My friends, today’s liturgy brings us to the 3^rd of three, rather hard to understand, in other words, “get our minds around,” themes presented to us in this interim between Easter and a return to Ordinary Time in our Church Year.  And once again, it is best to come at this theme of the “Body and Blood of Christ” as with the other two, Pentecost, and Trinity Sundays, through our hearts, as our minds aren’t expansive, or flexible enough to take in what I believe our God wants us to “get” here. 

   Now if we were to stay on the surface of today’s theme, “the Body of Christ,” as do many in the teaching authority of our Church, we would spend most of our time considering the “real flesh and real blood on the altar, and consider what we do here at Mass, each time we do it, as a reliving of Jesus’ death on the cross and not much more. Apparently, this is the prime intention of the National Eucharistic Conference coming up in July in Indianapolis. 

   And granted, that takes a great deal of faith to imagine the “bread and wine” in that way, as real flesh, and real blood, if the only purpose is to somehow get ourselves to believe what our minds tell us, is just not so.  And please, don’t get me wrong; I am not denying that Jesus is fully and miraculously present here in the bread and wine, on our table of thanksgiving, but I don’t find it necessary to place “that presence” in a teeny, tiny box of physical elements, especially when that focus keeps us from moving out, and seeing that wonderful presence in others and our world.

   I believe that our brother Jesus had this totally bigger, more expansive view for all of us when he said, “This is my body, [all that I taught and modeled for you] this is my blood, [all that I am doing for you in living and dying to let you know how much my Abba loves you] and do this in memory of me!”  We must remember that these words come within Jesus’ priestly prayer, the night before he died, where he asked our God to bless his followers, and by extension, that includes us, with a sense that “they would try to be one, and find a place in their lives going forward, to include everyone,” as for our brother Jesus, these, and all of us, are his “Body and Blood” and the ones he wants us to “worship” –or better said, “care for.” 

   That first “Eucharist” was simply the starting place where the apostles, disciples, and all of us received a physical, everyday sign, “bread and wine”—the stuff of life, meant to help us recall all that Jesus taught us through his earthly life, through his very, “body and blood” poured out, in action for us.  So, my friends, I guess what I am trying to say is, we shouldn’t merely look at Corpus Christi Sunday as a noun wherein we worship Jesus’ physical “body and blood,” but as a verb that moves us to recognize in others and all of creation, “his body, his blood,” and care for it.

   We don’t receive much help through today’s chosen readings from Exodus, Hebrews, or Mark in seeing this greater mission of ourselves being Jesus’ “body and blood” in our world—living as he did in order that our lives are more often than not, about seeing him in others. 

   These chosen readings are basically showing us the history of the “Chosen” people in understanding their relationship with God—one that was about “atonement for their past failings through animal sacrifice that would be “made perfect in the sacrifice of Jesus.” 

   And if we “stay there,” in this mindset, then it is all about, a one-time action that basically calls us to do nothing in our life’s journey but be “grateful.”  If that was all that the Incarnation was about, then I don’t think that says much that is good about our God! 

   But, if Jesus was meant to show us through his “body and blood,” basically his life, how we then could also be his “body and blood” in the world, then we are talking about a God who really loves us in an over-the-top way. 

   I would much rather use my time and energy attempting to see Jesus’ physical presence in our world, where unfortunately, it is too often denied, then to somehow recognize that “Jesus is physically present” in the elements on an altar for a select group who believe all the rules and regulations.  I believe our brother Jesus would much rather we “worship and care for him” in the immigrants at our southern border, in all the homeless and hungry not only here, but around the world, in those abused because of race, gender, or any other impediment we can think up to discount folks, than in the physical elements on an altar.

   But, let’s go back to today’s Scriptures, as I always feel we need to start there, and allow the Spirit to show us the “good, and not so good.  From the Exodus reading, if we simply take the idea that our God is making a covenant, or promise with these “chosen” people to be their God, and they in return, will be God’s people, which, by the way, includes us all as Jesus so clearly stated during his physical lifetime.  We don’t need to “get lost in the weeds” here with all the animal sacrifice.

   If we jump ahead to the psalmist in 116, we get quite a different sense about, “who” God is for them: “What return can I make to the Most High for all your goodness to me?”  And again, “Precious in your eyes is the death of your faithful.” 

   My friends, it is hard to bring this homily to a close, because this feast day in our Church is about so much, “profound stuff,”  that we can never truly understand, and thus I believe, we shouldn’t necessarily try so much “to understand,” but simply, “to do.”

   Corpus Christi Sunday is really about seeing our world, and its people, as much as possible, as God does, and then, love all, “wastefully” as Bishop John Shelby Spong has so rightly said of our God! Amen? Amen!

My friends, this week we are called to ponder the second of three themes after Easter,  before returning to Ordinary Time.  This theme is hard to get our heads around, and as I always suggest, in such cases, it is best to come at these issues through our hearts—as someone said, “the heart is wiser.” 

   So, our theme today, to ponder, is that of a “Triune God” –or three distinct persons, Creator, Savior/Revealer, and Spirit—all in one entity.  At face value, it does seem “wise” to come at this “wonderful dilemma” with all of our abilities, to shed as much light and intelligence, plus, understanding that we can find, in making sense of this. 

