My homily for Third Sunday of Easter 2020

Third Sunday of Easter: Word and Sacrament

             Few months ago, I assisted one of the Funeral Mass for one of our Vietnamese Parishioner here at Saint Philip, although most of Vietnamese came up and received the Holy Communion, and certainly, one of American man came to my line and I assumed he wants to receive the communion, He seems to be lost in front of me, then I ask him if he is a Catholic, He said No. so I gave him a blessing, then he asked me “I don’t even have a piece of wafer?

I shook my head, He was sadly walked away.

Later I meet him at the vestibule, I explained to him that for us Catholics, we are not just receiving a wafer but a real presence of Jesus Christ, and that the reason why we do not allow non-Catholics to receive It.

            Receiving communion demands a belief in the Eucharist as we Catholics believe.  I certainly could have said a lot more, such as the reverence we give to the Eucharist. So, I told him that he certainly didn’t mean to do anything wrong and that we Catholics need to do a better job explaining our services when we invite non-Catholics to join us at Mass.

When I was thinking about this “Wafer” as I considered that Gospel for this Sunday on the meeting of Jesus with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  How much the Eucharist meant to those disciples!

            -  First, Jesus spoke to them, and then he broke the bread as he did during at the Last Supper.  They said that their hearts were on fire when he explained Scripture to them, but they recognized him in the breaking of the bread.  Jesus gave two gifts to these disciples. The gift of understanding the new significance of the Word of God, and the gift of the Eucharist. It is so sad that so many of our Catholic families have not placed a great value on their own reception of the Eucharist.  I know that I am preaching to the choir here.  You are in Church because you want to receive Communion in this Mass.  You value taking Jesus within yourself.  But this is not the case in many Catholics who say that they pray, which is good, but who deprive themselves and, worse, their children, the greatest gift of prayer there is, union with Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.  Why is it that people withdraw from a regular reception of the Eucharist?  That is a hard question to answer.   Part of it might be a matter of priorities: Mass is not as important to some people as their children’s sports or other activities, even though there are plenty of opportunities to attend Mass other than Sunday mornings.  Or maybe some families just fall out of the habit of attending Mass every week. This is particularly evident when the school ends and the family’s schedule changes.   But we fear that there is another reason that is the same both for those who attack the Eucharist and for those who believe in the Real Presence but do not receive regularly.  And that reason is that to understand the significance of the Eucharist, a person needs to be open to the mystical. 

Our modern world has a difficult time dealing with the concept of mystery.  It thinks that everything either has an explanation, or it doesn’t exist.  As a result, the world deprives itself of that which is beyond the imagination of man.  It deprives itself of the ability to be one with God in the Eucharist.  It deprives itself of the joy of recognizing Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread.

            Some of our families consider the reception of the Eucharist just as something that they do, equating it with every action they perform in Church.  They don’t realize that receiving the Eucharist is entering an encounter with the Lord Jesus.  It is something that Jesus does. 

Reception of the Eucharist is an encounter with mystery, a mystical encounter with Jesus Christ. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were open to mystery.  They had heard that something had happened after the crucifixion.  They talked about their hope in this Jesus of Nazareth.  They were open to the mysterious stranger’s explanation of scripture.  And then they were open to recognizing the Lord Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread.

        Last week our readings called us to faith.  This week we are called into mystery.  We are called to come to a deeper appreciation and reverence for the wonders our Savior has provided for us in the Breaking of the Bread.   Today through the Church we receive the message of hope. As the Gospel says, "The Lord has truly risen and has appeared to Simon." And as Simon Peter himself tells us, "Your faith and your hope are in God."

Let’s us open our mind and our heart to receive Jesus in to our Lives and our hearts each week at the Mass through the Holy Eucharist.