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● Homily – July 28, 2024 17th Sunday (Year B) ● 2 Kings 4:42-44 ● Psalm 145 ●
● Ephesians 4:1-6 ● + John 6:1-15 ● Title: "This is my body"
“This
is my body” also applies to you and me outside of Mass.
“This is my body” reflects, for example, the
mutual care of spouses for each other in matrimony, demonstrating that our
physical bodies are vessels with which we carry Christ’s love and sacrifice to
each other.
We are called to
take care of each other’s bodies. Have you ever taken care of – or are you
taking care now – of a loved one in advanced age or infirmity? Is it not possible that some of your respect
is driven by your own understanding of mortality. Viewing the other person’s fragility,
you might say: “this could be me, this could be my body.”
In the Church, the
“last rites” or anointing of a dying person is 1 of the 7 sacraments, providing
grace through the body. "This is my
body" is a profound declaration of faith and dedication to God's will, in
both death and life.
[P_A_U_S_E]
[__02__] “This is
my body” also applies to St. Paul in the letter to the Ephesians in the 2nd
reading today.
In Ephesians 4:1-6, St. Paul describes himself as a
“prisoner for the Lord,” a statement rich in irony. It is ironic because Paul
is not just exaggerating – by the use of the word “prisoner” that he is a
really dedicated Gospel messenger.
In
fact, Paul was jailed and could not move about freely. He was under house
arrest in Rome, tried and convicted by Roman authorities. “Ephesians” is one of
Paul’s “prison epistles”
Despite
the confinement, Paul’s message spread like wildfire, demonstrating that his
suffering and death did not extinguish his teachings but rather amplified them.
Similarly, Jesus' message grew stronger through His Death and Resurrection,
highlighting how true freedom and influence come from spiritual rather than
physical liberation. Paul ultimately
gave up his life and was martyred.
“This
is my body” is not a limitation of incarceration but rather a liberation and
invitation.
[__03__] I refer
to the phrase “this my body” and Paul’s imprisonment as away to introduce the meaning of Holy
Communion as illustrated in John 6:1-15.
“This is my body” applies
to all of us, signifying our connection to God, emphasized in 3 solemn moments
of our lives: (1) dying, (2) marrying, and (3) being baptized, as explained in
a sermon by Father Ronald Knox of England.
(Ronald
A. Knox, Pastoral and Occasional Sermons,
San Francisco: Ignatius Press, pp. 283-234 (circa))
[__04(a)__] 1st:
Christian death and dying. This is my body.
I recall the
extended illness and death of a family friend who died surrounded by his family
and friends. He made a valiant fight for his life in the face of a serious
illness.
It was no surprise
that he was surrounded by the love of family and friends during his illness and
dying.
His family and
friends were reciprocating what he had given to them by his own virtue and sacrifice
in his life.
What was ironic
was that his body – at a young age of 41 - should be taken as he was such a
healthy whole person, a competitive weightlifter, a martial arts practitioner,
a law enforcement professional and all-around good guy.
There was a
further “irony” in the intersection of his physical fitness and social concern
for everyone around him. If you bumped
into him at RetroFitness or your
local gym, he might talk your ear off so that neither of you would do any real
exercise that day.
[__04(b)__] I have a
particular “this is my body” memory of him at the gym when I was younger and in
in college.
At this particular
fitness place / gym, there were many serious and somewhat intimidating weightlifter
guys, real grown ups, who were known to be pretty tough guys who hung out there.
They frightened me
a little bit with their attitude and concentration, but I recall my friend was
there, and he was respected by them – and by extension – I felt safe and
respected. He was “Homeland Security”.
[__04(c)__] “This is
my body” is the way we're called to live our lives in the way we can love and
care about each other. Father Ronald Knox wrote this:
“We Christians
offer our bodies as a reasonable living sacrifice.”
Father Ronald
Knox, also admits, as we all could say physical and bodily concerns are not
limited to Olympic athletes and weightlifters. We all some physically-based
self esteem.
Father Ronald Knox
Σ summarizes:
“This is my body
in which I have taken such pride. This is my body in which I have devoted so
much attention. This is my body in through which I have sinned.”
[__06(a)__] This is
my body. This is my body. Applies to all of us and applies to us, and applies
to us in the past and in the present.
It applies to us
on the Day of baptism, on the day of christening.
So tenderly, so
gently do the parents carefully present their daughters and their sons on the
day of baptism. You've seen parents on the day of baptism holding their child
so gently. It's beautiful.
They are holding
the child with reverence, with care, with fidelity.
A mother or father
can say truly of the child: “this is my body”, and therefore has made a vow to nurture,
nourish, protect the life of the child from conception to natural death.
The infant girl or
infant boy is also saying to God -- with the help of his godparents and parents
– “this is my body”.
But the parents
are also asserting of the child they are responsible for: “this is my body”.
[__06(b)__] Father
Ronald Knox writes that that one of the first judgments the child can make is
the identification one’s own body.
And
psychologically, this is also true. Around 6 months of age, a child starts to
differentiate himself or herself from “mother”.
Once the baby boy
does this, once the baby girl does this, he or she is on the way to knowing of
their personal soul and spirit. That
their body is not all there is.
So it is by the
pouring out of holy water that we definitely say in faith with the child and
for the child, this is my body, that we help him to identify himself,
individually, as a person, even from a very young age, so that the child can
start to form a personal conscience, free will, so that the child can one day
confess his sin and can receive God's mercy, so that he can, one day, get
married, and even on the day of his death, say in complete faith and trust,
this is my body given up for you, my Lord and Savior.
[__07__] The irony
of Paul being “a prisoner” is that he also discovering that his true freedom is
not determined by what the government will or will not permit him to do physically.
At
the end of the Gospel today, we read
that Jesus withdraws physically – escapes – because he senses the crowd is going
to “capture him” and make him king.
But,
he also knows that they do not know – yet – what his kinship and rule are
really about.
Ironically
– Jesus will become king –because he accepts a baptism in which is truly
immersed in death to rise to new life, a marriage in which becomes the husband
and bridegroom for the whole church, and a death in which he shows us that God
so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that all who believe in him
might not perish but might have eternal life.
(John 3:16)
This
is His body given up for you.
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