FROM GOD'S POINT OF VIEW

 A SERMON FOR THE SUNDAY WITHIN THE CORPUS CHRISTI OCTAVE

As we’re having First Holy Communions this morning, it’s a good opportunity to take another look at what the Blessed Sacrament means to us.  Or rather, what it should mean to us.  But we’ve heard it all before, haven’t we, and I don’t think you want me to become a nag, constantly reminding you that the reception of the Holy Eucharist is the most important thing we can do in life.  So instead of going over the same points, I thought it might be more useful to examine things from God’s perspective rather than our own.  What does the Blessed Sacrament mean to God?

It's not difficult for us to know what happened.  God has revealed everything to us by means of Holy Scripture.  It all started with the opening of the first book of the Bible, Genesis: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  But what about before that?  Before it all started, before the beginning, in that eternal present before time began?  In that everlasting state, there existed the most High, Omnipotent, All-Knowing God, and he alone.  This divine and eternal Being was Three Persons in One, supremely sufficient unto himself.  He didn’t need to create the heaven and the earth.  He didn’t need to create man.

And yet he did.  Why?  Why on earth would this supremely happy Divine Being cause to exist an entire universe solely for the sake of the creature known as man?  Man would constantly revolt against him, disobey his commandments, and ultimately be the reason why God the Father would send his Only-Begotten Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, to dwell among these miserable creatures only to be tortured and put to death by them.  Why did he do this?  Simple question, simple answer.  Out of love.  Who among us could summon up this kind of love or anything even approaching it?  But God’s love is infinite, it has no measure or limit, and so, in spite of all those men who would spurn that love he has for them, he created them nonetheless, along with the free will to choose whether to love him back, or not.

The reason for creating man, then, is love.  The love that God had from all eternity for this creature that he hadn’t even created yet.  And why did he make us?  So that we could know him, love him, and serve him in this world and be happy with him forever in the next.  He seeks our love.  Like anyone who loves, love is a hard thing if it goes only one way.  When we love, we desire to be loved by the object of our love.  We want to be united as closely as possible with that person.  While we can never begin to compare our human love with God’s love, we should nonetheless remember that this pale human love of ours is our best reflection of that love of God who made us in his image and likeness.  It is the closest we come in human and natural terms to the love God has for us.  So when we love, let’s stand in awe of this supremely powerful emotion, the willingness we have to sacrifice ourselves for the person loved, and let’s see it as that spark of divine love which allowed God to sacrifice his Son for us on the Cross.

That one single act of love, more than any other before or since, is the sign from heaven that we are beloved by God.  “Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friends.”  And for the Second Person of the Trinity to lay down his life for us is surely the greatest love that has ever been shown.  So great is it that it cannot be contained in this one single event of the crucifixion.  God desires to share his love constantly throughout our natural lives by the continuation of that single moment in history.  He does so by the continuation of the Holy Sacrifice of the Cross, which is, of course the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  Daily we celebrate this great mystery of love, of the new and everlasting covenant between God and man.  Daily our blessed Lord offers himself not only to God the Father, but also to us.  He offers us his most holy Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist.

All he asks in return is that we accept his offering to us, humbly as the poor, miserable and sinful creatures that we are: “O Lord, I am not worthy...”  We receive Holy Communion not because we deserve such an infinitely amazing gift.  We are truly not worthy of it.  And yet we are commanded to receive, because without this most blessed Sacrament of the Altar, our souls are dead souls and have no life in them.  And we do receive, hopefully as devoutly and as often as we can.  We should be so eager to show our love for God by uniting with him in Holy Communion that nothing could ever stop us from seeking out daily Mass and the opportunity to comfort that Son of God dying on the Cross for our sakes.  He died so that heaven’s gates could be reopened.  He died so that we could save our souls.  He died so that we could be one with him forever in heaven.  And in Holy Communion, his sacrifice continues so that we can one with him here on earth.

Today’s Gospel parable reflects the desire of God for us to accept his invitation to his great supper.  The lord in the parable who invites his guests spares no effort to get as many people as he can to come and share in his supper, to unite in rejoicing with him at this great gathering.  Alas, so many refuse to come.  They find excuses not to come.  The end result is that the lord of the house declares that “none of these men which were bidden, shall taste of my supper.”  That sounds obvious, doesn’t it?  If they were invited but didn’t come, how can they possibly taste of his supper—they don’t even want to.  But in real life, where God himself invites us to receive Holy Communion, it goes beyond telling us that if we don’t go, we won’t receive just Holy Communion.  God is telling us here that if we don’t respond to the invitation to go to Mass and Communion, not only will we not be receiving Holy Communion, but neither shall we ever taste of that union with God which comes with everlasting life in heaven.

All of this, simply because God loves us so much.  His desire to be united with us far surpasses our own lukewarm desire for the Blessed Sacrament.  Let us pray on this day, if not for ourselves, then at least for these two young men who approach the Altar for the first time, that their desire and ours to be united with God as often as we possibly can may grow every day, and that we will never permit anything, anything to stand between us and the God who loves us so very much.  Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy upon us!