the strength of the bread and wine blessed, the unity of the community where Jesus truly becomes present by our collective words and gives us the strength then to take him into the wider community.

   In our first reading from Genesis, old is tied to new—Melchizedek, an ancient king and priest, in offering bread and wine prefigures Jesus’ offering of his body and blood, his life in its entirety to God so that we might know how to do the same.

   In the Gospel from Luke, Jesus takes the opportunity of a very large group of physically hungry people to teach his apostles and disciples a greater truth—that he will always be with us to care for all of our needs—to show us primarily that we are loved and that no matter what befalls us, our God will be near.  The feeding of the 5,000 exemplifies the prodigality of our God’s love for us—our God is wasteful with love.  We read, “They all ate until they were full; and when the leftovers were gathered, there were twelve baskets full.” Again, we marvel that he began with five loaves and two fish!  It may even be that as some scholars have suggested, “the miracle of plenty” came about as Jesus shared what he had, and others did the same, and then there was more than enough!

   Jesus is always teaching us a greater truth—I have come into this world to live your life, to share my life with you—the very life of God!  I have come to show that you can begin with seemingly little and do great and wonderful things for my people—for my body.  Our Minnesota community is grieving the loss of legislator, Melissa Hortman and her husband who were senselessly murdered this past week—two who seemingly gave in abundant ways for others.  Each of us makes up Christ’s body—we are his flesh and blood for our world. When we partake in the Eucharistic bread; we are transformed into Eucharistic bread for that same world, Diane Bergant, Scripture scholar says, and when we partake of the Eucharistic wine; we become the lifeblood of Jesus, following his example in service, in sacrifice, for our sisters and brothers.  We give Jesus the greatest honor and glory, along with the Creator and the Spirit, not in our worship of the bread and wine on the table as an end in itself, but in giving honor, respect, mercy, love, working for justice for the “body and blood of Jesus” in our world.  We honor and praise what the words of consecration do—making Jesus fully present in the form of bread and wine, signaling the next step for us—of taking his flesh and blood into our world through our bodies which become with our reception, Eucharistic bodies.  With that in mind, I no longer struggle with the meaning of this Sunday. 

   And of course, this becoming, “bread for our world,” doesn’t happen by magic—we must make a conscious effort to live our lives in such a way as to continue his life of love and service in our world.  We see the “wasteful” giving of love to the 5,000—we are expected too, not to just give when convenient or give what is left-over, but to give in abundance, “wastefully” –generously.  Our world today, as you know is calling each of us to be that generous and compassionate “body” that our world so needs.  

   It only makes sense rejoicing over the goodness of our God in Jesus if it compels us to give likewise.  We may not physically be able to meet every need—but we can be a listener, a supporter, a friend to all.  If we can’t help, perhaps we know of someone who can—maybe we can right a wrong by making others aware—writing a letter, standing up for the truth when we hear the lies that incriminate our sisters and brothers. 

   The feast of Corpus Christi holds great significance for each of us if we allow its deeper message to arise to the light of day. Each time we say the words here, celebrating that Jesus is fully present within our community; we recall the covenant that our prodigal God made with the People of God from all time—a covenant made perfect in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ—our brother and friend.  We, as his body and blood now, for our world, must move into that world and let our service begin or continue! The events of this past week caused many of us to fear that our world is changing into something we no longer recognize.  Times like this call us not to hide in fear, but to continue doing our best.  Amen? Amen!

My friends, last week I shared Sister Sandra Schneiders’ quote that, “God is more than two men and a bird,” and the general reaction to this statement is that it makes us laugh, or at least smile, but, the thing is, this is basically what we have been taught all our lives, perhaps though in a more reverent way.  But as thinking, feeling adults striving for a more mature faith, we realize that this so-called “truth” can’t really be so. 

   Looking to another truth in Genesis 1: 27, that speaks of God creating humans in the image of God, male and female, we have to wonder why the image of God that we all learned along the way, had no female images.  And true theologians, most of them women, such as Sister Sandra Schneiders have called the lie of presenting our loving, inclusive God simply in male terms when both female and male humans have been “made in the image of God.” 

   Within this space then, we will always image our God in both female, “Sophia God,” imaged in wood behind me, as the Spirit, and in male images, “Jesus our brother, our Revealer” of more of who God truly is, and the Creator, whom I would guess is a combination of both female and male, along with nature images of beauty, strength, resilience, and love in their very creation.

   The whole concept of a “trinity” – three persons in one God is truly a mystery – one that we can’t fully understand through our minds, thus it is necessary to come at through our hearts.  Our minds can at times be “very small boxes,” whereas our hearts are more able to expand. It has been said of our God that this entity can’t be contained in one person, therefore it was necessary for our God to “spill over” into three persons, and their communication and unity becomes one God. 

