Corpus Christi Sunday
(Gospel According to Mark 14:12-16, 22-26)
The people of the God in the Old Testament make sacrifices in order to give their presents to the Lord. Those sacrifices are to
make amends, to atone, to give thanks, to adore and to worship. And in that worship ... Sila ay may pinapatay na hayop: goats, lambs, to make that sacrifice to the Lord. And it was the sacrifice approved by the law of Moses.
In that sacrifice, when the people offered their sacrifice; they received the assurance from God that He will be always be with them. And they will be His people and he will be with them. And that is the assurance; the convenant between God and the People. That is why they have to fulfill religiously: the offering of the sacrifice.
Now when Jesus came... By the sacrifice during the Old Testament was a "bloody" sacrifice. Kaya it was very messy. Kasi yung altar is filled with blood and there are dead victims of the sacrifice. It is very messy. And when our Lord came, we the people belong to the people of the new testament - That is the people who accepted Christ as savior. People who are baptized and who become members of this Church. So we are called the new people of God. The people of God of the New Testament; we are called to be the new Jerusalem. The members of the Church of the new Jerusalem.
So sa atin under the new people of God of the New Testament because we don't totally repeat the sacrifices made by Moses, or the people of the Old Testament. But as Jesus has said we are not to abolish the Mosaic Law but retained in order to perfect the law. So Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.
We believe that the body of Jesus Christ is there in the celebration of the Eucharist: the bread and wine, that were offered material as sacrifice during the mass this become truly the body and blood of Jesus. The word is in theology as Transubstantiation. It was the substance of the bread and wine is there but these had transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus Christ by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit words are spoken during the Consecration and these magic words are the words Jesus has said; had mentioned in the Gospel, "Take and eat, this is my body. Take this cup and drink from it because this is my blood"
Mayroon isang theologian, si Don Han sinabi nya: The words uttered by the Lord were really meant to tell us that it was the Lord Himself, who uttered these words and these world could not mean symbols for us. Words as spoken but these words do not tell us that the body and blood are not just symbols. According to this theologian, if this was the intention of Jesus that giving the bread and wine in this Eucharist and His intentions was to only give us the symbols, Chirst must have spoken about it. Sana minention din ni Jesus heto.
But he did not mention that the bread and wine are just symbols of His Body and Blood. What Jesus has said in the gospel is that and I read from this gospel today while they were eating: He took a bread. and said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them and said. Take it this is my body.
Kung symbolical lang yung bread na yan, sana sinabi ni Jesus na Take it as a symbol of but he did not say that . He said this is my body. Then he took the cup, give thanks and gave it to them and they all drank from it and he said to them. This is my blood of the new covenant which will be shed for the many.
So here we are, we take the words of our Lord as a powerful words coming from the lips of Jesus Himself. And these are the power of the words of Jesus transforming the bread and wine into His own body and blood. As Catholics we all believe in these. There may be some questions like for example:
How come if what we take on Holy Communion; what we recieved during Holy Communion is the body and blood of Jesus Bakit walang pagbabago sa akin? Ano ba ang power ng body and blood of our Lord? If we take the body and blood of our Lord, we are supposed to be with one-headness ibig sabihin nun kung ano ang ginawa ni Kristo; ano ang iniisip ni Kristo ay matanggap natin sa Holy Communion. Yung ating pag-iisip ay dapat kapareho ng pag-iisip ni Kristo. At ang kanyang mga gawain ay dapat ganoon rin ang ating ginagawa.
My Brothers and Sisters, the words spoken here are not magic words. Hindi naman pagtumanggap ka ng ganito magbabgo ka agad. Hindi nga magic, ang tinapay maging bato o ang tubig maging dugo. The words of Jesus are not magic words. These are true words coming out from the Lord Himself but these are not magic words.
Because the consecration of the Body and Blood of the Bread and Wine are not magical but it is theological. That is within the accordance with the minds of Christ who we recieve during the sacrament of Holy Eucharist.
Kung minsan many don't feel at all to recieve the Holy Communion? Kasi sa Holy Communion may mga conditions yan. First of all yung preparation natin. In order to recieve the Holy Communion, we have to prepare ourselves. We have to do some cleansing. To top it all, we have to have reconciliation with God, and reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. So pag gumusto mong tumanggap anytime; you have to prepare yourselves.
