By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
Archbishop Thomas Wenski preached this homily at the graduation for the School of Lay Formation classes of 2020 and 2021, celebrated on the vigil of the feast of Corpus Christi, June 5, 2021, at St. Mary Cathedral, Miami.
“Is not the cup we bless a sharing in the Blood of Christ?
“Is not the break we break a sharing in the Body of Christ?”
“¿No es la copa que bendecimos una participación en la Sangre de Cristo?
“¿No es el pan que partimos una participación en el Cuerpo de Cristo? "
Congratulations to our School of Ministry Graduates! Felicidades a todos! Thank you for your commitment to formation even during these months of the pandemic. Your studies – and your prayers – have brought you to a deeper appreciation of the fact that through baptism “we are the body of Christ.” And so, it is fitting that we celebrate your graduation at a Mass – and at this Mass in particular in which we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
The bread Jesus gives us is his very self. When we eat ordinary food, what we eat is broken down and becomes part of us. But Jesus gives us the extraordinary food of his very flesh and blood. We eat and drink this food so that we can become part of him. We receive him in Holy Communion not only so that he can live in us and become part of us but so that we can live in him and become part of him.
We eat the Body of Christ to become what we receive.
El amor es un negocio arriesgado. Arriesga rechazo; arriesga traición; el amor arriesga no ser valorado. Gracias a Dios, el amor de Dios no calcula por qué hemos sido tan pobre inversión: ¿quién de nosotros puede decir que no ha rechazado el amor de Dios en algún momento?; ¿quién de nosotros puede decir que no lo ha traicionado o que siempre ha sabido valorarlo?
Existe ese proverbio, “lo que se tiene no se aprecia”. Y quizás la pandemia que nos privó por un tiempo de la oportunidad de encontrarnos como una comunidad y de participar en la Misa, nos llevó a saber valorar aún más este maravilloso regalo que es el Santísimo Sacramento del altar.
El corazón del culto cristiano, la fuente y la cumbre de nuestra vida como cristianos católicos, es el Sacrificio de Jesucristo hecho presente sacramentalmente en la Eucaristía. Nuestra creencia en la Presencia Real de Cristo en el Santísimo Sacramento es lo que nos hace católicos.
The Eucharist is a mystery of communion. Communion simply means participation, a sharing: What is mine is yours, what is yours is mine. Jesus on the Cross takes upon himself what is truly ours to give us what is truly his. And what is truly ours, what do we truly own – nothing except for our sins, our misery. And what a wonderful exchange indeed do we receive: Christ takes our sins, our misery and gives us his holiness, his perfection.
Oh, Sacrament Most Holy! O Sacrament Divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine!
¡Oh, Santísimo Sacramento! ¡Oh, Sacramento Divino! ¡Toda alabanza y toda acción de gracias sea tuya en todo momento!
