OT XIII [C]: I Kgs 19:16b, 19-21; Gal 5:1, 13-18; Lk 9:51-62

Abraham Lincoln was the finest and most spiritual of all the American presidents. During the Civil War, Lincoln was often criticized for not being severe enough on the soldiers of the South.  On one occasion after a battle, a general from the North asked him, “Why didn’t you destroy the enemy when you had the chance? President Lincoln answered with words adapted from today’s Gospel passage: “Do I not destroy my enemy by making him my friend?” That is exactly what Jesus tells   us in today’s Gospel: destroy our enemies by making them our friends. No doubt the feelings of anger and resentment run deep in many hearts today, and we wouldn’t mind if people who hurt us deeply were punished or suffered from bad luck.

This Gospel passage deals with the beginning of Jesus’ journey from the northern towns of Galilee to the southern city of Jerusalem through the land of Samaria. Jesus encountered obstacles from the Samaritans. The Jews and Samaritans shared a common origin in the twelve tribes of Israel. But they hated each other and refused to intermingle or intermarry because of a long-standing historic conflict between the two nations dating back to the eighth century BC, after the Assyrian conquest of the Jews. Even under Assyrian rule, the Samaritans claimed to have maintained proper worship in their land with Mount Gerizim as the center of their religious life.  They argued that the Jews were the ones who had compromised their religious beliefs during their Babylonian exile. The Jews, on the other hand, with the Temple of Jerusalem as the center of their religious life, accused Samaritans of having lost their religious and racial identity through intermarriage with their pagan neighbors.  They even considered Samaritans as heretical and false worshipers of the God of Israel and detested them far more than they detested the pagans. To get to Jerusalem, Galileans had either to go through Samaria or to take a longer, more difficult route east of the Jordan River.  Jesus chose the shortcut through Samaria. But the Samaritans both refused to honor Jesus as a prophet and violated the sacred duties of hospitality. This infuriated the apostles and two of them, James and John, asked Jesus if he wanted them to command fire to come down from Heaven and consume the Samaritans as Elijah had done in his day (II Kings 1:9-12).  Jesus rebuked them, however, because he was not a destroyer but a Savior with a message of mercy and love.

Jesus' choice to go through the villages of Samaria looking for hospitality tells us that he was extending a hand of friendship to enemies. Tolerance: It is a hard lesson, one that took the disciples years to learn. But, the virtue of tolerance, and tolerance for the right cause, needs to be taught in the church. Tolerance is “showing respect for others who are different than us”. It is giving to every other human being every right that we claim for ourselves.

There are two times in particular when tolerance is very important—one is looking past character flaws and bearing with those who irritate us, the other is being respectful and understanding of the differences between people. Tolerance towards others can be difficult. Sometimes it means being kind and respectful to the people who are really irritating. Being tolerant does not mean you must accept disrespectful or bad attitudes.

Taking advantage of the spread of “political correctness”, intolerant society groups have moved into an aggressive attack. We are going through very intolerant times in society, not just in one country, but I feel all over the world. It will eventually bring to an end our human civilization.

Religion and politics are the two areas of greatest intolerance happening in this world right now. Just last week a young Muslim in India was battered to death for being a Muslim I believe and made him recite the names of Hindu gods during the 5 hour battery on him.

Religious tolerance means that you favor extending religious freedom to people of all faith traditions, even though you probably disagree the validity of their beliefs and practices. Christianity is the religion that takes greatest intolerance from all other religions. Because the message of Christ is universal or Catholic. Catholic means, applicable to all men at all times. It is true in an absolute sense. Obviously then, only one can be universal. All other religions are limited either to one race, language or nation. Jewish religion was limited to one nation. Hinduism is limited to caste system and one has to be born a Brahmin before he/she can finally attain liberation. And caste system is prevalent only in India. Islam, though claiming to be universal is limited to people who can speak Arabic, because one has to know Arabic to understand the words of Allah. One has to pray in Arabic. Quran is not considered holy if it is printed in any other language. Bible, on the contrary was written in more than one language even in the original source and there are no languages now in which Bible is not translated. Bible is Holy irrespective of the language it is printed.  Therefore, Catholics profess in their creed: I believe in the Holy Catholic Church.

