Homily for Corpus Christi Sunday by Barbara Glatthorn MSW CSW:
The Scriptures and, Jesus in particular, use a lot of stories or parables set in the material world that could be tasted, touched, heard, and seen to point to a deeper spiritual reality – to attribute characteristics to God, the Divine Transcendent Mystery. But from the perspective of the science that we have available to us today, nature in and of itself reveals the Divine, not just by metaphoric comparison, but rather in terms of what we know to be true about the universe and our planet Earth. Nature also reveals to us who we are in terms of the whole of reality. In other words, creation reveals the Creator. St. Augustine said in his time that: Nature is the first revelation of the Divine. It’s just that at the present time we know so much more about the universe that there are far greater revelations to be had than were possible for previous generations.
The core of our service today is the institution of the Eucharist by Jesus during the course of the Passover meal just prior to the point of climax in his earthly life. Mark’s rendition is very short, just the bare facts: Jesus takes bread and wine and refers to them as his body and blood which is to form a new covenant – a new relationship with the Divine, just as the Exodus covenant formed a relationship between Yahweh and the early Israelites. Jesus does this within the context of a meal which naturally is a relationship builder. How many times has that been true in our own lives? We make friends in the sharing of bread and wine and the conversation and laughter that ensues. Later, Paul introduces the idea that we are the Body of Christ. For me the celebration of today’s feast is amplified by our understanding of relationship as the core principle of the universe. Thomas Berry called it communion and referred to the universe “not as a collection of objects but a communion of beings”. The universe is about relationships and the interconnectedness of all things. I think that the expansion of the narrow perspective that we had in the past – as the Body of Christ to be reverenced and adored – is changing into a more dynamic reality that is strongly supported by science.
As we begin today, I’d like to ask each of you to engage with me in a very short exercise: please place your hands on your heart firmly enough to sense your beating heart. We’ll take just a few seconds. As you sense the rhythm of your heartbeat, you are experiencing your deep connection to the Universe: a universe in which everything is interconnected. Your heartbeat is dependent upon a tiny atom of iron that is only produced by supernovas and galactic explosions. This tiny atom of iron is contained within the hemoglobin protein that transports oxygen from your lungs to your heart. We are literally connected to the stars.
Similarly, we are indebted for our breath to a single-celled microorganism that many years ago began to produce oxygen by using sunlight for energy (a process we call photosynthesis). Over time enough oxygen was produced by these tiny organisms in the sea to displace the earth’s atmosphere that was heavy with carbon dioxide. Over time, the accumulation of oxygen on earth produced the Ozone layer without which no complex life would be possible. Without which we could not live. Every breath we take is an inhalation of oxygen from this atmosphere and an exhalation of carbon dioxide which, in turn is taken in by the trees.
We are deeply interconnected with trees, who are the major producer of the oxygen we consume. Trees
Themselves are a fascinating example of interconnectedness. A forest or woodland is actually a community of trees. Through their roots and the numerous microbes and fungi that travel along those roots, trees are able to communicate with each other. They are able to emit a warning that an infectious disease has affected some of the community, allowing trees further up the line to prepare themselves with antitoxins. Trees help one another by passing resources of nutrients and water. The forest of trees that circumvents the globe is making it possible for oxygen to be carried through our lungs to our heart – and that tiny atom of iron is keeping our heart beating at this very moment. We often glibly say “Everything is connected,” and we often wish that we could believe that that is true. But, from the perspective of the universe, it is literally true.
Thomas Berry, a prolific writer about creation care, refers to the Universe not as a collection of objects, but as a communion of subjects. Today, we celebrate communion Sunday. The Oxford dictionary defines communion as “the sharing or exchange of intimate thoughts and feelings especially when the exchange is on a mental or spiritual level.” For us Christians, communion also refers to a ritual in which bread and wine is used to commemorate the Passover meal of Jesus. For Jesus, as depicted in the gospel of John, that meal was an intimate sharing and exchange of his intimate thoughts and feelings about union with the Father. His desire that we might all be one in him as he is one with the Father. Jesus’ command that we love one another as he has loved us is the fire, the energy that makes union possible. I think it no coincidence that Jesus wanted to be remembered in the Ritualized context of a meal which automatically brings people together. Meals are the way we socially interact: we get together for lunch, we have conversations over dinner, we build friendships and make our families cohesive over meals. And it is probably the sharing food and eating together around a fire millions of years ago by our early ancestors that fostered our most human of characteristics – that of compassion and attending to one another in the sharing of food.
As we celebrate communion Sunday today, let us also remember that Jesus used elements of nature: bread and wine (the basic elements of most meals) with which to be remembered. In those two elements we also see the interconnectedness of nature: bread and wine, require wheatfields and vineyards that need air, sun, water, soil, and human ingenuity to combine the elements from which bread and wine are made. Bread and wine are concrete: we can touch, smell, and taste them. Bread and wine both contain a multitude of elements that are essential to our bodily function: (calcium, nitrogen, potassium, magnesium). These all are produced by the Universe and the earth.
In the first letter of John: we are reminded that the message proclaimed to us was for the purpose of our union with one another so that we may be united with God. The Passover chapters of John’s gospel repeat Jesus’ desire for unity: that we may be One. And that we may be one so that our joy may be complete just as His joy is complete. What better image for spiritual union can be found than that of the vine and the branches, contained within those chapters. I particularly noticed in preparing for today that Jesus adds that he’s telling the apostles these things “so that my joy may be in you.” Knowing we are interconnected with all of creation and in union with God, Creator of all is certainly cause for great joy. We all know from personal experience the joy of belonging and feeling connected to nature. I think that being more conscious of our interconnectedness with the natural world is a spiritual act – an act of communion that intensifies our thoughts and feelings and enriches our spiritual life.
In psalm 50 God is depicted as making the point that it is not the sacrifice of oxen he needs or wants, but” the sacrifice of thanksgiving instead.” We cannot be truly grateful for or joyous about what we do not know. We need to become more intensely aware of our interconnectedness with the earth so we can exercise our responsibility to be cocreators with God of a world where unity and true communion reign. Teilhard de Chardin, an anthropologist and theologian, is often quoted as saying: “Someday, after mastering the winds, waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then for a second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
Question for Reflection: What does this mean for and to us? What are we to do with this new understanding of the interconnectedness that is an integral part of our material life and essential to our spiritual growth?
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