Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Jn 6:51-58
June 11, 2023

Last Sunday morning, the news reported that an ancient religious icon dating back to the 15th century has been transferred from a public museum…where it was taken by the Soviets in the early 1920’s, back to The Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. This was really big news within the Eastern Orthodox Church, where icons are regarded as much more than just art.

Meditation on these sacred images, prayerfully created through human hands, is common practice and considered to be a powerful form of prayer as well as a means of catechizing. Icons are often referred to as “windows into heaven.” Heartfelt reverence of the sacred image depicted in an icon is an opportunity to get a glimpse of what awaits us on the other side. But there’s more. People offering prayerful devotion before an icon frequently speak of the feeling that they are participating in the sacred mystery that is depicted in the painting.

So, the return of this ancient and well-known icon called “The Trinity” to a place of worship seems the perfect way to celebrate Trinity Sunday. And that is understandable. The icon offers worshippers a glimpse of the Perfect and Eternal relationship between The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…God indivisible…existing in infinite harmony and perfect love.

Now, before you think that I am a week behind, talking as I am about The Trinity, let me point out that windows have two sides. Just as we look out a window, someone on the outside can look in. This brings to mind something St. Frances De Sales once wrote: “Look at God, and God will look at you.”

Consider what God has seen over the past 18 or so months when God looks at Russia or Ukraine…or in countless other places in our world today. Even here in the United States, our schools no longer offer our Creator a vision of peace and safety.

What God sees in this world, for the most part, is the complete opposite of the harmonious communication and unconditional love between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Tragically, this is not “new news.” Caine and Abel introduced envy, ambition, discord, and violence into history, and those dark feelings have plagued us ever since.

And so, now, we turn to this Sunday’s celebration of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

By giving us The Lord’s Supper…and encouraging us to Break the Bread and Share the Cup in His Memory, Jesus Christ, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, has given us a means to override those dark instincts that, from the earliest of times, have interfered with our Creator’s plans for us. It is God’s will that we live in peace…The Peace of Christ. And we can gain that Peace for ourselves through The Eucharist.

We are given the Sacrament so that we are better able to live as images and likenesses of God…Who is Perfect Peace and Pure Love. When we come forward to receive the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ…we become what we eat…One Bread…One Body. Through the transforming experience of Eucharist, we can truly say: We are the Body of Christ.

Today’s Gospel speaks to the inability of Jesus’s listeners to understand and accept His profound teaching on the Eucharist. Throughout the centuries, our greatest minds…our brightest theologians…have explored and attempted to explain how The Gifts of Bread and Wine can undergo a radical change.

But do we really need an explanation? Isn’t the hunger we feel as we walk towards the Altar enough assurance that something wonderful…something powerful…something truly holy is waiting to make us someone wonderful…someone powerful…someone holy?

What we celebrate today is God’s creative power at work in the Eucharist, changing us into living icons. When we walk out of Church after a worthy Communion, we return to the world with the ability to inspire prayer in those who otherwise might not pray.

When we live the Eucharist, we become convincing educators to others…teaching others…especially those who have no spiritual life whatsoever, God’s will and God’s ways.

When we eat The Bread of Life and drink from the Cup of Salvation, and do our best to live The Sacrament, like icons, we can be “windows into heaven,” offering people a view of what awaits us on the “other side”…and allowing the peace and joy that we see there to pass through us like sunlight.

I appreciate that these seem like flowery words…almost too good to be true. But do a reality check. Think about how you feel when you don’t…for whatever reason…come to Mass, then compare that feeling to how you feel when you do. Now, just consider how different our world would be if all of the Church were gathered each and every Sunday, partaking of what our God so graciously sets out in front of us, eager that we partake.

I suppose that it is a good thing that the faithful who are eager to meditate on the perfectly harmonious relationship of the Holy Trinity no longer need to go to a museum. That icon really does belong in a cathedral. But Christ really does belong in our hearts, and Christ comes to dwell there through Holy Communion.