[audio recording of 10am homily]
During family dinner last night, my wife asked me what
the readings were for Sunday and what I planned to say for the homily today. I replied that the Gospel is on Jesus as the
Bread of Life, the Living Bread from Heaven.
I also said that I have two simple points: The first is on worthy
reception the Bread of Life. And the
second is unworthy reception of the Bread of Life.
And then, my 7-year old daughter remarked that it was
a sacrilege to receive Communion in mortal sin.
I then said, yes, and that our hearts must not be cold and ungrateful,
and not warm or lukewarm, but our hearts should be hot like fire when receiving
the Bread of Life. She then started
singing, “This girl is on fire!”
So, my family helped me write my two main points: (1) The
first is on the worthy hot fiery reception of the Bread of Life where one is
filled with love and gratitude. (2) And
the second is on the unworthy, cold and lukewarmness receiving Communion.
Concerning the first point of worthy reception of the
Eucharist, we can start by pondering the Scripture readings for the past 2
Sundays, the readings today, and the readings for the next 2 Sundays. The Church gives us 5 Sundays to reflect on
the Gospel of St. John Chapter 6, and we are in the middle of it now.
To receive the Bread of Life worthily and on fire with love, one should be in the state of grace, or the state of
friendship with God. Being in the state
of grace means that we are not conscious of living in serious, deadly sin
before receiving the Bread of Life at Mass.
St. Angela said that the very
thought of Christ’s love for us would transform the coldness of our hearts
into a fire of love and gratitude. We
taste the goodness of the Good Shepherd who feeds us with his very self.
I mean, have you ever had days where you clean the
kitchen all day and prepare a really great meal for hours and go out of your
way. And then when those who come for
the meal sit down, not only are they heartless and thankless for all your hard
work but actually complained or murmured about how you served them, how would
you feel? How would you feel for giving
so much for little return? The same is
true for the tender Heart of Jesus who gave His all in the adorable Sacrament
of the Holy Eucharist, the work of His Love, His work of redemption to save us so
we can go to Heaven one day.
So that’s the first internal way to receive the
Eucharist worthily, to prepare our souls to be on fire and love with our union
with Jesus. St. Francis de Sales said
that after receiving Him in Communion in a few minutes, stir up all the details
of your heart to Him where he is present for your happiness on your journey
home [to Heaven].
In the 1st Reading in the First Book of
Kings, the Prophet Elijah was tired in his journey that he wanted to give up
and die – twice. But after receiving
heavenly food of cake and water, Elijah was strengthened and continued his
journey. Elijah’s fruit is that he
tasted and saw the goodness of the Lord.
We see the fruits of Communion in the state of grace. The Catechism
of the Catholic Church says that the fruits of Holy Communion are (1) Our
union with Christ is greater; (2) it separates us from future mortal sins and (3)
wipes away venial sins; (4) it unites us to the Mystical Body of Christ, the
Church; and (5) the Eucharist commits us to the poor. [If time allows, talk about St.
Lawrence. I love St. Lawrence and “Here
are the treasures of the Church!”]
Now, for the 2nd point about an unworthy
reception of the Bread of Life, we see in the Gospel how the Jews murmured. To “murmur” here is to complain about this
teaching. They said how can you, who are
just that lowly son of a carpenter give us your flesh. But we will see how Jesus doesn’t back down from
this argument but rather says, “Amen.
Amen, I am the Bread of Life.” And
in John 6: 6 6, His followers walked away from [Jesus in] the Eucharist. If we are in mortal sin, we should go to
Confession first. Or if we have missed a
Sunday Mass without sufficient reason, we should first confess this serious
matter before receiving Holy Communion; otherwise, it is a sacrilege – as my
daughter said – to receive Communion. A
sacrilege is defined as violating or misusing what is regarded as sacred.
Another way we receive Communion unworthily is if our
marital statuses and marriages are not in good standing with the Church’s
teachings on marriage and family life. In
U.S., we not only celebrate the 50th anniversary of opening the
permanent deacons to married men, but this year, we also honor the 50th
anniversary of Humanae Vitae. Humanae
Vitae was a letter by Pope Paul VI on the beauty of human life and married
love as total, human, exclusive, and fruitful (which means no affairs), the
opposite of which is contraception. The
Bread of Life leads us to reflect on human life. Sexual activity is reserved to the married. Contraception is the opposite of the Bread of
Life who said, “This is my body, which I give up totally for you”[a
total gift of self in kenosis] because contraception says “This is my body, and
I do not give it totally up for you.”
Catholics are called to be married in the Church before receiving
Communion (and not to be simply living together without a vow). As we reflect on the Bread of Life, it is
fitting to see where human life is related to the Bread of Life. Let us examine whether our conscience has
been correctly formed on marriage and family.
I actually have a close relative who would cross his
arms before me during Communion time, and I would give him a blessing. And I respected him [more] and I loved him even more for honoring the
Eucharist instead of committing a sacrilege [by receiving Holy Communion]. He didn’t receive Communion because he knew that
he still needed to convalidate his civil marriage, and he was still waiting for
his annulment process with the Diocese [so that he can marry his second wife in
the Catholic Church]. [If time allows,
explain how an annulment is like a nurse healing the core/root of the
hurt.] May our marriages taste and see
the goodness of the Lord! As St. Paul
wrote to the Ephesians, let us be “imitators of God” and think with the mind of
Christ, dearly beloved, instead of how the world thinks.
So in summary, dear brothers and sisters, those are
the two points as seen with two-point wisdom of my 7-year old daughter who
received her First Holy Communion a few months ago: (1) First, let us have hot,
fiery love for the worthy reception of Sunday Eucharist. (2) And second, let us avoid cold sacrileges
for an unworthy reception of Sunday Eucharist.
As we sang in the Responsorial Psalm, “Taste and see
the goodness of the Lord.” Thank you,
Jesus, for giving us the goodness of your very self, the Bread of Life. And may Mama Mary help us to love the Eucharis.
Jesus said, “Amen.
Amen. I say to you, whoever
believes has eternal life. … I am the
living bread that came down from heaven; whoever easts this bread will live
forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” Amen.
Homily #140: “Worthy v. Unworthy
Reception of the Bread of Life
(With
Reference to 50th Anniversary of ‘Humanae Vitae’ on Contraception)”
by Deacon Dennis Purificacion
19th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018
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