My friends, this weekend, as you know, our country is celebrating 250 years, attempting a “democratic state,” wherein “all,” according to the Preamble to our Declaration of Independence from Britain, [humans] are created equal, and there is the understanding that we all, each of us, want to pursue “life, liberty, and happiness. 

   Many people looking back at our Declaration of Independence from Britain and our Constitutional amendments, 10 at the beginning, known as the “Bill of Rights,” marvel at what these documents actually say, of which, many weren’t being lived out at the time.

   Take for instance, “all men are created equal” – even though “men” as a term for all (including women) was acceptable in the 18^th Century, women still weren’t seen as equal to men at this time, nor were African slaves.

   But that is why those who study these documents marvel, at the beauty of them– they were written as a piece to basically grow into.  We might say the same for our Scriptures – who of us ever perfectly lives out the messages that we find there?!  And we, as the People of God, have been at it for over 2,000 years!

   So, my friends, on this weekend celebrating 250 years of “attempted” democratic living, I would like to lift up the idea of peace-filled living as today’s Scriptures speak most-assuredly to that idea. 

   The prophet Zechariah begins by telling us that we have, “a just savior,” and that “peace will be proclaimed to the nations.” Psalm 145 lets us know that our God, Adonai, is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness – compassionate – just in all ways.”  And while “peace” is not mentioned here; having a God displaying all these traits would certainly bring “peace” to all receiving these good actions.

   Paul’s letter to the Romans is quite “cut and dried,” but basically speaks of choosing that which is “spiritual” over the things of the flesh.”  Now, for myself, having lived more than seven decades, I would encourage, “a balance” – after all,  we are human beings, and I believe our God wants us to have, as spiritual people, “a human experience while here.  Balance though, I’ve found, always works best. 

   The gospel from Matthew today uses different words too, other than “peace,” and like Paul’s,  Jesus’ chosen words here, do speak to peace.  “Come to me, all who labor and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you.  Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I am gentle, and humble of heart – you will find rest for your souls.”

   These words of Jesus are one of the choices to share with those receiving the Sacrament of the Sick, in times of trouble – illness, end of life.  They are my reading of choice when I share this sacrament as a priest, because they are so comforting, bringing peace. 

   So, my friends, circling back to where I started this homily, thinking about and celebrating 250 years of democracy in leaps and bounds, with some setbacks, but always with, in the end, the desire to do better, as in our faith too, let’s dive a little deeper into just what “peace” means. 

   I think you would all agree that whether as a society, or a church community, striving for peace, as opposed to “following the crowd,” or simply doing nothing, is always harder than any of the above alternatives.  And when it comes to “country,” we, too often over these 250 years, in settling disputes with other people and countries, have opted for war as opposed to peaceful solutions.  War, to my mind, should always be the very last thing that we try!  Peace is harder because it demands so much from us – restraint, listening, and being willing to hear another side – this calls forth the very best in us! 

   Most of us, over our lifetimes have experienced trying to “make peace” with a family member or friend, and have had trouble doing this. Realizing this, we can understand why it is so difficult to “make peace” on a large scale, as with one country to another.  Just like, with an individual, the hard work of peace-making, at any level, begins small, and grows from there.  And just like evil actions attract followers, good actions do as well.  And it takes a great deal of faith to believe, at times, that “good” will rise in the end. 

   When we become discouraged, and disheartened about present-day trends toward selfishness, unbridled individualism, meanness, and the like, we truly must keep our eyes on our brother Jesus, and remember, and never forget, for all the good he was about in his lifetime, he, in his humanity, cried over Jerusalem toward the end, because, “they just didn’t get it!”  I always take strength from knowing that in the hard times, I can turn to Jesus, knowing that he understands.  And then, we try again.  Doing small things like saying, “thank you” and truly meaning it, “passing a good forward,” are just a couple of things that can mean a lot. 