   In my mind, besides intelligence, and heart, it will take a great deal of faith to entertain the notion that our Loving God has all these capabilities:  that of creating, revealing, and a healing—protectiveness in Spirit, and to such a degree that each capability shows itself as an individual being—person!  Now, that’s the wonder part—let’s look at what that means in our everyday lives.  Scripture is always a good place to start. 

   As I read and ponder the scriptures for this feast, I see a collective and general theme of our God wanting to be close to us, wanting us to know “who” the Creator of all life, including us is, and that this “creating force” wants, in the end, to simply share life with us, wants us to take our one, precious existence, and grow to our potential, and be willing to share that potential with others. 

   The first reading from Deuteronomy says this:  “Know this today, and take it into your hearts, your God is God indeed, in heaven…and on earth—there is no other.” I think it is significant here that we read, “take this into your hearts” to know who God truly is, as the Old Testament people were known for “chasing after” all manner of “gods” who seemed more powerful than they were.  From the chosen readings today, we see that  our God wants us to consider a relationship that is about love given, and received, and then shared in like manner. 

   Our God will not be one who imposes, “power over others,” but one who “loves powerfully,” in order that we, each of us, will be strengthened and encouraged to, “return that love” through our ministry to others in the world.  The psalmist in 33 says of it, “The Creator loves justice and right and fills the earth with love.”  Our prayer then, with the psalmist must be, “May your faithful love be upon us, … as we place our hope in you.” 

   Our “Salvation History” as we long spoke of it, prior to the Second Vatican Council, was so much about, “awaiting a Messiah” who we might say, “would come and save us from ourselves.”  Our Loving God let us know, through prophets galore, that we were loved and expected to love in return—the words of the prophet Michah are probably most familiar to us:  “Act justly, love tenderly, and walk humbly with your God.” 

   Yet we, as a people, continued to get “stuck” in “small boxes” of understanding—devoid of “heart,” so that we missed the one, over-riding message that our God wanted us to get—we are loved and are part of “God’s family,” as “beloved children,” as Paul speaks of it today in his letter to the Romans.

    Thus, it was then important that our Loving God would become present in the person of Jesus, who became the Christ, by showing us, once and for all, just how “to do” the “human thing”—that in the end, it was all about love—not redemption, or punishment spared, but simply, “over-the-top love” for God’s beloved creatures!  Jesus showed us this so beautifully in the stories of the Prodigal Child and the Good Shepherd, among others. 

   When our brother Jesus became the Christ, all humanity then had a common link, and never again, would any of us need to feel alone—Jesus sent his Spirit, the 3^rd of the 3 persons of our wonderful God-head to be with us. 

   Thus, when Jesus left us physically, he laid out quite clearly what our task as members of this great family would be—share this, all that you know, and have seen me do and say! 

   So, as always, my friends, we come back to our everyday lives—we ask for faith strong enough to believe what our minds can’t truly fathom, but which our hearts can more fully comprehend.  And with all faith, we come to believe that “hope” in all that we are capable of, is part of this too. 

   Additionally, as we heard in today’s alleluia verse from Psalm 8, in the face of “over-the-top,” or as Episcopal bishop, John Shelby Spong is fond of saying, “wasteful love” of our God for us, our stance must be humility:  “Who are we,[in all the heavens and the earth] that you should be mindful of us?”  Yet, our God is! 

   I will end then today with two concrete examples from this past week that show us a bit of the way to go in living out our one, precious life in the presence and shadow of, a God who loves us in a “triune” way. 

   You may have had the opportunity this past week to watch on CBS Nora O’Donnell’ s interview for 60 Minutes with Pope Francis.  Now, while I still take issue with this human male, who can’t seem to get past his cultural “machismo” where women are concerned, he is doing some ground-breaking work where popes of the recent past are concerned in encouraging our Church and world to open-up, and at least attempt to include as many as possible.  And understandably, he suffers criticism in his attempts. 

   Nora got into many current-day issues with Francis, and he shared his belief that, “people are fundamentally good,” but went on to say that “the inability to change,” when change is needed, holding onto, “teachings and traditions,” that no longer serve, is “dogmatic suicide” [!]  He also spoke of a “globalism of indifference,” naming too many of us as, “Pontius Pilates washing [our] hands” of any responsibility.  He named the stance of “zero intolerance” within the clergy to hear differing views as being in a “doctrinal box” which he called, “madness.” 

   But the highlight of the interview for me was when Nora asked Francis about “surrogacy” as a way to bring children into the world.  Francis was clearly against the procedure for a number of reasons to which Nora had what I would call, “an intimate moment” with him, where she smiled, and responded, “but for some, Holy Father, it is their last chance.”  Francis had the “presence of heart” to thank Nora as he noticed, “the care” on her face as she said what she did. 

   Therefore friends, as we ponder today, a God who comes to us, in several different ways, basically showing us that “we are loved,” let us respond in kind to God and our world to the best of our ability…Amen? Amen!

