18/06/2006 - THE BODY and BLOOD OF CHRIST - Year B
First Reading Exodus 24:3-8 Psalm 115/116
Second Reading Hebrews 9:11-15 Gospel Mark 14:12-16:22-26
You shall not kill! Occasionally, unfortunately, someone does take his own
life. This is a most grave sin: it's as if to tell God that He was wrong in
creating us. We are not the masters of our life, which was given to us to give
glory to the Father and to serve and honour His Son, Jesus! However, we cannot
judge those who kill themselves: we do not know what negative forces play a
part, how violent the temptations, or how heavy the weight of someone's physical
illnesses, and how weak the will and resistance get, under pressure.
We place blame on no one; instead, we ask God's forgiveness and His salvation,
even for those who may choose such extreme measures. We must say, especially
to the young, that suicide is a grave sin which offends God and man. How much
suffering suicide brings to our relatives, our neighbours, our friends and the
whole community! The climate surrounding a suicide speaks by itself: it tells
how grave this sin is. Should we know of anyone who is tempted to commit this
sin, we must do all we can to help him/her. We must help, not only by human
and practical support but, above all, we must help them to pray, to ask God's
blessing; perhaps, even, ask for exorcism, because the temptation to suicide
certainly comes from evil, and it is then that by fixations and violent oppressions,
evil will succeeds in rendering the heart of man a slave.
The Commandment "You shall not kill" binds us to love and to live
the other Commandment of God, in all its dimensions: "Love your neighbour
as yourself". We love the neighbour who suffers and the one who is well,
above all, by helping him to come to know Jesus, the true Saviour, the only
One who makes us understand the deepest meaning of life, fills our life with
joy and takes us to the Father, who awaits us!
Today's three Readings, and the Psalm, speak of sacrifice and of blood. Moses,
with the sacrificial blood, sprinkles the altar build with twelve rocks, and
then, sprinkles the people. The altar, symbol of the presence of God, and the
people, are bathed with the same blood. This is how the alliance was established.
The letter to the Hebrews still speaks of blood and alliance, of purification
and sanctification; but speaks of a different blood, not that of the lamb slaughtered
at the temple in Jerusalem. It is the blood of Christ, sacrifice and priest
at a time, which does not come into the temple, where there is only a sign of
the presence of God; yet, before God Himself! Jesus offered His own blood, He
offered His own life and, in so doing, He formed a new alliance which obtained,
for us, purification and sanctification. He spoke of this alliance Himself at
the Pascal feast, as He praised the Father and gave the cup of wine to His Apostles.
Alliance! It is one of the most beautiful and binding words which resound in
the Holy Scriptures.
It is the word that binds God, Himself, to us! He saw the substantial inability
of men to be faithful, and therefore, in His great love, He binds Himself completely,
non-stop, to them. With His blood, Jesus guarantees this faith of the Father's!
The disciples probably understood little at the Supper, of what their Lord said
and did. Neither can we grasp all the dimension of this gesture. We can only
skim the surface of these realities, but we receive the fullness of its fruit!
Today, we have an attitude of adoration before this Master, wishing that He
would accomplish great transformations in our lives and the lives of the community.
This is why we carry Him with us out on the streets, in front of the doors of
our homes.
Today, in Christian countries, in fact, after the Mass, the faithful walk all
together carrying the Eucharistic Bread and singing praises of the love of Jesus.
In so doing, our every being is made to understand the absolute importance of
the communion, which the presence of the Lord establishes in us.
Those rights, which usually manage to ruin and destroy the community, which
sweep away the glory of God from our hearts and from the garden, which is our
world, are no longer important! Today, during the procession, may those sentiments,
which often separate us, disappear from our hearts! We carry with us the Sacrament
of unity, the Sacrament of our communion with God and of our community with
our brothers. In our daily tasks, let us remember that this is important and
will remain forever true, and this is what helps us to overcome all obstacles
to our brotherhood. The Sacrament of the Blood of Christ keeps us in communion
with the Father and makes us blood brothers, brothers united through the Blood
of the Lord!
Let us pray and praise that our selfishness will not place new obstacles to
the communion which God wishes to accomplish, through us, so that He may give
new signs of His love and His presence to the world!