   I believe the chosen Scriptures for this day spell out wonderfully and well who our God is. I will begin with the beautiful Psalm 8, “When I behold the heavens, the work of your hands, the moon and stars that you have set in place – who are we that you should be mindful of us!”  We say that verse with awe and finish it with an exclamation point!  Really, who are we? Our response—“We are creatures loved by God!”  The psalm continues, “You have made us little less than the gods…you have given us rule over the works of your hands, putting all things under our feet.” Another way to say this is that we live and exist on a continuum that includes humanity at one end and divinity at the other, and when we strive to be our best selves, we are closest to being divine: “a little less than the gods…”

   This is probably my most favorite psalm because it expounds on the down-right goodness of our God—to not only create—give birth to all the beauty in our world, but to share that beauty through giving us life and the awesome task of looking after that life.  We were blessed throughout the pontificate of Pope Francis who consistently called us to this very reflection—the beauty of the earth—its fragility and the need that we care for it.  And there is every reason to believe that Pope Leo will tread this same path of love for all of creation.  We are conscious of both the fragility and the strength of our earth as we witness more and more changing weather patterns, the extensive melting of the glaciers, and more violent storms and we have to ask how well we have cared for our beautiful earth, the gift of the planet that we live on.

   Moving on then to the 1^st reading from Proverbs, Wisdom, which you may know is code for the Spirit, speaks wonderfully of the “playfulness” of our God. Now, when we “mature adults” hear, “playfulness,” we probably think of children, and this trait belonging to childhood.  And if we consider playfulness in this way alone, we would be wrong. 

   This reading clearly says that this “child-like” quality is expected from children, but is not reserved for children alone. Wisdom, the Spirit, speaks of “playing like a child” before God as She/He created the world.  Wisdom Spirit also says that “the earth…was my playground.”  [I was watching while you created everything].

   This reminds me of my daughter Eryn who when away at college, and we would talk on the phone, and if I was upset about something going on in my life, she would say to me, “Mom, have you played today?”  What that lifted up for me was to realize that maybe I was living too much in my head and needed to care for myself a bit – to play! This question became one that we were able to ask of each other over the years. 

   And before leaving the Proverbs reading, I would further suggest that our God through the Spirit wants to encourage us in the human, child-like tendencies of “wonder and amazement” too in order to see the “best” in others, rather than the worst.  Earlier I stated that when we strive to be our best in our humanity, we become closest to being divine, “a little less than the gods,” as the psalmist said.

   It has been said of God, in an attempt to explain the “mystery” that God is, that it all begins with love.  God loved us and all of creation so much that this love couldn’t be contained in just one person, but had to spill over into a second person, who we have come to understand and know as the “Word” – Jesus, our brother in human form.  And then the love shared by the Creator and the Word being equally great, once again had to spill over into a 3^rd person – that of the Spirit. Again, this is a simple way for our human minds to understand a mystery which we can’t fully grasp, but I have found it to be meaningful over the years. And of course, the idea is, that we should keep “spilling over” the love to all those in our world! 

   The 2^nd reading today from Romans continues the theme of being our “best selves” in Paul’s words, “we await the day when we will become all that God has intended for us.”  Paul makes it clear that our “journey of love” throughout our lives won’t always be easy – that there will be “afflictions” along the way. 

   These afflictions though, have the power to be turned into good as Paul realizes in his own journey of love.  Afflictions that we deal with can produce within us, perseverance, character and hope.  And in the end, he says, “we [should not] be disappointed because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Spirit” – Jesus’ promise to us, that he would not leave us alone!  I have placed an exclamation point after this statement too, because this is a great thing to keep in mind, especially when life’s “afflictions” come our way. 

   A final thought that I would like to lift up for us to remember today comes from John’s gospel wherein he says, “The Spirit will reveal all to us,” [the Creator, Savior/Revealer, and the Spirit — how they indeed work hand-in-hand to one day bring us all home.  This wonderful “trinity” that we call God will always be at work within willing hearts to enable that which is good, rather than bad to come to fruition within us.  Amen? Amen! 

My friends, today marks 50 days since we celebrated Easter and understandably then, this day we name “Pentecost,” from the Greek “pente,” meaning 50.  Now we can probably be quite sure that Jesus’ Spirit didn’t count out 50 days before appearing in “tongues of fire and a mighty wind.”  As with so many things, the “orderly ones” within our Church structures decide what they want the message to be and then backtrack and put all in place to make it so.  And for the most part, this is neither right or wrong, but as I indicated above, it is a way to order things.  Because you see, the date that the Spirit first came is not as important as the fact that, “she” did come!  And if you are wondering about the feminine pronoun usage here, it comes from the Old Testament Scriptures where God’s Spirit is named in feminine terms, “Sophia” and also depicted in wood up front here.  One wonders why the men in our Church can’t quite get that! – as Scripture scholar, Sister Sandra Schneiders is known to have said, “God is more than two men and a bird!” 

   But to the readings – I believe in order for us to truly get into the 1^st one today from Acts, where the Spirit’s coming is depicted as, “a violent, rushing wind, a noise which filled the entire room,” we should think back to our own confirmations and try to remember what we were thinking, feeling, and experiencing on that day – was it one that was made special in any way by our family?

