homilies
on the liturgy of the Sundays and feasts

by leonard a. kennedy

It’s a mystery
Corpus Christi–June 2

“A” Readings: Deut. 8:2-3, 14-16 • 1 Cor. 10:16-17 • John 6:51-59

Title: The Eucharist as the Bread of Life
Purpose: To explain (1) our belief in the Real Presence, and (2) the word transubstantiation.

Today is the feast of Corpus Christi, that is, the Body of Christ. In today’s first reading we see that, while the Jews were traveling from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land they had no bread to eat but, instead, God provided food for them miraculously each day, a food which they called manna. And we are told that this was to teach them that they were not to live on bread alone but on what God provided for them through his revelation to them.

In the Gospel, Jesus tells us that the manna was a symbol of himself, that he was the bread, that is, the special food, which God was providing for the Jews. And Jesus tells the Jews that, if they eat of the special food and drink which God has sent them, they will life forever. That, just as Jesus draws life from the Father, so they will draw life from Jesus by eating Jesus’ body and blood.

If we read the continuance of today’s Gospel in the New Testament we find that many of the Jews listening to Jesus refused to believe him, and they left him. Jesus didn’t call them back and say that he really didn’t mean what he had said, or that they misunderstood them. No, he simply turned to the Apostles and said: “Will you also go away?” So we know that Jesus was teaching a great truth. And St. Peter, speaking for the Apostles, said: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of everlasting life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Christ, the Son of God.”

I suppose we should feel some sympathy for the Jews who walked away, because it would have been hard for them to imagine how they could eat the body and blood of Jesus. It’s easier for us because we know that when Jesus comes into our bodies it is the glorified Jesus who does so, and he does so under the appearance of bread and wine.

Some Catholics today also do not believe that what we receive in Communion is Jesus and only Jesus. The whole substance of the bread and wine is changed into Jesus, that is, into his body and blood. After the Consecration there is no bread or wine whatsoever left. There are just the appearances of bread and wine. The whole substance of the bread and wine has gone. And in its place is Jesus, the substance of the body and blood of Jesus. This change is called transubstantiation, which means the change of one substance into another substance.

This change, of course, requires the mighty power of God. We know that God produces the change but we don’t know how he does it. It’s a mystery. A mystery is something that is true but which we have trouble understanding. There are mysteries for us because reality is so full of intelligibility and our intelligence is weak. There are no mysteries for God.

There are other mysteries which we should continue to think about: why does God love us? How can God make us divine, have us share in his own life? How can God love us so much as to die on the Cross for us? How can God love us so much as to come into our bodies as our food?

Why does Jesus call himself the Bread of Life? In using the word “life” he is referring not to physical life but to the divine life which he gave us at Baptism. In calling himself the Bread of Life he means that Holy Communion does for our spiritual life, our divine life, what ordinary bread does for our bodies.

As ordinary bread strengthens our physical life, so Communion strengthens our divine life. As ordinary bread fortifies us against disease, so Communion fortifies us against sin. Not only does it forgive the venial sins for which we are sorry; it also gives us power to resist both mortal and venial sin. And, just as we must eat earthly food often in order to stay alive and well physically, so we must receive our heavenly food often in order to stay alive and well spiritually.

In what way does Communion strengthen our divine life? The life of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit consists in the knowledge they have of each other and the love they share with each other. When we are in the state of grace we live that divine life. By faith we share in the knowledge they share with one another, and by charity we share in the love they share with one another. Communion strengthens both faith and love in us. An increase of faith is a great blessing because God is seen only by faith, not by sight. Communion also strengthens hope in us, whereby we trust that God is going to get us to heaven. Indeed, Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that those who receive Communion worthily will be saved: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will have everlasting life, and I will raise them up on the last day.” Communion gives us also an increase of love, since it is primarily a union of love.

We should receive Communion frequently because without the Bread of Life we may not be able to avoid in our spiritual life what can happen in ordinary life to people who don’t eat food or enough of it: they can become weak and sick, they can suffer starvation and die.

Suggested reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1382-1419.