   Before I conclude today when we are rightly celebrating the gift and challenge of democracy, 250 years ago, realizing that on some level, it was always an idea in progress, just as being a Christian follower of Jesus of Nazareth, I would like to lift up a piece of unfinished business that plagues our country every single day, and that is the proliferation of guns in this beautiful country that daily take the lives of loved ones, because we don’t have the collective will to put some safety regulations upon what is acceptable. 

   Those who advocate for their 2^nd Amendment rights should remember that when this “bill” was written, what people had at their disposal to protect themselves were single-shot muzzle loaders, not, not, weapons of mass destruction!  Balance, please! 

   As you know, I love the statement, “We are spiritual beings here, having a human experience.”  In other words, each of us came into existence as Matthew Fox has so rightly said, “an original blessing, not a sin, so we, each of us have all that is needed in both society and church, to be our best selves, for ourselves, and for others, and with that knowledge we can move into the next however many years working toward freeing our world, our church of the other evils not even mentioned here, sexism, racism, and so on…  Amen? Amen!

My friends, as I studied and pondered today’s Scriptures, I found myself “latching onto” the theme of kindness, once again – a trait that I feel many of us need in our present-day world – I know I do!

   When I am being simplistic, I find myself thinking and feeling that being, “our best selves” in a world of so much bounty, beauty, and possibility –  being kind, understanding, merciful, and even loving, shouldn’t be so hard! Right? Right! 

   But then, reality sets in … and as we said last week, we find that people die every day from starvation because we don’t as a unified world have the will to share so that this is not the case.  Wars are started and fought over the need for personal gratification with no plan about what to do after the fighting – certainly not striving -after-peace, and simply “being good” as Pope Francis spoke of often near the end of his life. 

   Additionally, Francis spoke in a general way, of the need for Christians to go deeper, as we always say here, beyond “doing good things,” to more so, simply, just “being good.”  Being good allows us to not only “do good things,” but to be the type of person who will see, listen, and care about a suffering world from the get-go, and then do something to bring about the needed change.

   I heard a news story this past week about funds being cut-off to families in  this country with green cards, on the path to citizenship, having done all the right things to that end, but unfortunately, in one case, having a child with a serious medical condition. 

      When the person working with the family in question was asked what would happen to the seriously ill child without the funding, she minced no words, “the child will most likely die.”  An official in support of this decision rather, matter-a-factly said, “We must save this funding for our legal citizens! No kindness here …  perhaps in the smallest sense, a good thing is being done, but certainly we don’t see someone “being good.” 

   So, my friends, what can we glean from the Scriptures today?  The prophet Jeremiah, in the midst of his troubles and those of his people answers, “But our God is with [us] – sing to our God, praise God who has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked.” 

   Now if you’re thinking, or even remembering a time when you prayed for something and didn’t get the answer you hoped for, Pope Paul VI, now a canonized saint, had these words for our reflection:  “this is how we know that God is at work.”  He was speaking about how prophets like Jeremiah and Jesus always “noticed” and “listened” to the poor and disadvantaged.  In our world today, we must do the same; we must be the change we want to see – this is how we know God is at work!

   These times my friends, call for great faith, clear vision, great mercy and understanding, along with trust in recognizing that as Jeremiah said, “Our God is with us.”  Whenever we see “good happening,” we must realize that our loving God is with us! 

   Paul, in his letter to the Romans spends too much time again speaking about sin, but ends well reminding this “apparently sinful people,” the Romans, that “the grace of God” and the “gift of Jesus” is with and for them, and us, too. 

    The psalmist in #69 also prays in faith to a “God of Kindness.”  And finally, in the gospel from Matthew, we get confirmation that our God is indeed “kind and good,”  as Jesus shares the lovely story of the sparrow wherein our God is aware of a single one, falling, and not only that, but we hear, we “are worth more than an entire flock!” 