   For me, I received this sacrament at a younger age than when it is generally done today.  I was in 6^th grade in elementary school, and not yet 12 years old. This being the beginning years of the Second Vatican Council, I believe the thinking was that confirming girls and boys at a younger age was a good thing. 

   I can remember it being a special day wherein I got a new dress for the occasion, and an aunt, who was my sponsor, and her husband were invited to dinner at our home after Mass and the actual confirmation.  I took the name of my grandmother on my dad’s side, “Theresa” – liking her because I always remember her being one who spoke her mind. 

   I attended Catholic school during this time and remember our teacher, a Franciscan Sister, basically putting the “fear of God” into us because the bishop may ask us a catechism question, so there was much study done in preparation. To symbolize the spiritual “strength” that we would receive when the bishop laid hands upon us, the ritual of “a slap on the cheek” would be given, we were told.  I knew I worried about how hard a slap he would give me.  But when all was said and done, he asked no questions – sigh of relief – and the “slap on the cheek” was more of a tap, signaling the new strength I now had to be my best.  I remember feeling this new, almost indescribable and mysterious strength at the time. 

   So, my friends, hopefully you have remembered too, as I shared my experience of being confirmed, what that was like for you.  It is probably true to say that none of us saw, “tongues of fire,” or felt a violent, rushing wind.”  The Scripture text also said that those present at the first Pentecost began to speak, “in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.” 

   We might be wondering why that didn’t happen for us, and I would suggest that if we were “willing” at the time of our confirmations, to receive a special grace, we did, and now it may just be laying dormant awaiting our willingness once again, to use it. 

   My friends, with each day that we live, if we are willing, and ask Jesus’ Spirit to walk with us, helping us, to be our best selves, I am quite sure that She will be, giving us the voice, the heart to respond to what is needed in our world, in our time. 

   The 2^nd reading from Corinthians today stated that “each person is given a manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” – that was what happened to each of us too at our confirmations – and that is why I began with taking us back to that memory.  You may in your life have ministered as an educator, a parent, a health provider, a religious, vowed person, the head of a company, a leader in other ways,  a craftsperson in any of many trades wherein you gave of yourself for others to make our world, your world, better – and as you did that work, as a Christian follower of our brother Jesus, you gave his Spirit to the world in many ways. 

   It is good on a more regular basis to make the connections with the Spirit who lives and walks with us, “continually renewing the face of the earth” as our faith tells us.  Being cognizant of this fact gives us hope, especially in the troubling times in which we live.  Consistently doing the right thing will, I believe, come to fruition one day.  As my friend, Father Paul Nelson used to say, “the truth always comes out in the end,” and I believe that too.

   Another thing that I have found and have shared with you many times is the fact that we must be creative, going deeper to mine the words of Scripture. An example with regard to “speaking in other tongues” – a gift most of us probably think we didn’t receive at our confirmations, but by being creative, we might realize that indeed we did!  The “other language” that we might be called to speak is the language of love, rather than of hate.  One of the signs that consistently shows up at the Monday demonstrations here in Winona is: “Hate Doesn’t Make Us Great!”  I consistently carry a sign that says, “Honk for Peace and Kindness,” surrounded by a vine of green leaves.  Additionally, the language of “consistent witness and perseverance” is one that I see at these Monday gatherings.  These two “languages,” that of “consistent witnessing and perseverance” are good ones for true Christians to use, even when we may have to stand alone. 

   My friends, Pentecost and our personal confirmations call us first to “gratitude” for the gift of Jesus’ Spirit continually within us, and then, and this is most important, walking in the path that he left for us, following his words and actions. 

   The Second Vatican Council helped us to realize in a profound way, that our God’s work is not done, “that [indeed] the Spirit is continually renewing the face of the earth.”  And if we as Jesus’ followers truly believe this, then we have to wonder why there is a concentrated effort today within the U.S. Catholic church to “back pedal” to a time when spiritual life was about easy, black and white answers that presented no challenge then, or now to any of the many problems that face our world. 

   Today’s Church and world needs true followers of our brother Jesus, willing to address the hard questions and we have all the power and grace we need to do that – we may not always remember that grace within, given upon our confirmations, which, by the way, was the answer to Jesus’ promise while physically with us – “I will not leave you alone.” 

   John’s gospel today is a most comforting, while still challenging one.  Knowing the human tendency “to fear” the new and different, Jesus comes to us and calms the fear – “peace be with you,” he said, and then to make sure we heard it, he says it again, “peace be with you!”  Then, the challenge – “I am sending YOU” [!] Each of us my friends, should hear this challenge personally, because we can’t say we follow him and not, “do the work.”  Wearing “a cross” really doesn’t do it!  Each of us have our own personal, God-given gift, given us at our confirmation that no one else can give to the world in the way that we can.  It may be a good thing to spend some time this next week discovering or re-discovering our own special gift, and if we haven’t made use of it in a while, showing it to the world once again.  And remember, remember, we don’t do it alone – our brother Jesus has our backs!  Amen? Amen!