Thank you for inviting me to speak at this Mass, a great privilege indeed.
Ever since my days at Westminster Cathedral, I have followed closely the growth of Youth 2000, and your efforts, under the Spirit, to open up generous young minds and hearts to the Lord, especially with regard to the gift of the Eucharist – ‘the source and summit of our faith.’
I wonder how perceptive are you?
Are you alert to the high drama and tension in today’s readings?
The Israelites are back in the Promised Land having survived the rigours of 200 years of exile in Egypt, followed by 40 years in the wilderness. However this unique and decisive moment in their history is now being threatened – this time from within.
To counteract this Joshua summons all the religious leaders and those of society. He doesn’t dwell on victories or survival; instead he offers them an uncompromising choice. Either they opt for the God who rescued them from slavery or choose the way of the Amorites, the local pagan gods. Who is it going to be? Their answer is quick and decisive: “We have no intention of deserting the Lord… we will serve the Lord, for He is our God”.
In their choice they are rejecting the comfortable life without God, turning their backs on sensuous living, the allure of fashion, spin and glitz, casual sex without obligations and choosing to fight with the Lord against injustice of every sort; the poverty and inequality that permeates society even today.The Gospel offers a corollary to this. Jesus speaks clearly of Himself as the ‘Bread of Life’ and offers His very own Body and Blood to His followers.
This confuses and outrages many of them who take offence: “this is intolerable language,” they say, “how could anyone accept this doctrine?”
Jesus does not back off but rather goes on to be even more emphatic:“The words I have spoken are spirit and they are life.” At this point Our Lord, like Joshua before Him, and with many of His followers deserting Him, turns to the Apostles: “What about you, do you want to go away, too?” Peter answered for the twelve and for us: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe. We know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Standing at the back of a church recently, after a Confirmation Mass, one mother called out to her son: “Wouldn’t it be nice to have your photograph taken with the Bishop?” His answer was immediate and definite:
“No way! What would my mates at school say if it appeared in the newspaper?”
Without embarrassment the lady turned to me smiling: “That’s young people today,” she said, “They are so cool
I was not amused - but sadly not surprised.
It takes courage to stand up for Christ and one’s faith - you know that only too well. Often you will be alone when you do so, and without support from your friends, even members of your own family. But know that Christ is always on your side.
But let me return to the Eucharist. The Catholic Heraldcarried a stirring story recently. We were told about Mexico City’s largest refuse dump, 8 miles long and 1 mile wide, a sea of stinking waste and the home of countless rats and dogs. But it is the home, too, of many scavengers, the poorest of the poor, eking out a living from items recovered from the rubbish tip.
There, a Jesuit priest, Padre Roberto Gaevara has come each week for the past 12 years to celebrate Mass for a group of ragged worshippers who break off from their scavenging for the briefest respite. They huddle round a makeshift altar made from rubble off the tip. On one occasion he encouraged them to seek out a living wage. As a result the authorities barred him and he was not allowed to return until after a great earthquake in the vicinity.
Padre Roberto did not stop with simply saying Mass for these people, he founded a charity which caters from some 400 children living in and around the dump, giving them the opportunity to go to school, eat 3 square meals a day, also providing them with rudimentary medical assistance.
One worshipper told the author of the article that having the priest around meant that ‘they didn’t feel so alone’: “Life is hard, our fingers get cut from rooting through the refuse.” “And yet It’s horrible,” he said “to have to depend on the rubbish dump as the farmer relies on the wheat”.
I was inspired to tell you that story because of something Pope Benedict said last year. He urged the Bishops at the Synod on the Eucharist and through them all of us “not simply to say beautiful things about the Eucharist but also that we live from its power.” I take this to mean that the Eucharist has the power to radically transform us and we must carry this conversion into every aspect of our lives. “It is the Spirit that gives life” says Jesus.
In offering us ‘His Flesh to eat and His Blood to drink’ – there is the ultimate example of total self-giving, a self-giving that speaks only of life, love and service.
We are here in Walsingham, at Mass, because we believe that Jesus is the Holy One of God and that He has the message of eternal life for each and every one of us. What He is offering will give lasting joy in an ever-changing world - a peace that the world cannot give. “The Spirit that we receive”, says St. Paul, “is not the spirit of the world, but God’s own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has given us”. (1 Cor. 2:12) Chief among them is the gift of Christ Himself in the Eucharist.
When Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper, He did so in the context of service – washing the feet of His followers. One of the fabulous outcomes of sharing in the Bread of Life is that mysteriously we ourselves become Eucharist, feeding on Christ and with thanksgiving in our hearts, feeding Him in turn to one another.
The Eucharist is our Communion with the Lord and His people. Like Padre Roberto and so many others we are transformed by the Holy Spirit and come to take on new loving responsibilities for God’s people, especially His poor.
The Eucharist does not end with the dismissal at the end of Mass, nor with times of quiet adoration, rather this in turn serves to transform us and compells us to be immersed in His mission, work and service.
Finally, young people, we need you in the Church.
We need your prayer and fidelity;
We need your generosity and commitment;
We need your youthfulness and inspiration;
We call out for your insight and radicality, your fire and enthusiasm, in challenging the complacency and mediocrity within the Church and society.
Never has our world been so much in need of people like yourselves, inspired by the Spirit, with minds and hearts open to Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life.
“It is the Spirit that gives life.”