The Solemnity of the Body & Blood of Christ | June 14, 2020

See today’s readings here. Video recordings of the Sunday evening Mass, where Fr. Brian regularly preaches, are available on Facebook at Delaware Koinonia. The archive of all of Fr. Brian’s homilies can be found here: Salesian Sermons

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Do you all remember the excitement we possessed as we entered a new decade?

The promise that was contained in a new year.  

I remember all of the social media posts reflecting on the decade past, describing the hope for the decade to come.

Well friends, I am officially over 2020

I mean three days in we almost had a global conflict with Iran

Then Australia caught on fire, as Puerto Rico was rocked with earthquakes.

We had a trial for our sitting President that only heightened our partisan divisions.

Then we had a pandemic that has killed 110,000 people here in this country, with thousands more dying each week.

Followed by a complete economic collapse that we have not even begun to recover from.

And now, our long history of racism has once again reared its ugly head forcing a national reckoning with the truth that the color of one’s skin continues to define how one experiences this nation

And like each of us, my own world has been turned upside down by these global events.

So I have to be honest, I read this 1st reading and had a very different reaction than usual.  I guess I really empathized with the Israelietes.  

Like seriously, how did the Israelites do it for 40 years?  I am ready to throw in the towel after 6 months.

How did they make it through the desert?

How did they survive the serpents and scorpions, the hunger and thirst?

And how did they do it, year after year after year?

Now I know the answer to my questions is right there in the reading.  God was with them.  And the Old Testament is full of the dramatic signs and wonders used to prove the point that God is on the side of His people.

Seas parted and plagues unleashed.  Water springing from rocks and manna descending from heaven.

But what about us?  Where are our signs?  

What does it look like for God to remain with us?

Where is God in the midst of so much turmoil, chaos, and pain?

And this is where I return to the Feast we celebrate this day.  The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ.

For the answer to my question.  The answer to my prayer is found in this mystery we call the Body of Christ.

For in each and every moment of these last 6 months, I have experienced Christ alive and at work in us, the body of Christ.

And yes, though each of us bears our share of brokenness.  Even though we are filled with anxiety, pain and fear.  Our God gathers all these broken pieces and makes them one whole.  Giving life to the world through His Son.  Giving life to the world through us.

So though we may all collectively still be in the desert.  Our God is still raining down manna from above.

Settling among us in the form of a church full of parishoners all wearing masks to keep one another safe and in tech crews working to make sure we stay connected even when we cannot be in this space.

In the form of health care workers walking into ICU’s each day and fighting for the lives of their patients and in school children who kept learning and teachers who kept teaching against all odds.

In the form of activists drawing our national attention to the fact that we need to change and in the humility of average women and men going I need to listen and I am willing to be uncomfortable to grow.  

In the form of parents setting up tents of couch cushions in the living room and neighbors sharing lemonade on their porches and communities honk in celebration to mark a friend’s retirement.

In the countless acts of gentleness and forgiveness, compassion and generosity, courage and vulnerability.

And though the journey ahead may still seem so uncertain and treacherous. Though we may still bear the fear and anxiety that comes with walking through the desert.  We keep walking forward.  As people of hope. For we know that one day, we all, as one body, shall step together into that promised land.

May God be Praised.