So a lot of us, we think of the mass and the communion may be because they have their own reason. Just like this simple story. May isang anthropologist who went to Africa. He did immersion in one tribe. Doon nakita niya ang kanilang pamumuhay. Wala silang modern gadgets. Wala silang timepiece. Yung sundial kailangan nila doon. Wala silang mga watches to indicate the time of the day. So naisip ng anthropologist na ito when he comes back to his country - I will give gift to these people. Bigyan ko sila ng gift ng sundial So he sent the gift to the tribe; to the people and the people are very happy. So they treasured the gift so much at gusto nila so much na kanilang prineserve. So ang ginawa nila tinago nila yung sundial. Pero alam po natin na hindi makapag-indicate ng time ang sundial kung hindi mo itapat sa sunlight. So yun yung ginawa nila sa gift nila. They preserved it and haven't used that in that way. It was a mistaken understanding of the purpose. The gift became meaningless.
Ganito rin po ito, iniwan ni Kristo ang Holy Eucharist sa atin pero many of us dont understand and appreciate it. It defeats the value of Christ. He left it for our salvation that's why he left it from us. But many of us, although baptize in the Church because of reason to another ; hindi natin ginamit yung gift of Christ kaya we just dont care kung makapag-simba o hindi makapag-simba. We seldom received Holy Communion because we do not appreciate the body and blood's value. The value is vety precious. The precious value that God gives us because it is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
My dear brothers and sisters. when we recieved Holy Communion; when received it by our tongue let us remember that is also a convenant. It only means also that we should be careful in using our tongue because it involves the power of our speech. How many times we utter words that are obscene before the Lord? How many times have we hurt our neighbor? How many times we have destroyed it the good name of others? We lose our tongue in that way. Which is not intended for that. So when we recieved the Lord in our tongue look what happens? When we received the Lord with our hands; remember also that our hands are given to us as a way of doing the work. Each one of us has been called to pursue this kind of work to continue Christ's mission . Kaya nga we have our feet and our hands; our speech; our hearts; so that we can continue his mission.
So as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, let us remember that this is the gift the Lord has given to us. So that in the process of our journey we will never run out of supply. The spirituals supply, the spiritual good as we journey in life and let us also remembered that the body and blood in the eucharist is also our way of renewing the convenant with God. God has instittuted this convenant to redeem us. The convenant throughout time but we have to be His people. Through this convenant God will be always be with us... God will always to continue to be with us.
Homily of:
Rev. Msgr. Domingo P. Erfe
Anticipated Sunday Mass 6:00 PM
St. Michael Chapel
2F Trinoma Mall, Quezon City
(Gospel According to Mark 14:12-16, 22-26)
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| grabbed from: http://4.bp.blogspot.com |
The people of the God in the Old Testament make sacrifices in order to give their presents to the Lord. Those sacrifices are to
make amends, to atone, to give thanks, to adore and to worship. And in that worship ... Sila ay may pinapatay na hayop: goats, lambs, to make that sacrifice to the Lord. And it was the sacrifice approved by the law of Moses.
In that sacrifice, when the people offered their sacrifice; they received the assurance from God that He will be always be with them. And they will be His people and he will be with them. And that is the assurance; the convenant between God and the People. That is why they have to fulfill religiously: the offering of the sacrifice.
Now when Jesus came... By the sacrifice during the Old Testament was a "bloody" sacrifice. Kaya it was very messy. Kasi yung altar is filled with blood and there are dead victims of the sacrifice. It is very messy. And when our Lord came, we the people belong to the people of the new testament - That is the people who accepted Christ as savior. People who are baptized and who become members of this Church. So we are called the new people of God. The people of God of the New Testament; we are called to be the new Jerusalem. The members of the Church of the new Jerusalem.
So sa atin under the new people of God of the New Testament because we don't totally repeat the sacrifices made by Moses, or the people of the Old Testament. But as Jesus has said we are not to abolish the Mosaic Law but retained in order to perfect the law. So Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Law of Moses.
We believe that the body of Jesus Christ is there in the celebration of the Eucharist: the bread and wine, that were offered material as sacrifice during the mass this become truly the body and blood of Jesus. The word is in theology as Transubstantiation. It was the substance of the bread and wine is there but these had transubstantiated into the body and blood of Jesus Christ by the Power of the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit words are spoken during the Consecration and these magic words are the words Jesus has said; had mentioned in the Gospel, "Take and eat, this is my body. Take this cup and drink from it because this is my blood"
Mayroon isang theologian, si Don Han sinabi nya: The words uttered by the Lord were really meant to tell us that it was the Lord Himself, who uttered these words and these world could not mean symbols for us. Words as spoken but these words do not tell us that the body and blood are not just symbols. According to this theologian, if this was the intention of Jesus that giving the bread and wine in this Eucharist and His intentions was to only give us the symbols, Chirst must have spoken about it. Sana minention din ni Jesus heto.
But he did not mention that the bread and wine are just symbols of His Body and Blood. What Jesus has said in the gospel is that and I read from this gospel today while they were eating: He took a bread. and said the blessing, broke it and gave it to them and said. Take it this is my body.
