Homily for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi

In the Vatican Museums there is a painting by Raphael, entitled the Disputation of

the Holy Sacrament. Centre-stage is an altar, on which is a monstrance, the special

display stand, if you like, for the consecrated Host. To the left and right of the altar

are various Popes, bishops and famous people of the time, adoring the Lord, and

then above that section of the painting are the saints in heaven and the Most Holy

Trinity. The painting contrasts the glory of God in heaven, with the angels and saints

gathered around, with the Blessed Sacrament placed on the altar for adoration, with

the people gathered round. In heaven, God’s glory is revealed, whilst on earth, we

see God with the eyes of faith. Faith perceives what the senses cannot.

The painting is called the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament. Right from the start,

how Christ is present in the Eucharist has been controversial. In John chapter six,

the question is raised, in disbelief: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” One

of the benefits of our new translation of the Scriptures at Mass is that, unlike many

other translations, this one conveys from the original Greek how Christ steps things

up a gear. When they ask: “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”, Christ does

not back down. He doesn’t pass the Eucharist off as symbolic or as a metaphor, such

as when He told the crowds that He is the Good Shepherd, or the Gate of the

sheepfold. He first insists: “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his

blood, you have no life in you”. Going to Mass is not an optional extra for the

super-devout. I remember once visiting Critical Care and when I got to the nursing

station, one of the nurses said to me that the wife of the patient was really religious.

I thought she was going to say that his wife went to Mass every day. But instead, to

the nurse, being “really religious” meant going to Mass each Sunday. How far we

have fallen, I thought, that the bare minimum is seen almost as something excessive.

So, after Christ telling them of the need to eat His flesh and drink His Blood, and

that if you don’t, you won’t have life in you, He then steps things up yet another

gear. This is the point where many other translations fail, because they repeat the

same verb “to eat”. In the original Greek, there is a shift from the verb phagein,

which means to eat in the ordinary sense, to trogein, which means to gnaw or

munch. In the new translation they have opted for “Whoever feeds on my flesh and

drinks my blood has eternal life”, further emphasising the realism of it all.

A bit later on, after the extract we heard today, the crowds say they have had enough

and walk away. “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” (John 6:60) they ask.

“After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him” (John

6:66). At this point, Christ turns to the Twelve and asks them: “Do you want to go

away as well?” In Matthew’s Gospel, at Caesarea Philippi, chapter 16, we hear that

people in wider society have various ideas as to who Christ is: John the Baptist,

Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. It is Simon Peter who rescues the situation,

declaring “You are the Christ”. Here in John chapter 6, the same thing happens

again. All the other disciples have left, and Christ asks the Twelve: “Do you want to

go away as well?” God works through Simon Peter again, and he responds: “Lord,

to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and

have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God”.

Down throughout the ages it has been the Catholic Church that has maintained this

truth about Christ, about His Eucharistic presence. To be fair, it is a belief that the

Orthodox have also upheld, and the fact that they also believe in the Real Presence

shows that this belief goes back to the earliest times.

The practice of elevating the Host after the words of Consecration was a later

addition to the Mass in response to heresy. There were some who claimed that no

change took place until the words of consecration had been said both over the host

and the chalice. So to counteract that, the practice was introduced of elevating the

Host, before the words of consecration had been said over the chalice, to say to the

people: this is now Christ and we can adore Him. The practice of elevating the

chalice was added later.

At the time of the Reformation, various theories came out that denied the full reality

of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist. The one that got closest to the belief of the

Church was consubstantiation. This is dangerous in that it is so similar to

transubstantiation. Consubstantiation says that, after the words of Consecration are

said, Christ is present, if you like, inside the bread. There is bread there, and Christ

is there as well. Transubstantiation, the teaching of the Catholic Church, says there

is a complete change. Whilst it still looks the same as before, a complete change has

taken place. What we gaze on, is not bread, but Christ. As the hymn O Bread of

Heaven says, “Each loving soul by thee is fed with thine own self in form of bread”.

So adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is a dividing line between the different

theories. The Protestant who believes that the Eucharist is only symbolic is angered

by this practice and says it is idolatry – worshipping what is only bread as if it were

Christ. The Protestant who believes in consubstantiation is still uneasy, because if

that theory is correct, we are adoring bread together with Christ. But the Catholic

who believes in transubstantiation knows that it is not idolatry, but the just and

appropriate worship due to Christ, present before us as the Blessed Sacrament.

Raphael’s painting, the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament is worth seeing, and you

can, of course, find it on-line, rather than needing to book a flight to Rome. As the

people in the painting gaze on the Host, held in the monstrance, they are gazing on

Christ, Christ who is seen in glory by all the angels and saints in heaven. May we

imitate them today, as we see the Host raised at Mass, knowing that we too, join in

with the worship of all the angels and saints in heaven.

Curious about exploring things further?  If you would like to ask further questions about the topics raised in these homilies (or maybe think it wasn’t explained too well!), please feel free to e-mail Fr Michael at stjoseph.thame@rcaob.org.uk