Come Back Home

Moved by crisis, commodity or community

06/06/2021

Mark 14:12-26 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water. Follow him. Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"' Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there." While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many. Amen, I say to you, I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

One of the perennial problems for parents, especially after their children move away, is how to get them to come back home. Some couples come up with creative solutions. For example, an elderly man in Phoenix called his son Bob in New York and said, “I hate to ruin your day, but your mother and I are divorcing. Forty-five years of misery is enough!” He continued: “I am sick of her! And I am sick of talking about this, so call your sister in Boston and tell her.” Then he abruptly hung up.

The son, Bob, frantically called his sister, who went nuts over the news. She immediately called her father and yelled, “You are NOT getting a divorce! Bob and I will be there tomorrow. Until then, don’t do a single thing. Do you hear me??” The father hung up the phone, turned to his wife, and said smiling, “It worked! The kids are coming for a visit, and they are paying their own way!” Now, that trick will only work on your children if they did not hear this homily.

We priests, who are spiritual fathers, are also worried about getting our children to come back home to the Catholic Church. And tragically, it takes a crisis – a divorce, a death or a disease – to bring children back to their spiritual homes. C. S. Lewis was right when he wrote: “Suffering is the megaphone God uses to rouse a deaf world.” In other words, when all is going well in our world – when we are warm and well-fed – we grow deaf to God’s words and wisdom. But do you recall what happened the day after September 11, 2001? The churches were packed with people. Why? We all ran back home, like Bob and his sister flew back to Phoenix.

Today’s feast of Corpus Christi suggests another way of bringing children back home, namely, the Eucharist, spiritual food. Just as families gather for Christmas and Thanksgiving, weddings and anniversaries, which invariably involve food, so our spiritual family gathers around a table at Mass. Indeed, we gather around two tables, in order to be fed by the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist. Psalm 34 urges us: “Taste and see how good the Lord is!” Why? The Psalmist is inviting us to come home to Holy Communion with God and with each other.

But I am convinced that if we want the meal of the Mass to bring us together and bind us together, we have to see the Eucharist not as a hot commodity but as a Holy Communion that creates a Holy Community. What does that mean? Well, the Body of Christ that is Communion should bring about the Body of Christ that is our community. But when we treat our Christianity like a commodity, we start to go shopping spiritually-speaking and end-up eating junk food in comparison to Holy Communion. Catholics, therefore, can live our Christian faith on three levels: (1) responding to a crisis, (2) buying a commodity, or (3) searching for Communion.

My friends, ask yourselves: why did I come to Mass today? Are you going through a crisis in your life and looking for help and hope? Sometimes we look at our religion like a pilot looks at his parachute. He is glad to have it, but he hopes he will never use it. A recent survey reported that more Americans describe themselves as “no religion” than any particular denomination. Often parents ask me what will it take to bring their children back to Mass? I give them the same answer as C. S. Lewis: “Suffering is the megaphone God uses to rouse a deaf world.” Sometimes only a crisis can make us come back home.

Or, could it be you came today because Christianity feels more like a commodity? You came here because you are “buying” what we are “selling” – a pretty church, uplifting music, a stirring sermon, etc.? Fr. Daniel recently taught me the four P’s of marketing: “product, place, promotion and price.” So, if you were to find another church with a better product, at a more convenient place, promoted by your friends, and at a better price, would you start going there? What drives us to church on Sunday is not Christianity but capitalism: product, place, promotion and price. Sadly, we have to sell spirituality to make Catholics come back home.

Or, are you here for the Holy Communion that builds a Holy Community? One of the lessons we have learned from the Covid pandemic is that people missed not only Communion but also our community. I am so happy to see the church full on Sundays, but also happy to see the other buildings full: people playing bingo on Monday, Bible study groups on Tuesday, the Ladies Auxiliary gossiping on Wednesday, the Men of Faith on Fridays talking sports (I mean spirituality), the Amistad group doing Zumba classes, and Virginia Ricketts who baked 1,500 cookies for Corpus Christi! That is how the Body of Christ (Holy Communion) we receive on Sunday makes us the Body of Christ (a holy community) Monday through Friday. As the cliché says: “you are what you eat.” Communion is the best reason to come back home.

The reason the Church celebrates Corpus Christi every year is to remind us not to come to church only in a crisis, or craving a commodity. Rather, come to Mass because this Holy Communion creates a holy community. And if that does not work, I am afraid there may be a crisis coming around the corner. Why? Well, because some parents will do almost anything to get their children to come back home.

Praised be Jesus Christ!