The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ!
Homily originally presented June 6, 2021
by Monsignor Deering

Last week, our Knights of Columbus men’s group provided Boston Butts for the Memorial Day Weekend. After preparing them with a special “rub” and smoking them for hours in the BBQ Pit ... the 7-pound Pork Butts were wrapped and ready to be eaten. Over 100 Pork Butts were sold and I made sure to get one for myself.

They seem to get more delicious every year!

Well, as I was enjoying the pork sandwiches that I made during the week,

I got to thinking about the pig from which the meat came.

You see, it was because some pig gave up his life that I was able to be

nourished with his flesh and delight in the experience at the same time.

Now I know that pigs are like other animals in that they only have a mortal soul (that dies when they do) ... so they aren’t alive in eternity ...

and have no way of knowing how I felt.  

But I couldn’t help but think of how the pig would have felt  ...

if he knew what became of his flesh after he was killed.

You see, I cleaned every bit of meat off that hip bone and so if there ever was a way that that Pig could know that, I imagined he would be mighty pleased that his flesh had been so completely used and so thoroughly enjoyed in bringing me strength.

You see, not everybody eats all the meat they bring home or order in a restaurant.

Many people leave uneaten portions of food that are then thrown away.

And so I wondered what those pigs would have thought to have given up their flesh,

their very life and then ... not have it be used for a good purpose,

to be left untouched or even rejected and eventually thrown away.

If a Pig ever knew these results, I imagined he’d be very sad indeed.

Do you realize that in order for us to eat ... something else has to die.

Whether it’s a beef steak or a pork butt or a chicken nugget or a filet of fish ...

when we eat, some cow ... or pig ... or chicken ... or fish ... has died.

Now it really hit home why growing up Mom and Dad always insisted that we finish everything on our plate! They seemed very concerned about the poor kids in China who didn’t have anything to eat. And while that may have been true, what was equally true was the fact that some living creature died so that their flesh could be our nourishment.        So, did their flesh end up giving life to humans or not?

I clearly remember the poor kids I met during my trips to Acapulco and Nicaragua. More than once, after finishing our box lunches, kids would come up begging for

food.  So, we’d give them our lunches that we had finished. They’d open them up

and clean them to the bone. They were hungry and they found food where we didn’t. 

Just like those kids, you and I get hungry too.

but, they were hungrier than us because they had gone longer between meals.

The longer we go between meals the hungrier we get.

Yes, each and every day we need to eat food to sustain ourselves physically.

We can’t go very long without eating food or we’ll lose our strength and focus.

Well, just as God designed it that we should nourish our bodies by eating,

      God similarly designed it that we should nourish our spirits by eating too.

But instead of using animal flesh, He decided to use the flesh of the Son of God.  

It’s at the Last Supper, that Jesus performs a miracle whereby He changes the elements of bread and wine into Himself and gives them to His Apostles to eat. 

In Mark’s Gospel today Jesus takes bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it

to His Apostles saying, “Take it, this is my body.”

Then Jesus takes a cup filled with wine, gives thanks and gives it to them saying,

    “This is my blood.”

Imagine that! Jesus giving His holy body and blood for others to eat … a miracle!

And this wasn’t just a one-time feeding.

No, Jesus gave His Apostles the power to continue to do just what He did …

to transubstantiate unleavened bread and wine into his very own flesh and blood!

He actually commanded them to go and do this over and over in His memory … and the leaders of His Church have done precisely that … for the past 2000 years!

Jesus spoke about our need for spiritual nourishment a year before the Last Supper. In the 6^th Chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus tells the people,

“Unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man you have no life within you.” Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”

So great was Jesus’ love for us that He wanted to be sure that we were sustained

not just in our body, but in our spirit too.

So, He offers us miraculous, supernatural food … His very flesh and blood.

How does He do this?     In the Holy Eucharist! 

Each time Mass is celebrated, Jesus becomes truly present in the Holy Eucharist.

And then we have the opportunity to feed on Him by receiving Holy Communion.

When we eat the flesh of animals … we nourish our mortal bodies.

When we eat the flesh of the Son of God … we nourish our immortal spirits!

God is so wise!

He took the most natural thing we do … eating …

and He uses it as the way for Him to feed us with His Divine Life …

so that our Spirit can live on eternally with Him.

Just as I realized eating my pork ribs that some pig died to feed me in this life.

All of us need to realize that a Lamb died to feed us for eternal life.

Jesus, the unblemished male lamb, the man without sin died so that we could live.

Jesus died once and for all when He died on the Cross. But in His eternal Divinity, His Sacrifice is an eternal sacrifice … able to sustain all people for all time.

This was affirmed in our Second Reading from Hebrews where the author says, “Christ came … not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood,

thus obtaining eternal redemption.”

The question is: How many people are putting His life giving act to good use?

How many people are coming to eat the flesh and blood of the Son of God?

How many people even believe that it’s really Him, real food for our spirit?

How many people are missing out on receiving Holy Communion?

Remember how I wondered about what that pig might have felt

     if he knew how his flesh was used after he died.

that he would have felt pleased if indeed it was fully eaten and fully enjoyed,

and that he would have felt sad if indeed it was not eaten and wasted?

Well a pig will never know how its flesh was used … but the Lamb of God will!

Jesus gives us His flesh out of love and He wants us to eat it and be nourished by it!

How sad Jesus must be to have given up his life for all

and then to see so many people not being nourished by it.

The pig was killed … will his flesh be used to bring life or not?

The Lamb was slain … will His flesh be used to bring life or not?

For us to live here & now, we need to eat, and each time we do something else dies,

For us to live eternally, we also need to eat … we need to eat the flesh of Jesus,

who offers Himself as food for all so that all can live eternally with Him.

Let’s never become casual with the food we eat!

As my Dad always said, “Take what you want, but eat what you take.”

It’s a sin to waste food.

Food is a precious gift.   It comes at a price.

Something living died so that we could live. 

As I enjoyed my BBQ pork Butt this week, I wanted to thank the pig that gave it to me!      But there was no way to do that … because he was dead.

We can’t thank the provider of our natural food.

But we can thank the provider of our supernatural food.    Because He lives forever!

We get our spiritual food from the Lamb … Jesus … the Lamb of God!

Jesus died once … but was raised ,,, never to die again.     He lives forever.

So we can thank Him each and every time we feed on His flesh …

each and every time we return to our pew after Holy Communion

We begin thanking Him here ... and we’ll be thanking Him forever in Heaven.

Let’s always remember how precious our food is …

especially our spiritual food

For it is none other than ...  the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ!

How blessed we are to be able to eat …  not just food … but divine food.

Not just the flesh of animals, but the flesh of the Son of God!

This is the food that gets us to Heaven.

Remember Jesus said, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life.”

Let’s come to Mass regularly and often ... and come hungry,

Hungry to receive our fill of the food that Jesus so wants us to eat.

Let’s please Him and thank Him for feeding us with Himself

… His Most Holy Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist!