Homily for Corpus Christi: “A Living Procession”
by Fr. Mark-David Janus, C.S.P.
June 3, 2018

Towering above the University city of Marburg,
is Marburg Castle, reached by a long winding uphill climb.
Enthusiastically my Lutheran guide took me
to the room made famous by a three-day debate held in 1529, between Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli
about the nature of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Zwingli persistently arguing that
since Christ has ascended to heaven,
Christ is not “really” present in the Eucharist
but only “spiritually” present.
At the highpoint of the debate,
Luther stood, and wrote on the large conference table,
the words of Jesus recorded in Scripture:
Hoc Est Corpus Meum-This is my body-
arguing that the Risen Christ
is really present in the Eucharist because he said he was.
Which sisters and brothers is why we believe
that the Risen Lord is present in our Eucharist.
We believe it because he said it.

People developed a deep devotion
to the presence of Christ in the Eucharist,
which is why, when Mass was said
with the priest facing away from the people,
he elevated the Host and the chalice,
so people could see and venerate Christ’s presence.
They started ringing bells during mass
so people wouldn’t miss this sacred moment.
In cities where there was more than one church,
some especially devout people, would go from mass to mass, timing their arrival just as the words were prayed,
and the Host elevated and the bells rung.

Sensing that no matter how devout
this practice of scurrying from mass to mass was,
some thought it a little bit odd, so,
when the Feast of Corpus Christi was celebrated
in the Middle Ages, at the conclusion of the mass,
the Blessed Sacrament was carried out of the Church,
into the village,
to the marketplace,
the business districts,
to the neighborhoods
where people lived and loved and sinned.
The purpose of that procession was this:
Christ may be present in the Blessed Sacrament
in the tabernacle in the Church, but he is not confined there. Those who receive him must carry him into their lives
and into the world,
which is why the Risen Lord is present in the Eucharist
in the first place.
The purpose of the Eucharist is not to transform bread and wine into the Body and Blood of the Risen Lord,
but rather through this transformation, to transform us
into the Mystical Body of Christ,
so the world can be transformed into the kingdom of God.
The purpose of the Eucharist is to draw us
into communion with the Risen Lord so that
“his kingdom come and his will be done,
on earth, as it is in heaven.”
In more theological language,
the Risen Lord is present in the Eucharist to divinize us,
so we might humanize the world.

Corpus Christi processions are not common now;
we do not live in the villages of medieval Europe anymore.
But a few years ago, while I was distributing communion,
and I have been distributing communion for 39 years as a priest saying day after day:
Body of Christ, Body of Christ, Body of Christ,
routinely and sometimes, remotely saying again and again:
Body of Christ.
Well, as I say, one day I actually found myself paying attention
to what I was saying: The Body of Christ-
to an old woman who just lost her husband of 50 years;
Body of Christ to a young girl making her second communion; Body of Christ to a young man newly in love,
Body of Christ to one whose love had just left him for another; Body of Christ to a man who had lost his job;
Body of Christ to someone newly graduated.
Body of Christ to the proud parents of a newly engaged couple, Body of Christ to parents whose son just told them he was gay, Body of Christ to the gay son.
On and on the line went:
Body of Christ to people who were young and old, rich and poor; Body of Christ for those filled with doubt
as well as those filled with faith.
All ages, all sizes, all races: the Body of Christ.

After communion I sat down in my presider’s chair
and thought to myself: where did the Body of Christ go,
where is the Body of Christ now?
I realized in a new way that the Real Presence of Christ
was now in the congregation.
Pope Benedict XVI said:
“We cannot belong to Christ in Communion
if we do not belong to each other.”
The Body of Christ we had each individually received
was now pulling us together,
and we were no longer alone,
but part of each other because we are now all part of Him.

So, sisters and brothers, when Mass is over,
and you stream out of church into the rest of your day,
know this: you are a living Corpus Christi procession.
The Body of Christ does not just remain behind in the tabernacle, each of you are a sacred vessel
carrying the real love of God into the world
in your own unique way. Amen.


Paulist Fr. Mark-David Janus is president of Paulist Press.