   My friends, the fact that “in faith” we might be able to realize, even when we can’t seem to fully grasp at times, that our God is with us, perhaps a story from my life this past week will help.  It is about a woman in my outreach ministry that I have seen over the past several years, giving spiritual support.  She lives with a mental illness that causes her to believe that she is being sexually abused most nights when she is alone in her room.  She has reported the alleged abuse to the officials within the facility where she lives and they have accommodated her with periodic checks during the night, to no avail, as far as finding anyone. 

   Even though I believe that what she tells me is in her mind, I absolutely believe that what she says, is true for her.  Being that she is a strong, and for the most part, conservative Catholic, (I say, for the most part as she has no problem with my ordination), I can pray with her, use all my holy items, water and oil, to block the evil that seems to plague her. 

   During most of our visits, we share “the good of life,” pray for our family members and give each other support.  This past week, the issue of being abused was especially on her mind.  I listened, and at one point, simply said to her, “When this evil seems present, say in a strong voice, and out loud, “Be gone Satan!” And then say, “Jesus be with me!”  After a bit she said, “Thank you, that really helps!” 

   Sometimes my friends, it seems that we can’t fix a lot of what we encounter because we come at it from the wrong place … sometimes what is needed is a listening heart, faith in powers bigger than us … making ourselves available in the ways that we can, and allowing God to work through us. 

   So, my friends, I began today, “latching onto” kindness as a way to make a positive difference in our world – in the practical sense, it perhaps doesn’t solve all the issues as in the story I shared, but maybe the “difference” we can be aware of, is that by being present to others, in kind and caring ways, people can know that they “aren’t in it alone.”

Amen? Amen!     

My friends, as we begin today thinking about these Scriptures, I want to publicly admit to some “literary license” in choosing the beginning verses of Chapter 5 to the Romans instead of the later verses chosen in the lectionary.  I have consciously done this so as to give us a more hopeful message for our daily living than Paul does in the section chosen for today.  Additionally, I want you to know that my intent in my weekly homilies is to stick to the chosen readings, good or not so good, in my mind so as to be in union with the Church Universal and trust that the Spirit will lift up what we are to know. 

   She and I (the Spirit that is) “agreed” that Paul’s chosen words today are an old message that has been drilled into us for so long, that in fact, we’ve got it! – we are a sinful people that are capable of nothing but sin, and can be saved only and solely through Jesus. 

   Therefore, I chose the 3 verses from Romans just before the above chosen ones as these three speak of joy, hope and the possibility of us being, “all that we can be” – all that God intends for us because we have been given the Spirit, he says, to assist us.  That old message leaves me, and perhaps you too, thinking, “well heck, why try, because being the sinful person that I am, there is no hope anyway!”

   So, my friends, I apologize for veering from the given message to replace it with a more hope-filled one, as I know for myself, I need to hold onto the idea that all of us humans can do better than where our world is at present.

   So, with that rather long opening, let’s continue looking at today’s Scriptures for direction.   The Old Testament reading from Exodus let’s us know that we are a “priestly people, a consecrated nation.”  In the Old Testament, being a “priestly people” simply meant, “to be chosen.”  Through our baptisms, friends, each of us is “chosen” too – to live as Jesus did. 

   We get a wonderful image of that from today’s gospel from Matthew in the opening lines … “At the sight of the crowds, Jesus’ heart was moved with pity.”  I find myself often, as no doubt you do as well, feeling as Jesus did, when I daily watch news reports of wars around the world, often with no stated cause, and little direction as to the end game, people starving for good, physical food, in a world that has the where-with-all to feed everyone, if there was the will to do so!  When the will is not there at the highest levels to share adequately with all, in our country, we call that, “unfettered capitalism.” 

   For those of us who pretty much have the basics of life covered, Jesus’ continued words today challenge us – “freely you have received, now, freely give.”  This of course is not to say that we haven’t worked for the life that we have, no, but many in our world can’t get the basics, even when they work hard, a thought that is good for us to keep in mind. 

   For this reason, I have such respect for you and pride in being able to pastor a parish that consistently gives away most of what is given here to help others. And granted, we have been blessed through our many years as a parish in having nearly free rent, but also in being affiliated with like groups who see as we do the need to share our bounty with those less fortunate. 