The sin of greed
10th Sunday of the Year—June 9

“A” Readings: Hos. 6:3-6 • Rom. 4:18-25 • Matt. 9:9-13

Title: Stealing and Honesty
Purpose: to present teaching and practical guidance on (1) respect for personal and corporate property; (2) the honesty expected of a Christian.

God created us so that we might be happy with him forever in heaven. And he wanted us to be happy also on earth. In order to help us to be happy on earth he gave us the Ten Commandments so that we might avoid all those things that bring unhappiness. One of those things is dishonesty and theft. If people steal things which belong to us it hurts us, sometimes seriously. It could be our car or our wallet or TV. And, of course, if we take things which belong to others we offend against God’s plan for human happiness.

A person is highly praised if those who know him say that he is an honest man. On the other hand, no one can respect someone who is dishonest, a thief, a crook, someone who cannot be trusted. The seventh Commandment is: Thou shalt not steal. It deals with one of the seven capital sins, one of the seven major ways in which the happiness of the human race is destroyed.

Today’s first reading, from the prophet Hosea, tells us that the Judgment of God is as sure to come as tomorrow’s sun or as rain in the springtime. Any of the seven capital sins can condemn us at that judgment. So let us see how we stand in regard in one of them: covetousness, the desire to take what belongs to other people. If we borrow something and don’t give it back, if we pay unjust wages, if we defraud others in our business dealings, if we take bribes, if we don’t work hard enough for our employer, if we don’t pay our taxes, if we forge documents, if we vandalize the property of others, if we break our contracts or our promises, if we don’t pay our debts, if we gamble with money which should be used for more necessary purposes, and so on, and have not sincerely repented of these things and made reparation for them, we should picture ourselves at the Last Judgment and do now what we would have liked to have done at that time but know that it would be too late. Because the things just mentioned are acts of selfishness, depriving others of what we owe them. In the eyes of God we are all basically equal, and none of us has the right to harm another person. God said: “Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.”

This seventh Commandment is so important that God gave us the Tenth Commandment to strengthen it, to tell us that even wanting to commit these sins is sinful: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.” A person who wants what other people have but is unwilling to get it by honest work, and rather wants to steal it, is already a thief, even if he doesn’t steal it because it’s too well guarded or because he’s afraid of getting caught. And “love of money is the root of all evil,” as St. Paul said, likely quoting a common saying.

God wants us to be relatively happy with what we have. Of course it’s fine to work for more, but, except for a case of urgent necessity, it’s wrong to take what belongs to others without their permission. We have to be careful not to put anything ahead of God. In each of the seven capital sins something is preferred to God. In the one we’re dealing with it’s earthly possessions. And no earthly possessions can be compared to God, as Shakespeare tells us in one of his poems:

What win I if I gain the thing I seek?
A dream, a breath, a front of fleeting joy.
Who buys a minute’s mirth to wail a week?
Or sells eternity to gain a toy?
For one sweet grape, who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar, but to touch the crown,
Would with the scepter straight be strucken down?

When we steal anything we have to restore it. That’s a necessary sign of repentance. Is there something we’ve done in the past that we haven’t made up for?

We turn now to another form of this capital sin which many people don’t think of. Is it sinful to keep on making money to spend on ourselves, or even to keep putting in investments, and not to give some of it to the poor? We’re thinking particularly here of the more affluent people. Whose money is it that they have? God gives all the goods of the earth to everybody. Now, it’s good to have a system of private property so that families can provide reasonably for their future. But, after we have so much, the rest belongs to other people. It belongs to the poor. It’s not a matter of charity but of justice to give it to them. Of course there are lots of ways of giving to the poor, and we have to decide prudently but fairly how much to give, but we must not let love of money and what it can buy make us miserly and selfish.

What did Jesus say? He told the story of Dives and Lazarus. Dives was wealthy and he saw Lazarus in poverty and gave him nothing. And Dives went to Hell, and Lazarus to heaven. What will Jesus say to us at the Last Judgment? “Come, ye blessed of my Father. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat.” And so on. And to those who look after only themselves he will say: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the Devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.” And so on.

Suggested reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2401-2446, 2534-2557.

