This past weekend we celebrated the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, along with Memorial Day. One day is on a liturgical calendar; the other on the civil calendar, but both reveal the meaning of love. The Eucharist is God coming to us time and time again to give us His strength and His love; and in those who gave their lives for our freedom, we see those things which make our country so wonderful: love of God, neighbor and country. The soldier fights to protect our freedom, putting his or her life on the line so we can be free. Unfortunately, it can be easy to take both the sacrifice on the altar and on the battlefield for granted, as Memorial Day has become associated more with the BBQ and summer kick-off, and we always have the Eucharist when we go to Mass. We should not feel at all guilty for enjoying a holiday, and so too at Mass can we get distracted; however the challenge is to make sure we never forget how lucky we are for both our freedom and those who have given their lives for it, and for the presence of God in the Body and Blood of our Lord, made present in the bread and wine when we come together at Mass.

I reflected on that this past weekend, and here’s the readings from the day, Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a; Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20; 1 Cor 10:16-17; Jn 6:51-58

http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/052508.shtml

Here’s the homily, that I wrote for the day too.

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One of my courses that I took as an undergrad was a course in film analysis. Two of my friends, big film buffs, were signing up for it so I figured it could be fun. The course had its good and not-so-good parts, but one of the things that we did in that class is watch some films, with the instructor analyzing them in great detail.

One of the movies that we watched was the classic “Citizen Kane,” which some claim to be the greatest film ever made. Now we all have our favorites, and everyone’s list will be different, but I think it is safe to say that most people can look at “Citizen Kane” and agree that it is a remarkable film on so many levels.

Now if we were back in my class at North Hennepin talking about it, we could get into camera angles, and various methods used by Orson Welles as he filmed it, but I’m not much of a film expert, and there is the risk that most of the people might tune out. Rather then get into that stuff though, I’d like to comment on the last word that Charles Foster Kane utters in the movie: “Rosebud.”

We aren’t sure what Rosebud is throughout the movie, but we eventually come to learn that it is the name written on a sled. It was the sled that Kane had when he was a child, and in the movie we have a flashback to Kane’s childhood where he plays in the snow and is happy being alone, because he knows that there is the safety of his parent’s home just a stones throw away. However, his mother has him sent away under the care of a guardian, as he is to inherit a vast fortune when he becomes an adult. He leaves the sled behind, and seemingly has everything now that he could hope for and a bright future under the security of the new guardian, who is much wealthier than his parents.

Over the course of the film, Kane’s empire grows and grows – he runs a huge paper that becomes one of the largest in the country; he gets political ambitions, and surrounds himself with new friends and girlfriends. But it all proves to be an illusion. His friends are fickle; he never has a long-lasting love. And in the end, as an old man at a large Florida mansion, surrounded by a vast collection, his last word is “Rosebud,” because he longs for the love and security he felt as a little boy that was taken away from him.

I think one of the reasons that the film has stood the test of time is because it gets to what our greatest needs are: to not be lonely, and to be loved. Small wonder that so many films are about that human need, because it crosses languages and cultures. And a common theme in those movies about love. No matter whether it’s something like “Finding Nemo” where the father stops at no lengths to find his son, or a beautiful film like “Forrest Gump”, where Forrest will stop at nothing to help the love of his life, Jenny, a theme of so many movies is that when someone loves someone, there is no limit to how far they will go to reach out to them. But we need not go to the video store or set up a VCR timer for Turner Classic Movies the next time a movie with a theme about love comes on to see this in action. No, indeed we need look no further than the two things we celebrate this weekend: The feast of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Memorial Day.

God shows His love to His people in our first reading by giving them manna in the dessert. The Israelites need the nourishment from God to sustain them in their journey, but the manna was given to satisfy their hunger so they could reached their promised land. But even with the manna, and even with the promise of an earthly kingdom that would be their own, there still was death. In the gift given by Christ, however, we are given that which will help us attain what is our heart’s desire: heaven, where we shall be with God forever and never separated from Him. And so, too, in the gift of Himself, does Christ become part of us through the Eucharist, for as we hear today, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.” What is so important to also remember with that is that when we come around this Eucharistic table, we aren’t celebrating just some memory of the past, but rather we say we celebrate Mass because this is Christ coming to us again on the tables of our altars. It is also something we have to do time and time again to maintain our strength, which is why we don’t just celebrate Communion once a year or pray semi-annually. And when He comes to us, ideally it transforms us as well. There are various ways we can do this, one of course receiving Him in the Eucharist, but also by spending time before Him in prayer.

