Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Year C

The Eucharist: The Heart Of Christian Worship And Life

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Year C

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Almost every time we gather here in church, we gather to celebrate the Eucharist. We participate with the priest, as he realizes and makes possible, in an unbloody sacramental manner, the death of Jesus. We join the priest as he offers to the Eternal Father the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Son. When you see the priest elevate and raise the chalice at Mass, that is the moment when the Blood of Christ is offered as an atonement for our sins. In this gathering, we are also fed with the Body of Christ. In other gatherings where the Eucharist is not celebrated, what we do there is always related to the Eucharist. When we gather for the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, it is to have our sins forgiven so that we may be ready and worthy to receive the Lord. If it is for a retreat, it is still linked to our participation in the Eucharistic celebration. This is the reason why, at the Second Vatican Council, the Council Fathers prominently and emphatically stated that the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, meaning that the Eucharist is the beginning and the end. So, there is the be-all and end-all quality of the Eucharist.

The last words of Jesus to his immediate disciples and us were: “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20). As you can see, Jesus’ last instructions to his disciples were not about the Bible but about the Church and her two main sacraments: Baptism and Eucharist. The first thing he told them was not what to say but what to do, “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you.” What did Jesus command? At the Last Supper, he said to them by way of commandment, “Do this in memory of me” (Luke 22:19). 

If you look at the way the early Christians worshipped when they gathered together, you will see that it has all the essential elements of the Mass. In Acts 2:42, we read, “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.” Everything they did centered around the Eucharist. For the first fifteen hundred years of the Church’s history, all Christians placed the Eucharist at the center of their worship, until the Protestant “reformers” replaced the Mass with the Bible. The preaching of the Bible was put at the center of their worship. When you look at the architectural designs of their churches, what do you see? A pulpit and not an altar for Eucharistic sacrifice. Don't get me wrong. The Catholic Church holds the Bible in high esteem. We believe that the Bible is indeed the Word of God, but it is only the Word of God in print and on paper. As for the Eucharist, we believe it is the Word of God in person, in flesh and blood. In his encyclical letter, “Mysterium Fidei,” Pope Paul VI acknowledges that Christ is present in the Church when she preaches, since the Gospel is preached through the authority of Christ.” But he maintains that in the Eucharist, Christ is present in his Church in a higher, more sublime, and indeed unsurpassable manner. 

In the course of his public ministry, Jesus commands us to do many things, like “Love your neighbor,” “Pray for those who persecute you,” “When someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other.” Jesus commands us to feed the poor, to preach the whole Gospel, to practice justice and peace, to detach from earthly goods, to carry our cross and follow him, to be humble and gentle, to be merciful, to hunger for righteousness, to aspire for purity of heart. The Lord calls us to be peacemakers, to be compassionate, to practice self-control, and to grieve and mourn over our sins, etc. As a Church, have we always been faithful to all those commands? Not! As an individual, have you always kept all the commands of the Lord? Not at all! Up and down the Christian centuries, there have been wicked Christians. Not all Christians have been peacemakers, and not all of us have a hunger for righteousness. We still struggle to keep our hearts and minds pure. Earthly goods— power, wealth, honor, and pleasure still have a strong hold on us. Some of us still ignore the poor and blame them for their poverty; we all still struggle to forgive those who offended us. We still shrug off calls for justice. When a great opportunity presents itself to preach the Gospel, many of us still shy away from telling others on whose side they belong. We still struggle with being kind and merciful. However, there is one command of Jesus that has masterfully been followed throughout the centuries by the Church. Despite our sins, our stupidity, our weaknesses, and failures, somehow the command, “Do this in memory of me,” has been upheld. It is as if Jesus himself realized he had to give us a command that we will always follow, a command that is so central to what it means to be his disciples. So, despite everything, we always remember to carry out the Lord’s injunction: “Do this in memory of me.” 

Unlike all other commands, the command of Jesus that the Church has faithfully upheld is the celebration of the literal, actual, and Real Presence of Jesus Christ himself. In this Sacrament, Jesus is worshipped and adored. If you worship and adore anything, you are committing idolatry. Check this out! We don’t worship the Bible. We don’t worship the Church. We don’t worship the creeds. We don’t worship the virtues the Lord asks us to cultivate. We don’t worship the saints. We don’t worship the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, Holy Orders, Anointing of the Sick, Confession, or marriage. But we worship the  Sacrament of the Eucharist. Why? Because it is Jesus Christ himself, in person, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. I tell you, if this is not true, then Catholics are the world’s biggest fools and idolaters, for they are confusing mere bread and wine with the eternal, perfect God, and worshipping this false god. But if it is true, then Catholics are the most privileged people in the world because they are given the greatest gift anyone ever gave humanity, the Real Presence of God Incarnate in their bodies as well as their souls. 

God bless you!