Divine life in us
11th Sunday of the Year—June 16

“A Readings: Exod. 19:2-6 • Rom. 5:6-11 • Matt. 9:36 - 10:8

Title: Living in the Grace of God
Purpose: to give teaching on (1) the life of sanctifying grace in the soul, and especially (2) the birth and growth, the weakening and loss, of the life of grace.

God created us in order to share his divine life with us. He created the physical universe for our sakes and gave Adam and Eve divine life when he created them. Unfortunately they lost divine life not only for themselves but also for their descendants. God however, in his mercy, decided to return this life to us. For this purpose God the Son assumed a human nature and died and rose again so that divine life might be restored to the human race.

We say that to live this life is to be in the state of grace. The word “grace” has two related meanings. It came from the Latin, and originally meant thanks for a gift. Today we use it to mean the gift itself. The chief meaning of grace therefore is divine life, God’s greatest gift to us. We call this gift sanctifying grace, the gift which makes us holy and pleasing to God. The second meaning of “grace” is any gift of God which leads to the fostering and strengthening of this sanctifying grace within us; in addition to divine life, God imparts many helps to us to grow in this life.

This life is given to us at baptism. Before the actual baptism the priest says: “God uses this sacrament to give his divine life to those who believe in him. Let us turn to him, and ask him to pour his gift of life on the children he has chosen.” And after the baptism the priest puts a white garment on the child and says: “See in this white garment the outward sign of your Christian dignity. With your family and friends to help you by word and example, bring that dignity unstained into the everlasting life of heaven.”

What is divine life? God does not have a body; there is no biological life in him, only the life of the intellect and the will. It consists in the knowledge that the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity have of each other and of the love that they have for each other. This knowledge and love, of course, produce infinite happiness. For us to enter into divine life is for us to share in this same knowledge of the Trinity, this same love of the Trinity, this same happiness of the Trinity. When we are baptized we receive faith, which is a share in this knowledge, and we receive charity, which is a share in this love. In this life we do not consciously experience our divinity, we do not consciously experience that we are knowing as God does, that we are loving as God does, or that we are entitled to share in the very happiness of God, but it is a leading doctrine of our Catholic faith that in the state of grace this is so. If we were to experience these things we would be in heaven. That is what heaven is: actually experiencing that we know and love the Trinity as they know and love each other, and that we are happy with God’s own happiness.

The divine life in us is not like a precious gem. No, it is alive, a living thing, and it is always growing either stronger or weaker. We can strengthen it by prayer, by works of charity, and by keeping the Commandments. We should keep the Commandments in matters great and small because to break one of them in a great matter is to lose divine life, and to break them in small matters is not only to keep that life from growing but also to run the risk of gradually breaking a Commandment in a great matter. Breaking a Commandment in a great matter is called mortal sin, for the word “mortal” means deadly, and a serious sin kills divine life in us.

Indeed, it is only sin which can weaken or destroy divine life. Our spiritual task therefore is to strengthen this life and avoid sin. It is frequently said today that our culture is losing the sense of sin. It seems that this view is correct. We therefore have to strive harder to avoid sin than Catholics did in a Catholic culture.

We must avoid those things which today lead to a loss of the sense of sin because to share in this loss is to weaken our defenses against evil, and the evil forces in our world are strong enough to conquer those who are not well armed against them.

Among the chief things which cause a loss of the sense of sin are (1) a lessening of faith in the existence and true nature of God, (2) a lessening of belief in original sin, (3) a lessening of faith in an after-life, (4) avoidance of Confession, (5) doubt about the existence of Satan or other devils who “wander through the world seeking the ruin of souls”, (6) thinking that most sin is not personal but social; (7) legal permission for many sins formerly legally forbidden, such as abortion, infanticide, and homosexual activity. It is easy to see that any of these seven things will make sin seem less important.

What is one to do to counteract these forces? Practice one’s faith; pray earnestly; have only good companions; read good spiritual books, especially lives of the saints; go to Confession each month; help the poor and the sick.

Suggested reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1996-2005, 2017-29.

Adam and Eve did it
12th Sunday of the Year–June 23

“A” Readings: Jer. 20:10-13 • Rom. 5:12-15 • Matt. 10:26-33

Title: Original Sin
Purpose: (1) to give the Church’s teaching on original sin; (2) to show effects of original sin in the world and in ourselves; (3) to bring hope from our cooperation with redemption.