The truth and divine origin of Christianity have been made to depend on its supernatural character, and to stand or fall with a certain view of miracles. No other religion has miracles to authenticate their genuineness of the message, except Christianity. Therefore Christianity makes exclusive claims which are hurting other religions to spread and that is one of the reasons the truth of Christianity is always under attack. Most of the social or political issues like abortion, euthanasia, same sex marriages, cohabitation and so on, are hot button issues for the Church. The Church cannot go against truths revealed in the Bible. Then it will not be Catholic any more. Truth is truth for all human beings, not for people in just one country. Tolerance does not mean we keep quiet about these issues because it is going to hurt others’ sensitivity. You are not expected to be vitriolic in expressing your dissent. If you know the right thing and if you are keeping quiet just because it would hurt others’ feelings, you are not a true Christian. One of the spiritual works of mercy is to correct the wrong person patiently. Teach the ignorant. If we keep quiet, it will not probably help people with wrong notion about those issues. Tolerance means not to hate a person on the ground of his or her belief in a particular thing. It is willingness to work with a person of differing opinion or stand. This is what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples in today’s gospel. He did not favor his disciples’ retaliatory attitude. He won the Samaritans over by his tolerance and forgiveness. Therefore the Samaritans were one of the first groups who became Christians en masse soon after Jesus’ resurrection. Let’s learn and practice the attitude of tolerance and forgiveness otherwise we cannot be called Christians.

THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST (Gn 14:18-20; I Cor 11:23-26; Lk 9:11b-17)

The feast of Corpus Christi is three feasts in one: the feast of the Eucharistic sacrifice, the feast of the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the feast of the Real Presence of Jesus in this Sacrament.  Corpus Christi is a doctrinal feast established for three purposes:  1) to give God collective thanks for Christ’s abiding presence with us in the Eucharist and to honor Him there; 2) to instruct the people in the Mystery, Faith and devotion surrounding the Eucharist, and 3) to teach us to appreciate and make use of the great gift of the Holy Eucharist, both as a Sacrament and as a sacrifice. Although we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday, the Church wants to emphasize its importance by a special feast, formerly called “Corpus Christi.

Our belief in this Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist derives from the literal interpretation of the promise of Christ to give us his Body and Blood for our spiritual food and drink, as found in St. John’s Gospel, Chapter 6.  Eucharistic theologians explain the Real Presence by a process called transubstantiation: the entire substance of bread and wine is changed into the entire substance of the risen, living, and glorified Body and Blood of Christ, retaining only the “accidents” (taste, color, shape) of bread and wine.

The gospel today highlights the Eucharist as food for the multitudes. The never-ending supply of bread with which Jesus fed the multitude prefigured his own Body, the consecrated Bread that sustains us until he comes again. The Eucharist is also a re-enactment of Christ’s sacrificial Self-giving. The Jews offered animal sacrifices to God, believing that life was in the blood, and the animal blood was a substitute for human lifeblood. Following this Jewish tradition, Jesus offered his own lifeblood as a substitute for the lifeblood of all human beings and, so, sealed the New Covenant made between God and humankind (1 Cor 11:25), bringing new life to the world.

The description of the miracle of the multiplication also points out the disciples’ role in the miraculous feeding of the multitude. Only after they give him what little they have can Jesus bless, break and give it back to them to distribute to the hungry crowd.

Why do we celebrate the Eucharist even some 2,000 years later?  We do this because Jesus told us to do so: “Do this in memory of me.”  St. Augustine in the 5th century AD said it best when he said: “It is your Mystery, the Mystery of your life that has been placed on the altar.”  Besides the terms The Eucharist and The Lord’s supper, it is also called by “Holy Communion,” because we become one with Christ by receiving him; and is also called “Holy Mass” (holy sending), because it gives us a mission: “Go in peace, glorifying God by your life.”

The Eucharist teaches us the importance of community, the bond that results from this sacrifice. John Chrysostom says: Just as the bread comes from many grains, which remain themselves and are not distinguished from one another because they are united, so we are united with Christ.”  Just as numerous grains of wheat are pounded together to make the host, and many grapes are crushed together to make the wine, so we become unified in this sacrifice. Our Lord chose these elements in order to show us that we ought to seek union with one another, to allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into Our Lord Jesus Christ and to work with Him in the process. Christ is the Head and we are the Body, the members.  Together we are one.  That which unites us is our willingness to sacrifice our time and talents to God in our fellow members in Christ’s Mystical Body.  This is symbolized by our sharing in the same Bread and the same Cup.  Hence, Holy Communion should strengthen our sense of unity and love.

We need to prepare properly to receive Holy Communion:  We should remember the warning given by St. Paul: “Whoever, therefore, eats the Bread or drinks the Cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be answerable for the Body and Blood of the Lord. Examine yourselves, and only then eat of the Bread and drink of the Cup. For all who eat and drink without discerning the Body, eat and drink judgment against themselves.” [1 Cor. 11:27-9]. Hence, let us receive Holy Communion with fervent love and respect — not merely as a matter of routine.  One of the reasons why people receive the Holy Communion very casually is that they no more believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. If we believe that God is omnipotent, can work miracles at any time, and if we believe in the promises and words of God in Christ, then we would have no problem believing in the real presence. And all the Eucharistic miracles that happened all over the world over 2000 years should fortify our belief in this reality. When we fully believe in the real presence, we can really join St. Thomas Aquinas in his prayer of devotion in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament:  “O Sacrament most holy! O Sacrament Divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine!”