CORPUS CHRISTI

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R. I.

 

Deuteronomy 8:2-3

Psalm 116:10-17

I Corinthians 11:23-29

John 6:47-58

 

The feast of Corpus Christi originated in the 13th century as a celebration of Christ’s gift of himself to us in the Holy Eucharist. It’s properly kept on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, but can be transferred to the following Sunday, as we’re doing today.

 

Eight weeks ago, on Maundy Thursday, we celebrated our Lord’s institution of the Sacrament of his Body and Blood at the Last Supper on the night before he died. But so many other themes are competing for our attention during Holy Week, that the Feast of Corpus Christi offers us the opportunity for a second look at this wonderful mystery.

 

The Episcopal Church’s appointed readings for this occasion highlight key aspects of the Holy Eucharist.

 

Together, the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy and the Gospel reading from John, chapter six, compare the sacramental Bread and Wine of the Eucharist with the manna which God provided to the children of Israel during their 40 years’ journey through the wilderness. In the Eucharist, likewise, God gives us bread from heaven. But unlike the manna, this bread and wine give eternal life to those who eat and drink, and God will raise them up on the Last Day.

 

In his First Letter to the Corinthians, St Paul emphasizes that he handed on to them the Eucharistic meal that he also received from the Lord. At the Last Supper, Jesus commanded his disciples to do this in remembrance of him: “For as often as you eat this bread, and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” And so Paul warns the Corinthians against receiving unworthily, and exhorts them to receive only after self-examination, for those who eat and drink without discerning the Lord’s body eat and drink judgment against themselves.

 

So, on one hand, Holy Communion brings great benefits—those who eat this bread will live forever!—but, on the other hand, it requires careful preparation. We need to examine our consciences and repent of our sins before we dare approach the Lord’s table.

 

But the remedy for unworthy reception is not to stay away from the Sacrament, but rather to do whatever we can to be spiritually prepared for it. For gathering to celebrate the Eucharist on the Lord’s Day is the one distinctive activity that identifies us as Christians, members of Christ’s Body, the Church.

 

It’s true that many worthy activities can express our Christian identity and commitment, such as volunteering in various ways to help those less fortunate than ourselves. But most of these activities can be performed equally well by members of other religions or of none. The one thing that sets us apart as Christians is what we’re doing here and now: gathering to break the bread and share the cup in our Lord’s name. Everything else we do as Christians flows from and returns to that.

 

Indeed, the first question that we’re asked in the Baptismal Covenant is this: “Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?” Answer: “I will, with God’s help.” Just think: participating in the Holy Eucharist is something that we made a vow to do at our Baptism. And we fulfill that vow as we gather here, Sunday by Sunday, in the Eucharistic assembly. In this way, we’re able to join with the psalmist in singing: “I will fulfill my vows to the Lord, in the presence of all his people; in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!”

 

During our lifetimes, many of us have seen great changes in the Church’s Eucharistic practice. Within living memory, the Holy Eucharist was celebrated in some Episcopal parishes maybe once or twice a month, with Morning Prayer as the principal service on the other Sundays.

 

Then, under the influence of what was known in the mid-twentieth century as the liturgical movement, the 1979 Prayer Book specified that the Holy Eucharist was to be the Church’s principal act of worship on the Lord’s Day. Moreover, the expectation grew—rightly or wrongly—that every parishioner would normally receive Communion every Sunday. And it just happened that during the 1970s and 1980s we had a chronic oversupply of priests in the Episcopal Church, so there was no problem finding rectors for parishes, and celebrants for at least a weekly Eucharist.

 

Now, some fifty years later, that’s all changed. Here in this parish you know what it’s like to have the Eucharist and Morning Prayer on alternating Sundays because of sharing your priest with another parish. To his credit, our bishop is encouraging the training and licensing of lay worship leaders to officiate at Morning Prayer when no priest is available to celebrate the Eucharist. He regards the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer as a unique gift and vocation of the laity, and a form of worship that congregations can undertake together for worship in the absence of a priest. And he’s right about that.

 

For my part, however, I remain committed to the ideal of the Eucharist in every parish every week on the Lord’s Day. I realize that in many places that’s no longer practicable, but so long as I’m here, I’ll do my best to ensure that it's what happens at Saints Matthew and Mark.

 

Yes, the reality is that there’s a chronic priest shortage. For example, the parish where I was Interim before I came here has now been without a rector for over two years, even though they’ve got a budget to support a priest full time and a beautiful rectory besides. Just a couple of decades ago, they would have had twenty or thirty applicants to choose from. But times have changed.

 

I believe that responding effectively to this current priest shortage requires not only training and licensing lay worship leaders, but also encouraging vocations to the priesthood. We need to be doing everything we can to understand and remove whatever obstacles are preventing people from offering themselves for Holy Orders in the Episcopal Church. If you know any young people who might be attracted in that direction, please, please, please, don’t discourage them!

 

Most of all, we need to pray, and pray hard, that God will call more people into this Church’s ordained priesthood. For that’s the only way that we can continue to enjoy the spiritual benefits of the Eucharistic life that today’s feast holds up for us. Perhaps, then, in the coming weeks and months, we might think about ways to incorporate prayers for an increase of priestly vocations into our life and worship as a parish community.