This Sunday we deal with an essential and important truth of our faith, namely, that at the beginning of the human race a tragedy occurred which still affects each of us tremendously. We call this tragedy original sin, that is, a sin at the origin of the human race. St. Paul tells us in today’s Second Reading that “sin entered into the world through one man and, through sin, death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned.”

God created Adam and Even in a place of happiness and endowed them with a share in his own divine life. There was to be no suffering, there was to be no death. God gave them just one command and told them they would die if they disobeyed it. But the Devil lied to them, telling them that if they disobeyed God they themselves would become like gods, deciding for themselves what is good and what is evil, and that they would not die. They believed the Devil and disobeyed God. A terrible punishment followed their sin. They were cast out of the place of happiness. They lost their share in divine life. They became subject to death. Their control over their desires was weakened. Their relationship to one another and to creation was disturbed.

Unfortunately there were similar consequences for their descendants. It’s a mystery which we cannot understand, but, perhaps because of the solidarity of the human race, their descendants, who would otherwise have been born without these punishments, are subject to some of them. They are subject to them not because they committed a sin personally but because they contracted the results of it from their first parents. The original sin which is passed on to us is not just their bad example; it is something which happens inside us. That is one reason why children should be baptized at an early age.

We know that there is a great deal of sin in the world. It began with Adam and Eve and spread right away. One of their sons, Cain, killed his brother Abel, out of jealously. And since then there have been so many sins: wars, tyranny of dictators, oppression of the poor, slavery, child prostitution, sexual sins, child abuse, rapes, and today the restoration of abortion and infanticide, and new sins of experimentation with children conceived in test tubes, after which they are killed. In today’s First Reading, the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah about 600 B.C. is being attacked by his fellow Jews because he gave them God’s message. “Denounce him!” they said. “Let us denounce him. Perhaps he will be seduced into error. Then we will master him and take our revenge.” Just one more example of human sinfulness. I’m sure there’s no need to convince you that there is a tremendous amount of evil in the world.

Unfortunately we ourselves commit part of the world’s evil. We find it hard to be good. Our desires for pleasure and wealth and total freedom are hard to control (“the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” as St. John called them (1 John 2:1). We have darkness in our intellect and weakness in our will. Who of us can claim not to have done some evil?

And besides a proneness to evil we know that life is hard, that there is a lot of suffering, that we live in a vale of tears, and that one day we will die.

However, Jesus our Savior has to a great extent undone the work of Adam and Eve. That’s why the New Testament calls Jesus the new Adam, and the Church calls the Blessed Virgin the new Eve. By his death on the Cross Jesus regained divine life for us. He gives it to us at our baptism. And he has won for us the grace to surmount the trials of life, including the difficulties involved in living a good moral life.

Though our nature is wounded by original sin it is not corrupted. We have the freedom and the ability to live a good life. Jesus has instructed us how to live properly. He has founded a Church not only to carry on his message but also to fortify us against temptation and against the continuing lies of the Devil. He has given us the means of saving our souls and being eternally happy with him.

We can live lives of prayer and good works. We have Confession to help us keep the divine life strong in our souls. We have Communion to fortify us against temptation. We have the Sacrament of Marriage to give us all the grace we need to live a good family life. St. Paul says, in today’s Second Reading, “If it is certain that through one man’s fall many died, it is even more certain that through the one man Jesus Christ came to so many an abundant free gift.”

We must live in the real world. God wanted us to be different than what we are. He wanted us to live a happy life on earth and not to sin. But, when our representatives betrayed us, our condition was changed. We have our share of unhappiness and we must fight temptation. But God has redeemed us, died on the Cross to lead us to salvation, and given us all the help we need to live in his grace. “Come to me all ye who labor and are heavenly burdened,” he says, “and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Recommended readings: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 374-42.1

The life of God
13th Sunday of the Year–June 30

“A” Readings: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16 • Rom. 6:3-4, 8-11 • Matt. 10:37-42

Title: The Sacrament of Baptism
Purpose: (1) to explain the ministers of Baptism and how to baptize in an emergency; (2) to present Baptism as the basis of the other sacraments and as the start of a life of grace, to grow throughout the years of life.

