MASS ON THE
SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI
Homily
of H.H. Benedict XVI
Basilica of St John
Lateran
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Dear Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
On the feast of Corpus Domini, the Church relives the mystery of
Holy Thursday in the light of the Resurrection. There is also a
Eucharistic procession on Holy Thursday, when the Church repeats
the exodus of Jesus from the Upper Room to the Mount of Olives.
In Israel, the night of the Passover was celebrated in the home,
within the intimacy of the family; this is how the first
Passover in Egypt was commemorated, the night in which the blood
of the paschal lamb, sprinkled on the crossbeam and doorposts of
the houses, served as protection against the destroyer.
On that night, Jesus goes out and hands himself over to the
betrayer, the destroyer, and in so doing, overcomes the night,
overcomes the darkness of evil. Only in this way is the gift of
the Eucharist, instituted in the Upper Room, fulfilled: Jesus
truly gives his Body and his Blood. Crossing over the threshold
of death, he becomes living Bread, true manna, endless
nourishment for eternity. The flesh becomes the Bread of Life.
In the Holy Thursday procession, the Church accompanies Jesus to
the Mount of Olives: it is the authentic desire of the Church in
prayer to keep watch with Jesus, not to abandon him in the night
of the world, on the night of betrayal, on the night of the
indifference of many people.
On the feast of Corpus Domini, we again go on this procession,
but in the joy of the Resurrection. The Lord is risen and leads
us. In the narrations of the Resurrection there is a common and
essential feature; the angels say: the Lord "goes ahead of you
to Galilee, where you will see him" (Mt 28: 7).
Taking this into deep consideration, we can say that this "going
ahead" of Jesus implies a two-way direction.
The first is, as we have heard, Galilee. In Israel, Galilee was
considered to be the doorway to the pagan world. And in reality,
precisely on the mountain in Galilee, the disciples see Jesus,
the Lord, who tells them: "Go... and make disciples of all the
nations" (Mt 28: 19).
The other preceding direction of the Risen One appears in the
Gospel of St John, in the words of Jesus to Mary Magdalene: "Do
not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father" (Jn 20:
17).
Jesus goes before us next to the Father, rises to the heights of
God and invites us to follow him. These two directions on the
Risen One's journey are not contradictory, for both indicate the
path to follow Christ.
The true purpose of our journey is communion with God. He
himself is the house of many dwelling places (cf. Jn 14: 2ff.);
but we can be elevated to these dwelling places only by going
"towards Galilee", travelling on the pathways of the world,
taking the Gospel to all nations, carrying the gift of his love
to the men and women of all times.
Therefore, the journey of the Apostles extends to the "ends of
the earth" (cf. Acts 1: 6ff.). In this way, Sts Peter and Paul
went all the way to Rome, a city that at that time was the
centre of the known world, the true caput mundi.
The Holy Thursday procession accompanies Jesus in his solitude
towards the via crucis. The Corpus Domini procession responds
instead in a symbolic way to the mandate of the Risen One: I go
before you to Galilee. Go to the extreme ends of the world, take
the Gospel to the world.
Of course, by faith, the Eucharist is an intimate mystery. The
Lord instituted the Sacrament in the Upper Room, surrounded by
his new family, by the 12 Apostles, a prefiguration and
anticipation of the Church of all times.
And so, in the liturgy of the ancient Church, the distribution
of Holy Communion was introduced with the words Sancta sanctis:
the holy gift is intended for those who have been made holy.
In this way a response was given to the exhortation of St Paul
to the Corinthians: "A man should examine himself first; only
then should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup..." (I Cor
11: 28).
Nevertheless, from this intimacy that is a most personal gift of
the Lord, the strength of the Sacrament of the Eucharist goes
above and beyond the walls of our Churches. In this Sacrament,
the Lord is always journeying to meet the world. This universal
aspect of the Eucharistic presence becomes evident in today's
festive procession.
We bring Christ, present under the sign of bread, onto the
streets of our city. We entrust these streets, these homes, our
daily life, to his goodness. May our streets be streets of
Jesus! May our houses be homes for him and with him! May our
life of every day be penetrated by his presence.
With this gesture, let us place under his eyes the sufferings of
the sick, the solitude of young people and the elderly,
temptations, fears - our entire life. The procession represents
an immense and public blessing for our city: Christ is, in
person, the divine Blessing for the world. May the ray of his
blessing extend to us all!
In the Corpus Domini procession, we walk with the Risen One on
his journey to meet the entire world, as we said. By doing
precisely this, we too answer his mandate: "Take, eat... Drink
of it, all of you" (Mt 26: 26ff.).
It is not possible to "eat" the Risen One, present under the
sign of bread, as if it were a simple piece of bread. To eat
this Bread is to communicate, to enter into communion with the
person of the living Lord. This communion, this act of "eating",
is truly an encounter between two persons, it is allowing our
lives to be penetrated by the life of the One who is the Lord,
of the One who is my Creator and Redeemer.
The purpose of this communion, of this partaking, is the
assimilation of my life with his, my transformation and
conformation into he who is living Love. Therefore, this
communion implies adoration, it implies the will to follow
Christ, to follow the One who goes ahead of us. Adoration and
procession thereby make up a single gesture of communion; they
answer his mandate: "Take and eat".
Our procession finishes in front of the Basilica of St Mary
Major in the encounter with Our Lady, called by the dear Pope
John Paul II, "Woman of the Eucharist". Mary, Mother of the
Lord, truly teaches us what entering into communion with Christ
is: Mary offered her own flesh, her own blood to Jesus and
became a living tent of the Word, allowing herself to be
penetrated by his presence in body and spirit.
Let us pray to her, our holy Mother, so that she may help us to
open our entire being, always more, to Christ's presence; so
that she may help us to follow him faithfully, day after day, on
the streets of our life. Amen.
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