DID IT WORK OUT?
A
few years ago, the Queen of England was visiting the “English Market” in Cork
and stopped at the fish monger. “How are you?” she asked him, and he replied,
“To tell you the honest truth, Mam, I’ve never been so nervous since the day I was
married!” Totally un-baffled, the Queen then asked him, “And did it work out?”
A
great moment and an interesting question! Often we will meet someone and they
will have reason to say, “I am a Methodist.” “I am a Seventh Day.” “I am a
Catholic.” One might be drawn to ask, “and is it working out?” There could be a
brief answer to that or a more thoughtful one.
This
week-end some Christians celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, a religious festival going back hundreds of
years. The priest used to move through the streets and the fields with the Sacrament, linking up the life of the
people with life of God. But is this link, this ‘marriage’ (see the prophet
Hosea) of God and his people working out?
On
this festival we celebrate our relationship with God who is gently approaching
us. He started where we were – with our sacrifices of bullocks and heifers
(Exodus 24) and made it a sign of his covenant with us. And when the time had
come he took some bread and a cup of wine and made them direct signs of his own
sacrifice of his life. Finally he was arrested, tortured and killed.
The
bonding, the marriage, became progressively deeper so as “to purify our inner
selves” (Hebrews 9). And God still comes to meet us in our “flesh,” in our
humanity. When he held up the bread he did not say, “This is my Spirit.” Or
this is a spiritual sign. He simply said, “This is my Body, this is my Blood.”
We know what blood is, what a body is. We know we are both solid and liquid, things
we can see and touch. They are signs of all we can do with our bodies and our
minds. God has come to us in these qualities. He has “become” them. He grew up
in Nazareth and learned how to use his body and how to use his mind.
The
Catholic Church has a strong tradition of physical touch; not just pouring
water for baptism and blessing bread and wine, but also anointing the sick with
oil, laying hands on a person to be ordained and surrounding marriage with rituals
and paperwork. We see the mission of Jesus as physical as well as spiritual.
So, by extension, we are deeply interested in “matter.”
We
are concerned with how a person lives: whether they are employed and if they
are employed whether they are paid, what their streets are like, their schools
and their hospitals. It is not enough to just say our prayers. We are not simply spirits; we are also
bodies. And our bodies have needs. And when Jesus says “This is my Body” he is
saying “I give you my humanity so that your humanity may grow and come to
perfection.” This may come about through education, success in work and other
achievements. But it may also come about through suffering, illness,
frustration or disappointment.
In
one sense it doesn’t matter how it comes about as long as it happens. Jesus was
rejected, tortured and killed. But he still achieved his purpose. St Paul says
in the 8th chapter of Romans, “Everything works together for the
good of those who love God.” So, you are no better off if you are a successful
business man or a powerful politician, or if, on the other hand, you are poor
or are living with a profound mental disability and can achieve “nothing” in
life.
In
the community of l’Arche in Waterfalls, Harare, you will find Enoch. He lives
with a disability but he is a truly happy person. He will welcome you with a
big smile and take a firm hold of your arm. He is someone very close to God. On
the other hand you may meet someone who has a big car and a large house but who
is constantly watching for his position or his wealth and is anxious.
7 June 2015 Corpus
Christi
Exodus 24:3-8 Hebrews
9:11-15 Mark 14:
12-18,22-26