In today’s Second Reading St. Paul tells us that “when we were baptized in Christ Jesus we were baptized in his death; in other words, when we were baptized we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life.”

Today, when infants are baptized, the ceremony is performed usually by pouring water over their head. But St. Paul is thinking here of baptism by immersion in which an adult descends into water and is completely submerged in it and then comes out again. In ancient churches in the Near East even today we can see baptisteries with the steps going down into a pool and other steps coming up on the other side. This symbolism is more striking than the pouring of water because going down into the water is a symbol of dying and going into the tomb with Christ, and coming out of this tomb is a symbol of being born again into a new life, as Christ entered a new life with his glorified body.

And that’s what baptism is. It’s a birth into a new life, the life of God himself. When we’re born we don’t have divine life because Adam and Eve lost it for us by their sin. And we are born not only without divine life but also with other sad effects of their sin: suffering, illness, death, and even a darkness in our intellect, a weakness in our will, and an inclination to sin, an inclination which we call concupiscence, which means unruly desires.

One reason for having children baptized shortly after birth is that otherwise they might die before receiving the Sacrament. But a second reason is so that they might, from their earliest days, have divine life, be members of Christ’s Church, be children of God in a special way, and be heirs of the Kingdom of Heaven.

In the case of older people, those baptized after infancy, they receive divine life but also the forgiveness of every sin previously committed and all the punishment due to those sins.

We know from the words of Jesus that Baptism is necessary for salvation. That is, if a person knows that God wants him to be baptized, but refuses to accept baptism, that person will not be saved. Everyone is called to believe in Jesus and to be baptized in the Catholic Church. In the case of young people or adults, they should be properly instructed and prepared for this Sacrament. Parishes have a program for this, called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. In the case of infants or very young children it is the parents who should be properly instructed and prepared because it will be their privilege and their responsibility to raise their children to be good Catholics.

The Sacrament of Baptism may be received only once, since it impresses a seal on the soul of the one receiving it, branding it, as it were, as belonging to God.

The ordinary minister of Baptism is a bishop, a priest, or a deacon. However, in case of necessity, such as danger of death, anyone may baptize. The reason for this is the importance of baptism. Even a non-Catholic can baptize validly in such a case if he intends to do what the Church intends. For this reason Catholics should know exactly what to do in a case of necessity.

Baptism is conferred by a triple pouring of water, or a triple immersion, while the minister of the Sacrament says: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.”

If possible the person baptized should have a sponsor, usually called a godmother or a godfather in the case of a child. And a second sponsor is also allowed. The sponsor has the privilege and responsibility of fostering Catholic piety in the one baptized. For this reason parents should be careful to choose good Catholics to be sponsors for their children.

Persons being baptized should also be given the name of a saint to whom they should pray during their life. Of course it could be a second or third name. Parents should be anxious not to deprive their children of this help.

Baptism, of course, is only the foundation of a Christian life. The one baptized should strive to build on this foundation. As with any kind of life, there is either growth or decline. What happens at Baptism is strengthened by later sacraments, such as Confirmation, Confession, Holy Communion, Marriage, the Sacrament of Orders, or the Sacrament of the Sick. It is strengthened by prayer, by works of charity, and by keeping the Commandments. As baptism does not remove all darkness in the intellect, or all weakness in the will, or the full strength of concupiscence, the one baptized should try to remove the darkness by study and reading, to removed the weakness by prayer and worship, and lessen concupiscence by practicing the virtues of faith, hope, charity, good judgment, justice, courage, and self-control. Then the divine life conferred at baptism will “flourish as the palm-tree flourishes; grow to greatness as the cedars grow on Lebanon, flourish in a green old age, all freshness and vigor still” (Ps. 91).

Suggested reading: Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1214-84, 2156, 2340, 2520.

Reverend Leonard A. Kennedy, C.S.B, is a philosophy professor now retired in Toronto, Canada. He was twice president of Catholic colleges in Canada and also Director of the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas. He writes regularly for Challenge and Catholic Insight in Canada. His last series of homilies in HPR appeared in October 2001.

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