Now of course there are various kinds of spiritualities, and perhaps you feel God’s presence at most when you pray outside on a warm summer night. Or, perhaps it is in the silence of the early morning, or when we read through the
Scriptures or spiritual treasury of our Church. By all means, we should use whatever works, but one thing I would invite us also to consider is spending time before our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. To quote Mother Theresa, “When we look at the cross, we know how much Jesus loved us. When we look at the tabernacle, we know how much Jesus loves us now” Adoration offers us an opportunity to reflect on that love, and also a nice balance to communal worship. If you think about spending time with friends and family together, maybe some of the most memorable and uplifting moments were at big celebrations. But I’d suspect that in those one-on-one encounters, you’ve also had some incredibly powerful moments too. What kid doesn’t remember a special moment alone with mom or dad, or what couple can’t call to mind the moments where it was just the two of them as one of the most powerful of their relationship. The same is true with the life of Christ, in that He too goes off alone to pray; but then He is strengthened by that experience of prayer as He goes about revealing to humanity God’s love. Having visited the chapel I once thanked someone in there for giving of his time, and he shared with me how it was the “best hour of the week for him.” Indeed, it is a peaceful place where remarkable things can happen when you encounter Christ in that way. That is why we are so blessed to have Perpetual Adoration here at Holy Name, and this weekend we invite you to sign up for an hour of your time. I’ll bet you’ll find it very rewarding and wonderful; but know that even if you can’t give a full hour, no problem. Feel free to stop in at anytime, on your way home from Church or to or from work or whenever you would like to, for it is a wonderful experience to encounter God in that way, and hopefully you will find it very peaceful in that little chapel.

But just as one who spends time in that reservation chapel leaves it to go back out into the world, and the peace can seemingly quickly fade, we have to remember that as this day celebrates the gift of Jesus feeding us with His Body and Blood and giving us this incredible gift out of love, we are called as well to follow our Lord by making that love manifest to one another. And I think some of the models we can look to in this world are those men and women who serve our country in the armed forces.

Besides being Corpus Christi Sunday, this is also Memorial Day weekend. It is a time of year many people look forward to, as the unofficial start of summer, lighter schedules, warmer weather, and a three-day weekend. But this should not just be a day to take for granted; rather it is a day where we honor those brave people who gave their lives for this country. Peter Collier, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote an article for last year’s Memorial Day, and in it he speaks of how growing up, figures such as Jimmy Doolittle and John Basilone were household names, because it was assumed that what they had done defined us as well as them, telling us what kind of nation we were. But he points out that today, no one knows the 110 medal recipients or who they are. For instance, we have heard of Pat Tillman, the hero who left the NFL to serve his country and lost his life, and he was posthumoniously awarded the Medal of Honor. But also awarded that long with him was Marine Corporal Jason Dunham, the “unknown soldier.” His story was placed on the third page of section B of the New York Times, which devoted 32 straight days to covering Abu Gharib prison in Iraq and the members of the army who made mistakes, but felt the B section was the place for the Medal of Honor information. And he says, rightfully, that there is something wrong with the fact we don’t know who these heroes of our day and age are anymore. I’m inclined to agree, for as he closes his article, he states that the only reason we are the land of the free is because we are the home of the brave.

Most people would look at a soldier and see an example of the virtue of fortitude, but indeed, just as Christ showed us how to love, so too do so many soldiers who serve this country, seen by the men and women who have shed their blood so that we may enjoy our freedom. But incredibly, so many show us what the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ is all about as well – Christ’s love for you and for me, and indeed for all of humanity. Take for instance the story of Desmond Doss, who was a conscientious objector who entered the army in 1942, becoming a medic. Initially he was intimidated and threatened by the other guys in his outfit because he would not carry a weapon. They wanted him out of the unit. But he refused, and they finally accepted him. Late in 1945, this seeming liability to the unit became its hero, as his unit was pinned down in Okinawa getting cut to pieces by the Japanese. All the guys in his outfit retreated, but not Doss. He kept going back to a rocky plateau where dozens of his wounded brothers remained, vulnerable to the Japanese forces. But despite facing enemy fire, Doss kept going back out there time and time again to treat the wounded, and move them one by one to an escarpment where they could be lowered down to safety. Each time he got one of the guys out, he apparently said a prayer: “Dear God, please let me get just one more man.” By days end, 75 had been saved because of this man’s valor. Similar stories of valor are shared by countless other women and men who have served our nation.

In a sense, I think similar words are uttered to us in the voice of God when we come before Him in our prayer, such as when you go into that little chapel behind me and encounter our Lord; for as Doss went out onto that battle zone under fire, our God comes to us too no matter where we are at, be it at a great point in our life or when we are under the daily fire of stress, anxiety, and find it hard to cope. Time and time again, our God reaches out to us, all we have to do is reach out to Him and take His loving hand and He will lead us home.

Charles Foster Kane wasn’t able to take anyone’s hand in the in the film, dying a lonely man while spending a lifetime trying to find the love that he had lost as a young boy. So many of us on our earthly journey do the same, but hopefully we never forget that right in front of us every day, that love is there. On this Memorial Day and Corpus Christi weekend, hopefully we can look to our God in the Eucharist, and invite Him into our hearts and realize that we can come before Him anytime too. But so too my hope is we can look in our world and see God’s love at work, learning something as well by those who serve their country and those who gave their life for it in how they, like Christ, shed their blood out of love others. Thank God for the Eucharist, and for the men and women who gave their lives for our freedom. May we never take either for granted, and show our love for both as they both show us what love is all about.