what can I do?

Homily

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly Corpus Christi)

19 June 2022

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center at the University of Kansas

AMDG

What can I do?

A comment made at our last Board of Director's meeting has been messing with. We were discussing St. Lawrence's mission to respond to the hopelessness and helplessness that settles into the minds and hearts and bodies of more and more of our young Jayhawks.

The comment was this.  We react more than we respond.  In the face of chaotic circumstances and the cacophony of data, we feel tossed around and lost.  Too many of us feel stuck, knowing this is not the life I chose but not knowing what to do.  Too often the loss of agency leads to desperate and destructive grasps for control.  

What can I do?

Jesus answers the question in two words.  Do this.

Do what, Jesus?  Do this! Do this in memory of me.  On Corpus Christi, the Church holds up the Eucharist as the sole hope of the world.  If you've ever been to a World Youth Day, the largest gatherings in human history, not 5,000 but millions upon millions gathered around the Eucharist, you know what I mean.

Do this, Jesus says.  It's the one thing everyone can do!  We can all go to Mass.  We can all visit Jesus in the Eucharist.

When I feel lost, or stuck, or helpless, what can I do?  I can receive the Body and Blood of Christ.  I can bring Him to others.  It's that simple.  It's how the world will be saved.  It's the only way.

It couldn't be simpler, really.  Just go to Mass, and invite others, and the results will be superabundant.  I dare you to show me someone who has come up with a more trustworthy plan for your life.  It's in the Gospel of the loves and the fish, which foreshadows how God wants to save the world.

So why don't I just do it?  That's the million dollar question!  It's because when I feel lost, or stuck or helpless, I don't trust in the Real Presence.  I grasp for control, not seeing in the Eucharist a vision for what is possible, but that it might not work.  It might not be enough.

Why do we need this Feast?  It's because not just 70% of Catholics doubt the real presence.  It's that 100% do.  None of us, least of all me, fully believes that trusting in the Real Presence of Jesus alone will be enough.

So we don't try.

I need this feast to help my unbelief.  Today I discard my grasping, my doubts, my backup plans.  Today I simply try to trust Jesus at His word.

I feel alone. I feel helpless.  I feel stuck. I feel lost. What can I do, Jesus?

Do this in memory of me.

I can receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and give Him to others.