   Thus far in this homily, I have been speaking of physical sharing, but these Scriptures do call us to emotional and spiritual sharing as well – to rise above the material to see the greater needs of our neighbors and friends. 

   Last week we celebrated the wonderful feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, that in the best sense calls us to move from the “comfort” of the table here, and into the world of our “days and nights,” as we will sing about in our closing hymn, and see Jesus’ “body and blood” in all that we meet, extending a helping hand where and when we can, bringing kindness rather than meanness, bringing truth where there are lies. 

   As I always say, we must get beyond surface meanings that allow for reverence in a “small way” here at the table, but not in the greater way that Jesus sent those first disciples out to do.  “ Freely you have been given – now freely give.”

   We can’t say that it is enough to “reverence” the “bread on the table” without likewise reverencing that same “bread” in women, LGBTQ+ folks, children and their families struggling with trans-gender issues, and so on.  To reverence the Eucharist on the table without taking that same action into our world, addressing all the issues that the hierarchical church is consistently on the wrong side of, is to cancel out the 1^st action! 

   A fine-tuning of this would be to say as the priest did at a family wedding in the past, “If you are not a practicing Catholic, you can’t receive, but please come forward with your hands crossed over your heart and receive a blessing.”  I personally wouldn’t find this enough if I came “to the feast,” and was told that I wasn’t worthy.  And, at this point, the “Eucharist” being offered to some, but not to all, ceases to be the Eucharist, as Jesus gave it originally with the attention that it was meant for all! That friends, is why he took the “meal” to the hillside, as everyone in his time wasn’t welcome in the temple.

   Today’s psalm, #100 proclaims that “we are God’s people” and that as a result, should “make a joyful noise to God.  Our God is good and God’s steadfast love endures forever.” 

   And Paul picks up on this idea in the opening lines of Chapter 5 to the Romans:  “We look “joyfully” to the day that we will be all that God has intended.  When, in fact, women will be included in those who are sent out to “gather in the harvest” that our brother Jesus has said, “is bountiful,”  but that “the laborers are few.” Amen? Amen!

My friends, each year when this wonderful feast of Corpus Christi, or, the Body of Christ comes round, it really calls me and you to go deeper as we always say here.  I think the frustration with this feast, if there is any, and there is for me, comes when the “official party line,” so to speak, the hierarchy of our beloved Church focuses solely on the “elements,” the bread and wine, and their “magical” transformation into Jesus’ “flesh and blood” – real flesh and real blood on an altar, they believe.  We are called in our faith to believe that this transformation, labeled, “transubstantiation” has indeed happened.  Now to be clear, I do believe that when we say the words of consecration, Jesus is present in a special way to us, but just not as “real flesh and real blood.”

   To me, our faith could be so better used than in this instance.  I would like to see “so-called” believers have faith in the fact that our good God loves us far above and beyond anything that we can imagine, and always wants us to ask for the help we need to be our best selves, for ourselves, but for others too, thus assuring that our sojourn here, as spiritual beings, having “a human experience,” as someone once said, might be the best that it can be. 

   One of the commencement speakers this past week, to a group of college graduates basically told them that while it will be important to go out there and work hard, securing a job, so as to do well in the world, from his experience, he was telling this new group of graduates to stick to their values along the way, over and above that which they necessarily are seeking – such values as honesty, integrity and being kind. 

   Going back then to that issue of transubstantiation, I would suggest that we ask why we should believe this concept – for what purpose?  And truly, my hope is that I don’t come off here as “sacrilegious,” only that we try and understand the real greatness of this feast.  For us to believe that somehow, bread and wine have been miraculously changed into Jesus’ flesh and blood, and that idea solely, causing us “to worship” this supposed fact, does what? 

