Somehow I got through three Masses with my yo-yo working (pretty well) every time...
Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time C
They
told us more than once in the seminary
that
we shouldn’t use props when we’re preaching.
I’m
about to prove just why they told us that…
a
friend gave me this beautiful,
handcrafted yo-yo.
I
could never really get the hang
of a yo-yo as a kid,
but
having this one in my office
has
given me the chance
to practice every once and awhile.
As
you can see…
...I’ve gotten only slightly better!
It’s
the repeated motion of the yo-yo—
down
and then back up again—
which
captures my notice this Sunday.
Because
that continual movement—
down
and up, down and up—
is,
if you stop to think about it,
a
pattern we find played out here in the Mass.
The
first part of the Mass—the Liturgy of the Word—
focuses
our attention on the Scriptures:
listening
to them, reflecting on them, responding to them.
It’s
the second part of the Mass—the Liturgy of the Eucharist—
that
I’d like you to consider more closely this morning.
And
that funny Greek word, Eucharist, is
at the heart of it all.
“Eucharist”
means “to give thanks”—
a
concept certainly on the Church’s mind this Sunday
as
we hear the story of the ten cleansed lepers.
But
thanksgiving ought to be on our mind
every
time we gather before the Lord’s altar:
For
on the night he was betrayed,
he
himself took bread, and giving thanks…
In
a similar way, when supper was ended,
he
took the chalice, and, giving you thanks…
From
the moment he first instituted this great Sacrament,
Jesus
intended for gratitude to be at its very heart…
…and
yet how often that reality escapes our notice.
Follow
with me now, if you will,
the
down and up, back and forth movement
that’s
so familiar that we usually miss it.
gifts of bread and wine are prepared:
gifts
representing all that we hope to offer to God,
but
which are first gifts we have received.
Before
they can be the work of human hands,
they
are the fruit of the earth
and fruit of the vine—
and fruit of the vine—
gifts
come down
from the Lord God of all creation.
from the Lord God of all creation.
These
gifts bestowed upon us
are
then presented at the altar
and offered up to God.
But
with God’s blessing
and by the Holy Spirit’s power,
they come back down to us again—
they come back down to us again—
transformed
to the very core of their substance
into
the Body and Blood of Christ.
Next,
notice what the priest does
at
the very end of the Eucharistic Prayer:
he
lifts up Christ’s Body and Blood—
just
as they were on the Cross—
to
offer them anew to the Father
for the world’s salvation.
And
what does the Father do?
He
rains them down
as he did the manna in the desert,
giving
them to his children as food.
This
Communion with Christ strengthens us
to
live throughout the coming week:
preparing
us to receive new blessings,
opening
us to experience daily miracles,
that
we might return here
when
the Lord’s Day comes around again
and
begin the process once more.
Graces
flowing from God down to us,
and
gratitude raised from us up to God:
that’s
the essential pattern of the Mass;
that’s
the essential pattern of the entire Christian life;
that’s
why our central act of worship
is
called “Eucharist,” “thanksgiving”;
that’s
why a medieval mystic could say,
“If the only prayer you say in your whole life is ‘thank
you,’
it will suffice.” (Meister
Eckhard)
I
have my doubts that it was on Pope Benedict XVI’s mind
when
he scheduled this ongoing Year of Faith
that
it would end just a few days ahead
of
our American celebration of Thanksgiving Day.
But
their proximity is instructive:
faith
and gratitude go hand in hand.
To give
thanks is to profess our faith that God exists—
after
all, we’re not thanking thin air.
But
to give thanks is also to profess our faith
that
this God is an active part of our lives—
not
secluded off in the heights of heaven,
but
intimately involved with us on earth below
as he
provides for our every need.
And
so we can see at work in that lone Samaritan leper
the
transforming power of gratitude.
What’s
at stake is so much more
than
a simple matter of good manners!
It’s
a matter of taking the Lord’s gift of healing deeper
by
not taking it for granted.
(Maybe,
like Naaman several centuries before,
being
an outsider, an outcast—even an enemy—
helped
him in this department.)
Jesus’
gesture of compassion cleared up the sores on his skin;
but
taking the time to return and give thanks,
the
Samaritan opened the door
which
allowed the Lord to get beneath the surface
and
go so far as to change his heart.
His
act of thanksgiving was an act of faith…
…and
it had the power to save his soul.
Down
and up, down and up.
Unlike
with my yo-yo,
the
more consistent we are with this movement on a spiritual level,
then
the shorter the distance gets between the two.
But—just
like my yo-yo—
when
the pattern gets off course and stuck at the bottom,
the whole cycle comes to a halt.
the whole cycle comes to a halt.
In
this and every Mass,
and
countless moments in between,
let
us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It
is truly right and just,
our
duty…and our salvation!
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