During the last week the priests from the Kimberley were here in Broome to learn more about the changes to the way we celebrate Mass. Those of you visiting from the eastern states may have already experienced some of the changes that will be implemented here in November. The changes to the Mass have been made to ensure that what we pray is what we really believe. The time with the priests reminded me that the structure of our prayer and the church’s year is very important. It is not by accident that we celebrate the Ascension forty days after Easter, or Pentecost fifty days after Easter. It is planned and crucial to the way we believe and pray that we have celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, then the perfect communication of God within himself and then to us through the Holy Spirit on the feast of the Blessed Trinity. These feasts prepare us for the feast of the Body and blood of Christ, known for a thousand years as Corpus Christi. God has given us all that is possible to allow us to respond to his grace and love.
On Thursday Pope Benedict reminded his listeners that Corpus Christi is inseparable from Holy Thursday. On Holy Thursday Jesus gave himself to his disciples at the Last Supper before giving himself for us all on the wood of the cross. He offered bread and wine, changing them to be his body and blood, that same body that would die and the same blood that would flow from his side on the cross. This leads us to the wonderful centre of this feast. We celebrate who we are and what we can become. We acknowledge that we are the people called by God, we are the Body of Christ, a sure and visible sign of the presence of God in our world. We are bearers of hope peace and joy to a world that is looking for these things in all the wrong places.
We gather around this altar conscious of who we are, with our strengths and weaknesses. We bring the best we have to offer. We bring our needs and desires, our joys and hopes, our fears and anxieties. We bring money for the needs of the church and the poor, knowing that we pray with our bodies, talents and resources as well as our minds. We bring the bread and wine, the staples of life and we offer them to God to be sanctified and transformed into what we are called to become, the body of Christ. This offering, like the offering of Christ, like the offering of ourselves at this altar, is taken, blessed, broken and shared. In this way be become the visible Christ to our world.
In many places of the world today there will be processions of the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of cities, and villages. The aim of this is to recall he who calls and leads us to bear witness. It recalls the power and strength of our God who came to live among us, in our towns and villages. The Corpus Christi Procession is led by Christ the head of the Body of Christ, and we follow.
In the gift of the gift of the Eucharist God gives us the best so that we can give of our best. We hold in our church this treasure, far greater than anything humanity can produce. This treasure gives life to all who are able to experience it. Let us celebrate and live our faith.
Homily , 26th June 2011 Feast of Corpus Christi A
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