Homilies
We Become What We Eat and Contemplate
The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Father Alvaro Montero, DCJM – June 26, 2011
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Let me read to you from this book about Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, "Mother had the grace in the later years, to have the Blessed Sacrament in her hospital room. She always wanted it with her. She had another heart failure in August, right before our eyes. A tube was put down into her lungs to assist her breathing and relieve the pressure upon her heart. Before the tubes were finally removed, the doctor said, 'Father, go home and bring that box to Mother.' For a second I wondered, 'What box? Shoe box?' He said, 'That box. That little temple that you bring and put into her room and Mother looks at it all the time. If you bring it and put it in the room, Mother will become so quiet.' I realized he meant the tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament. He said to me, 'When that box is there in the room she is just looking and looking and looking at that box.' The Hindu doctor was an unknowing witness to the power of the Eucharist over Mother Teresa."
The box. We easily lose the sense of mystery and that box contains our Creator. Do we get it? The One who made us from nothing and who will raise us from the dead is in that box. Canon law 938.3 says, "The tabernacle in which the blessed Eucharist is habitually reserved is to be immovable, made of solid and non-transparent material, and so locked as to give the greatest security against any danger of profanation." And the priests and the deacons are the first ones who are in danger of forgetting the deep mystery of the Eucharist. So that box is not to be touched. It's sacred. Not everyone can go up to that box. When we cross in front of that box, we genuflect because it is the place where Almighty God dwells as well as in our heart. "A special lamp (Canon law 940) is to burn continuously before the tabernacle in which the blessed Eucharist is reserved, to indicate and to honour the presence of Christ." Isn't it different when you go to a church and the lamp is not lit? It tells you that he is not here in the Eucharist. He is here as the Creator but he is not here in the Eucharist.
My meditation today is this; when I was growing up, they told me that the TV is the "dummy's box" and we keep looking at it. When I grew up it was a box. Now it's a big flat screen - you are almost in the middle of the scene. How much time a week do we spend in front of that box? I tell you, we become what we eat and also what we contemplate. It happens to me that I sometimes take the Eucharist but I have some restlessness and the question I ask myself is, "Yes, I took the Eucharist but what else did I take all the time through my eyes?" Because we become what we eat - the Eucharist - but we see too what we contemplate. So with Mother Teresa, a Hindu doctor saw the way Mother Teresa related to that box and what that box contained. He understood the mystery. He said, "When that box is in the room, she becomes so quiet. She is looking and looking and looking at that box."
How much time do we spend in Adoration every week? The best thing I can tell you as a priest is to spend time with the Lord and he will change your heart. If we are out on a sunny day, we certainly get the sunshine and we are tanned. It's impossible to be in front of the Eucharist - with faith! - and not be transformed. Impossible. Even if you are sleeping. The Lord, as he did with Mother Teresa, makes us quiet. Rest in him. It is a gift to go to the Adoration Chapel and finally rest in the Lord's hands and fall asleep. It doesn't matter if you fall asleep in the Adoration Chapel. Have you tried it? I have. And if you fall asleep and people see you, it's ok. It's a test of humility for you. Don't try to pretend that you weren't sleeping. We all know. So that box is the container of life.
Remember this; the words of Jesus today in the Gospel. He said, "Unless you eat my flesh you do not have life within you." That means that even if we have the best diet, we do not have eternal life in us. At the same time, if you are struggling in this bad economy and you are giving things up and do not enjoy as much as many good things as in the past, if we still go and take the Bread of Life, we do have life - Eternal Life. Remember that box contains somebody who is alive and not the box we will all be in sooner or later or the urn when we are buried. That box contains life. The box of the casket and urn contains death but if we are buried with Christ and we took the pledge of Eternal Life we will rise and we will break the box. Can you imagine the day of the resurrection? To break the casket and no matter how wonderful the concrete of the vault, you break it with Christ - alive forever. The next time you go home and switch on the TV think about how much time you spend in the Adoration Chapel. That's the center of Christian life. If you are home bound, it's ok if you don't come. Have a little place at home where you have a crucifix and you can pray in a unique personal way to Almighty God.
We pray to Our Lady to give us true devotion to the Eucharist and to keep looking and looking and looking to that box which contains the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ Our Lord.
Praised be Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.