Kung symbolical lang yung bread na yan, sana sinabi ni Jesus na Take it as a symbol of but he did not say that . He said this is my body. Then he took the cup, give thanks and gave it to them and they all drank from it and he said to them. This is my blood of the new covenant which will be shed for the many.
So here we are, we take the words of our Lord as a powerful words coming from the lips of Jesus Himself. And these are the power of the words of Jesus transforming the bread and wine into His own body and blood. As Catholics we all believe in these. There may be some questions like for example:
How come if what we take on Holy Communion; what we recieved during Holy Communion is the body and blood of Jesus Bakit walang pagbabago sa akin? Ano ba ang power ng body and blood of our Lord? If we take the body and blood of our Lord, we are supposed to be with one-headness ibig sabihin nun kung ano ang ginawa ni Kristo; ano ang iniisip ni Kristo ay matanggap natin sa Holy Communion. Yung ating pag-iisip ay dapat kapareho ng pag-iisip ni Kristo. At ang kanyang mga gawain ay dapat ganoon rin ang ating ginagawa.
My Brothers and Sisters, the words spoken here are not magic words. Hindi naman pagtumanggap ka ng ganito magbabgo ka agad. Hindi nga magic, ang tinapay maging bato o ang tubig maging dugo. The words of Jesus are not magic words. These are true words coming out from the Lord Himself but these are not magic words.
Because the consecration of the Body and Blood of the Bread and Wine are not magical but it is theological. That is within the accordance with the minds of Christ who we recieve during the sacrament of Holy Eucharist.
Kung minsan many don't feel at all to recieve the Holy Communion? Kasi sa Holy Communion may mga conditions yan. First of all yung preparation natin. In order to recieve the Holy Communion, we have to prepare ourselves. We have to do some cleansing. To top it all, we have to have reconciliation with God, and reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. So pag gumusto mong tumanggap anytime; you have to prepare yourselves.
So a lot of us, we think of the mass and the communion may be because they have their own reason. Just like this simple story. May isang anthropologist who went to Africa. He did immersion in one tribe. Doon nakita niya ang kanilang pamumuhay. Wala silang modern gadgets. Wala silang timepiece. Yung sundial kailangan nila doon. Wala silang mga watches to indicate the time of the day. So naisip ng anthropologist na ito when he comes back to his country - I will give gift to these people. Bigyan ko sila ng gift ng sundial So he sent the gift to the tribe; to the people and the people are very happy. So they treasured the gift so much at gusto nila so much na kanilang prineserve. So ang ginawa nila tinago nila yung sundial. Pero alam po natin na hindi makapag-indicate ng time ang sundial kung hindi mo itapat sa sunlight. So yun yung ginawa nila sa gift nila. They preserved it and haven't used that in that way. It was a mistaken understanding of the purpose. The gift became meaningless.
Ganito rin po ito, iniwan ni Kristo ang Holy Eucharist sa atin pero many of us dont understand and appreciate it. It defeats the value of Christ. He left it for our salvation that's why he left it from us. But many of us, although baptize in the Church because of reason to another ; hindi natin ginamit yung gift of Christ kaya we just dont care kung makapag-simba o hindi makapag-simba. We seldom received Holy Communion because we do not appreciate the body and blood's value. The value is vety precious. The precious value that God gives us because it is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
My dear brothers and sisters. when we recieved Holy Communion; when received it by our tongue let us remember that is also a convenant. It only means also that we should be careful in using our tongue because it involves the power of our speech. How many times we utter words that are obscene before the Lord? How many times have we hurt our neighbor? How many times we have destroyed it the good name of others? We lose our tongue in that way. Which is not intended for that. So when we recieved the Lord in our tongue look what happens? When we received the Lord with our hands; remember also that our hands are given to us as a way of doing the work. Each one of us has been called to pursue this kind of work to continue Christ's mission . Kaya nga we have our feet and our hands; our speech; our hearts; so that we can continue his mission.
So as we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, let us remember that this is the gift the Lord has given to us. So that in the process of our journey we will never run out of supply. The spirituals supply, the spiritual good as we journey in life and let us also remembered that the body and blood in the eucharist is also our way of renewing the convenant with God. God has instittuted this convenant to redeem us. The convenant throughout time but we have to be His people. Through this convenant God will be always be with us... God will always to continue to be with us.
Homily of:
Rev. Msgr. Domingo P. Erfe
Anticipated Sunday Mass 6:00 PM
St. Michael Chapel
2F Trinoma Mall, Quezon City
Napakagandang pagpapahayag..which is so true nowadays. Salamat sa iyong pagbabahagi, minsan kelangan nating maliwanagan kung ano ba talaga ang tunay na mensahe ng pagpapakatao ng Panginoong Hesus para sa atin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing..:)
Thank you also for reading my blog :-)
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