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What would you do for love? This question has been asked by people of every age. Philosophers, theologians, artists, and poets are just a few of the groups that have wrestled with this topic. For our purposes, I want to borrow the wisdom of musicians, some new, some old, to find an answer of what people would do for love. If you ask Bruno Mars, he’d 'd catch a grenade for ya / throw his hand on a blade for ya / jump in front of a train for ya. Bryan Adams has a slightly different answer. He says when you love someone, you'll do anything / You’ll do all the crazy things that you can't explain / You'll shoot the moon, put out the sun / When you love someone, You'll deny the truth, believe a lie / There'll be times that you'll believe, that you can really fly. Prince takes it up a notch when he lets the world know that “I would—-Die for—— you. Not to be outdone, the Proclaimers boast that they would-walk-500-miles / And they would walk 500 more / To be the man who walked 1, 000 miles / To fall down at your door. But perhaps the most ambiguous of all is from our friend, Meatloaf, who croons that I would do anything for love / but I won't do that, no I won't do that.
Part of what makes these songs and many others so memorable, is that they describe a universal human desire; the desire to be loved. Every human person wants to be wanted, valued, and cherished. The idea of someone loving us so much that they would catch a grenade for ya or walk 1,000 miles, or do anything for you; well, that’s incredible. Who wouldn’t want that?! It is one thing to sing about this sort of love but it’s another thing to make good on your promise. As far as I know, Bruno Mars has avoided trains, grenades, and blades, the Proclaimers haven’t walked 500 miles and 500 more to collapse at someone’s door, and Meatloaf hasn’t done much for love or anything else for quite some time.
The feast we celebrate today, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi, acknowledges the fact that in the history of the world there has been one person who has embodied the total love described in these and countless other songs. This Sunday, our Church invites us to take a moment and remember the priceless gift we have in the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The Eucharist is God’s ultimate sign of love: he gives himself, body and blood, soul and divinity, to his people for all time. He holds nothing back, he gives everything. To put it in the words of the songs I just mentioned, Jesus has hung on a cross for ya, wore of crown of thorns for ya, been stripped, beaten, and humiliated for ya. He has walked countless miles to spread the Good News and He offers to walk countless more with us on our life’s journey, if we invite him. He would, he has died for you, for me. Finally, he would do and has done anything and everything for love of us but he won’t make us love him back.
Every time we walk into this church, anytime we step into a catholic church with the Eucharist present, each time we attend Mass and receive Holy Communion in a worthy manner, we share in the love of a lifetime. Hidden under the humble appearance of bread and wine, God loves us perfectly and personally. He doesn’t do it because he has to, he doesn’t do it because somehow we have earned it or deserved it. He loves us for who we are, out of the goodness of his infinitely perfect heart!
This kind of love might make people nervous. Honestly, sometimes, I find it a little overwhelming. What does God expect of me in return for this great gift of the Eucharist? How does he expect me to repay such kindness? The answer is simple and profound: God gives us himself completely in Holy Communion, every day if we want, and all he asks is that we go and share that love in the same generous manner we received it.
Imagine the transformation that would take place in this parish, in our Church, in our families, and in our world if Catholics realized the love that was being given to them every time they went to Mass and received Holy Communion. What sort of incredible things will happen if we leave church today, thankful to the Lord for the love he gives us and looking for opportunities to share that love with others?
One of the hidden blessings of the pandemic has been the realization by Catholics of how special the Eucharist is. When the lockdown closed churches, people realized no amount of streaming or virtual prayer could provide what Holy Communion offers. For so many of us, absence really did make the heart grow fonder and the desire to receive the Eucharist once again has been the number one reason parishioners tell us they couldn’t wait to return to Mass. Which means we are spiritually ready to look at the Eucharist with new eyes of gratitude and appreciation. Our souls are primed to enter into an even greater friendship with our Lord and receive more of the love and blessings he wants to share!
You and I are so blessed to be loved completely by God, who has and who will continue to do anything for us so that we can be eternally happy. Take a moment today to thank him, to love him, and to honor him by going out and sharing that Eucharistic love, freely and generously. This is the song your heart needs to hear; this is the song that will change the world.