   If we follow the Church’s teaching here, our table of blessing and sharing, becomes not a table anymore, but an “altar of sacrifice,” where elements of “flesh and blood” are perhaps appropriate.  But if we focus on the concept of a “table,” set for all, welcoming all, to bless and share in the very life of our brother Jesus – his words, his actions, during his life, which really, are more fully, “his body, his blood,” and which, ironically, caused his death, (his actions, that is) then to allow what we do here at our Masses to become nothing more than a ritual of remembering a one-time action for us, “to make us once again worthy in the sight of a vengeful God” seems to miss the point of why Jesus came.

   Additionally, looking at today’s Scriptures as well as current exegesis on the concept of “transubstantiation,” does really tell a different story than the Church hierarchy gives us on this feast.  In the 1^st reading from Deuteronomy we hear, “Not by bread alone do [we] live, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  In John’s gospel as Jesus is teaching about “eating his flesh, and drinking his blood,” wherein his hearers, “the Temple authorities” stay stuck on the surface, thinking he literally means, “real flesh and real blood, Jesus clearly tells them, “this bread is not the same that your ancestors at in the desert” – in other words, food that fills your body, but your spirit.

   In order for us to better understand Jesus’ meaning in today’s gospel, we must look to what sharing a meal with others meant in his time.  Breaking bread with someone was looked at in the time of Jesus as a sign of forming community with them.  We might say the same is true in our every day, and sometimes, special meals within our homes – in the best sense – we strengthen our ties with others when we share a meal with them.  Jesus raised that to a new level in saying that sharing Eucharistic bread forms us into the body of Christ.  In other words, when we eat regular food, we incorporate that food into our very selves.  The opposite is true with the Eucharist, theologian, Diane Bergant says.  When we partake of Eucharistic bread; we are transformed into Eucharistic bread, meaning—we become Jesus’ body for the world –this friends, is the bigger idea of what we do here at Mass.  

   It is important for us to remember that Jesus never asked us “to worship him in the elements of bread and wine, but to care for his “body” in the world. Bergant continues, “blood symbolized life itself,” and for us, that means going deeper, the life of Jesus, his words and actions, all that he taught us about living, loving, and dying, taking all of that into ourselves, in effect, becoming “his full body” in our world, with all, each one that we meet in every day. 

   Understanding the Eucharist in this way, St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians today gives us a wider, fuller meaning than just the simple words on the page.  He asks the Corinthians, “the cup…we bless – is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?  The bread we break – is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?”  Paul speaks about “sharing,” which in my mind, calls for action.  In other words, the Eucharist is meant to be an action word, us taking the substances into ourselves, and again, all of Jesus, all that he proclaimed and did, which then allows us to “transform” ourselves into Jesus’ body and blood, sharing his words, his actions, his life, with others. 

   In conclusion then, I think you all would agree with me that the notion of the Eucharist being an “action” word, and each of us, becoming “Jesus,” to the best of our abilities in our world, doing for others what he did in his lifetime, is much better than thinking of the Eucharist as a static noun which causes us to, “bend the knee,” but ends the action there. 

   Being “eucharist” in our world, acting out Jesus’ lifeblood in our life’s journey will always call forth the best in us my friends – many times having to stand alone.  A very poignant story came to me this past week which demonstrates this idea. 

   During the Viet Nam war, a decorated for valor member of the military came out as “gay” thinking such an honest statement about who he was in his entirety would be accepted.  He did this to challenge the then military’s policy against having gay men serve in the armed forces.  As we might guess, his honesty, regardless of all the previous good he had done in his military career, was not accepted.  He did receive an “honored” grave sight in Arlington upon his death, but his name was omitted from the gravestone.  His family perhaps at his request added the following words to the stone:  “I received medals of honor, the bronze star and purple heart for killing two men, but was discharged for loving one man.”

   Being a Christian, acting as Eucharistic people, will call us to be our best my friends, and that is what I would encourage us to remember on this beautiful feast, and as the commencement speaker that I referenced earlier seemed to be saying, living your values will always mean more than material gain.  Amen? Amen!