Homily: Tuesday - 3rd Week of Easter 2016 - A sign from heaven (School Mass)

During the first two weeks of the Easter season, our Gospel readings have been accounts of the appearance of the risen Lord to his disciples.  He has appeared in his glorified flesh and blood on the banks of the sea of Galilee, on the road to Emmaus, in the locked room.  Doubting Thomas was even able to touch the marks in the Risen Lord’s flesh.

All of this week, our Gospel readings are taken from the sixth chapter of Saint John’s Gospel.  The sixth chapter of John is usually known as the “Bread of Life Discourse” because in it, Jesus speaks of Himself, as we heard today, as the Bread of Life, given to us as real food and real drink.

In today’s Gospel the people were asking for a sign so they could believe that Jesus was really sent by God. And Jesus said, I’ll give you a sign: the bread of life. 

Who here wants to see Jesus, as he really is? Who here wants to look upon him, touch him, receive him into your hearts and minds? Today that is truly possible, because of the Eucharist.  He really comes to us at Mass.

If we were to ask God the very same question the people asked to Jesus in the Gospel: “where can I see him, now, and believe in him”, the Eucharist IS God’s answer to our plea.  Pope Benedict XVI said: In the Eucharist “we no longer stand before an imagined God but before the God who has truly given himself to us; before the God who has become for us Communion and who thus frees us and draws us from the margin into communion and leads us on to Resurrection.”

I think sometimes our young people forget when they come into the Church that Jesus is really here in the tabernacle. This is why we bend the knee, we genuflect, because he is really here.  Our King and Our God is really here, and the least we can do is bend the knee to recognize his presence and honor him. 

And even when your teachers are watching, sometimes it seems like you are embarrassed to genuflect, or you have to do it as quickly as possible.  Don’t let your genuflections be hurried and empty. Put meaning into it.  Bend your knee all the way to the ground and don’t get up until you are sure you gave Jesus proper respect.  To bend the knee before God is to recognize that we need Him, that he truly is the bread of life our souls need to live. 

If you can’t put your whole heart into honoring God, what makes you think you can put your whole heart into anything? Without honoring God as we should, the whole of our lives begins to empty of meaning and of joy.  But when we do honor God and love God as we should, everything becomes transformed into an act of worship, and our daily activities can become filled with joy.

Jesus, help us to see that you are really here in the Eucharist, help us to deeply honor you with all our hearts, help us to receive you with great reverence, that you may nourish our minds and souls and lead us into everlasting life, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.