Feast of Corpus Christi
Today at the 7:30 a.m. Mass, Fr. Edward of Sri Lanka celebrated and spoke. He reminded us of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist--and of the "inside out" joy that we therefore possess.
He described this fact in an example using a little boy given some ice cream. The little boy claps his hands, stamps his feet in glee, and eats the ice cream with extreme delight! The joy is inside and shows on the outside, thus "inside-out-joy".
I looked around me as he spoke, still very much listening. A fat elderly woman in the pew before mine turned and scowled at her adult daughter. She muttered something about how long Father was speaking. I wondered if after receiving the Real Body and Blood of Christ a short time hence, would she have then the inside-out-joy?
I thought about the one with whom I shared the group study-discussion ideas yesterday. I wondered why he jabbed at me on all kinds of points, and has for the past few months, to the conclusion that I no longer want to converse with him. Whatever inside-out-joy I possessed regarding forging forth with the ideas, had nearly been smudged and dampened.
Yet, why? Why should I allow the inside-out-joy of Jesus' Body and Blood in me, most days twice received, be hindered simply from my reaction to another's reaction to my action? No, I must not let anyone grab the butterfly wings; it is my responsibility to fly with confidence and inside-out-joy.
In fact, I look at my physical pain and attitude therein, and how often I react to the pain with negativity--understandable as that might be. But where is the inside-out-joy of Jesus in me? Where is the inside-out-joy then?
It is still there, within me. But I must be the one who darkens the joy of the Real Presence, of the fleshly gift of God's love to me in the Eucharist, with my lack of cooperation and weakened striving to clap my hands and stamp my feet with delight as a result of Who is truly in me, indeed in me, really there.
I thought about the elderly Methodist woman I visited on Friday. She has never tasted the Eucharist, yet she exhibits peace and wisdom and at least a strength and equanimity of soul, if not inside-out-joy--and perhaps this at times, too.
So, there must be something that is required of the recipient. We Catholics should have quite the advantage and should be clapping our hands and stamping our feet and eating Jesus with delight and inside-out-joy. Does it have to do with awareness? With a kind of knowledge and effort, inside and out? I suppose we must think about what we are eating, and Who has given Himself to us, and why, and what would and should be our reactions.
The fat elderly lady received the Real Body and Blood of Christ and waddled out prior to the conclusion of Mass. No inside-out-joy in evidence on her face; no smile, no sparkling eyes, no evidence of anything but heaviness in body and demeanor.
The one with whom I shared ideas yesterday does not exhibit inside-out-joy, either. Not that I have really seen. Surely he does sometimes, though. Maybe the elderly lady does, too. Maybe over manufactured ice cream, surely, as it does taste sweet and cold on a hot day.
Jesus expects and desires us to have inside-out-joy on hot days without ice cream, and on cold days without steamy cocoa. We must learn to have inside-out-joy because He is in us in the Eucharist, and for that glorious reason alone, if nothing else.
Yes, I must keep flying and make sure no one grabs my butterfly wings. No negativities of reactions of others, no negativities of my human reaction to frustrations, pain, and weariness.
No negativities about fat elderly women who grumble about one of the most inspirational homilies about the Body and Blood of Christ and Father's Day, as well--just prayers and effort and gratitude for the Eucharist and for the actual grace available to me for that inside-out-joy which every Catholic should exude in hand-clapping, foot-stamping gleeful delight, no matter what grubby fingers of life try to grab anyone's butterfly wings, or attempts to snatch the reality of Jesus in us away.
He described this fact in an example using a little boy given some ice cream. The little boy claps his hands, stamps his feet in glee, and eats the ice cream with extreme delight! The joy is inside and shows on the outside, thus "inside-out-joy".
I looked around me as he spoke, still very much listening. A fat elderly woman in the pew before mine turned and scowled at her adult daughter. She muttered something about how long Father was speaking. I wondered if after receiving the Real Body and Blood of Christ a short time hence, would she have then the inside-out-joy?
I thought about the one with whom I shared the group study-discussion ideas yesterday. I wondered why he jabbed at me on all kinds of points, and has for the past few months, to the conclusion that I no longer want to converse with him. Whatever inside-out-joy I possessed regarding forging forth with the ideas, had nearly been smudged and dampened.
Yet, why? Why should I allow the inside-out-joy of Jesus' Body and Blood in me, most days twice received, be hindered simply from my reaction to another's reaction to my action? No, I must not let anyone grab the butterfly wings; it is my responsibility to fly with confidence and inside-out-joy.
In fact, I look at my physical pain and attitude therein, and how often I react to the pain with negativity--understandable as that might be. But where is the inside-out-joy of Jesus in me? Where is the inside-out-joy then?
It is still there, within me. But I must be the one who darkens the joy of the Real Presence, of the fleshly gift of God's love to me in the Eucharist, with my lack of cooperation and weakened striving to clap my hands and stamp my feet with delight as a result of Who is truly in me, indeed in me, really there.
I thought about the elderly Methodist woman I visited on Friday. She has never tasted the Eucharist, yet she exhibits peace and wisdom and at least a strength and equanimity of soul, if not inside-out-joy--and perhaps this at times, too.
So, there must be something that is required of the recipient. We Catholics should have quite the advantage and should be clapping our hands and stamping our feet and eating Jesus with delight and inside-out-joy. Does it have to do with awareness? With a kind of knowledge and effort, inside and out? I suppose we must think about what we are eating, and Who has given Himself to us, and why, and what would and should be our reactions.
The fat elderly lady received the Real Body and Blood of Christ and waddled out prior to the conclusion of Mass. No inside-out-joy in evidence on her face; no smile, no sparkling eyes, no evidence of anything but heaviness in body and demeanor.
The one with whom I shared ideas yesterday does not exhibit inside-out-joy, either. Not that I have really seen. Surely he does sometimes, though. Maybe the elderly lady does, too. Maybe over manufactured ice cream, surely, as it does taste sweet and cold on a hot day.
Jesus expects and desires us to have inside-out-joy on hot days without ice cream, and on cold days without steamy cocoa. We must learn to have inside-out-joy because He is in us in the Eucharist, and for that glorious reason alone, if nothing else.
Yes, I must keep flying and make sure no one grabs my butterfly wings. No negativities of reactions of others, no negativities of my human reaction to frustrations, pain, and weariness.
No negativities about fat elderly women who grumble about one of the most inspirational homilies about the Body and Blood of Christ and Father's Day, as well--just prayers and effort and gratitude for the Eucharist and for the actual grace available to me for that inside-out-joy which every Catholic should exude in hand-clapping, foot-stamping gleeful delight, no matter what grubby fingers of life try to grab anyone's butterfly wings, or attempts to snatch the reality of Jesus in us away.
posted by The Catholic Hermit | 7:42 AM
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