Friends, with today’s liturgy, we begin a series of three that speak to the mysteries of our faith—Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ.  Let’s take each one separately, give as simple an example as possible and see where we are:

1. Pentecost—from the Greek means “50” and for our purposes here, 50 days have passed since Easter, and Jesus is preparing to physically leave his band of apostles and disciples.  In order that they could remain strong in their faith, he promised to send them, and us, his Spirit, which we are celebrating today.
2. That easily moves us into Trinity Sunday as we remember that our loving God is composed of 3 persons—Creator, Savior/Revealer and Spirit. 
3.  Then we have Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ—a Sunday that should take us from the “Table of Welcome” (where everyone is indeed welcome!) into our world where; if we have “eyes to see, and ears to hear, our God will be presented in many, many ways—in all who we meet and engage with, and in all of creation—really! 

   Now, with these simple explanations, I believe it would be true to say that each week holds a mystery that our heads can’t fully explain, and that we do better to come at each one with our hearts.

   For this week then, I will simply comment on Pentecost.  Beginning with the 1^st reading from Acts, we hear about, “a violent wind” and “tongues of fire” to explain the “unexplainable.” The mystery continues in that “they began to speak in other languages.”  We might be thinking and asking, “why would Jesus’ band need to be speaking in “other languages?” The simple answer to me would be that they could be better understood by all the others present that day, thus completing their mission of “sharing the Good News to all.”  Additionally, Jerusalem was a place that drew many different people, cultures, and with different languages. 

   And I can’t help but reflect once again on our Bishop Barron’s stance of not making himself available to us until we, essentially, “speak his language!” This new message, and lifestyle, The Way, as Jesus’ first followers were often spoken of, wouldn’t have traveled too far, it seems to me, if these first ones had this mindset. 

   We are also reminded in Paul’s 1^st Letter to the Corinthians, that we, each of us, are “given the manifestations of the Spirit for the common good.”  In other words, “the story” shouldn’t be about the Bishop’s particular mindset, but about what the people are asking for and indeed needing, to grow closer to God. I have had some of you tell me, “if it weren’t for this parish, I wouldn’t be going to church!”  And after all, there is something called, “the sensus fidelium” or “the universal consent in matters of faith and morals from the bishops to the last of the faithful.”  In my mind, this needs to be taken into consideration from these bishops who feel they have the totality of the truth!

   When we visited with the canon lawyer, Father Will Thompson, we asked him if Bishop Barron accepted Vatican II, and he said that he did.  I for one have to question that, when he, along with the majority of bishops in this country are spending so much time on pre-Vatican II theology with their National Eucharistic Celebration this summer running counter to Pope Francis’ synodality process that speaks well to Vatican II theology. 

   Our final reading today from John’s gospel gives hope to the “fearful” band, locked in the Upper Room, as well as permission, inspired by the Spirit, to do what is needed, “for the common good,”  which in my mind would include those who see things differently.  Our brother Jesus first brings “peace” and then assures the fearful band that if, “they forgive, or retain,” in matters of faith, it is in fact, done! 

   So often, “Church fathers” say, “it can’t be done,” to any change that is called for, and is needed. And the truth of the matter, is that they don’t want to change—ultimately, it wouldn’t be good for them!  Pentecost is about being “grownups” in our faith—thinking a new story about what it is to follow in Jesus’ footsteps.  It’s about getting out of our teeny-tiny boxes/boats—whatever, about truly unleashing the Spirit’s power/fire, of love in our world—a love so needed now—today! 

   I think on this Pentecost weekend, it is significant to remember that this past week, the United Methodist church has taken a most historic vote to be accepting of LGBTQ+ pastors and others within their congregations.  Bishop Karen Oliveto, the first openly gay bishop within the congregation, made quite a statement when asked by PBS Newscaster, Geoff Bennett what she thought was the reason, that her congregation has split over the issue of LGBTQ+ issues, and she basically said that it was about who they were taught that God is.  Bishop Karen said, “we are learning now, who God is, and how that is different from what writers/teachers, [etc.] have said God is,”  [through time].  In other words, God is bigger, better, more inclusive, open, accepting than we have made God to be! 

   The month of May, besides ending the Easter Season this year, is also the month that we remember our sister, Mary of Nazareth, another one whom Church fathers have belittled by conveniently placing her out of sight with an agenda that is basically theirs, instead of someone to listen to in her Canticle of Faith (the Magnificat) —a strong woman who was cognizant of the gift that she received in bearing the Christ for our world—a woman who continually shared in her time, “do whatever he tells you!”  Mary challenges us today too, to see her son in our everyday lives, to choose love over law whenever given that chance!     My friends, I said earlier that Pentecost calls us “to be grown-up in our faith” –to always look beyond the confines of organized religion, to see the path our brother Jesus took, to not be “afraid” to include more, as he did, to “stretch the cloth” to fit the message, and perhaps, in some cases, create a new pattern, a new cloth with built-in strength that can encompass his message yes, but with the ability to grow too, especially when the old pattern, worn material doesn’t work anymore.  I see Pope Francis doing this, and we must, at the least, support him for taking this fork in the road. Amen? Amen!