Tuesday April 12, 2005 Homily by Fr. Robert Altier Third Week of Easter
Reading (Acts 7:51-8:1a) Gospel (St. John 6:30-35)
In the first reading today, we hear Saint Stephen speaking to all of
the members of the Sanhedrin, and he says to them that they are stiff-necked,
uncircumcised in heart and ears, and always opposing the Holy Spirit. He goes
on in speaking to them about how they had received the law that had been
transmitted by angels but they have not obeyed it. Now if we look at our own
selves, we can say, “We don’t have a law that was transmitted by angels; we
have a covenant that was made by the Son of God Himself, and how much have we
disobeyed it?” If we look at what we have done and we ask ourselves, “If Saint
Stephen were standing here before us right now, what would he say to us?” Stiff-necked
and uncircumcised in heart and ears might be rather kind for what he might say to us
because we have rejected so often the covenant made by the Son of God, the
covenant, in fact, who is the Son of God.
It is exactly that which we see in the Gospel
reading today. Yesterday, we heard in the reading that He said, It is not because you saw a sign but because you had your
fill of bread. So the people then say to Jesus, “Well, what sign are you going to
work?” He had just fed five thousand people with a couple of loaves, but they
are wondering what sign He is going to work. Then they told Him that they had
manna in the desert, therefore, what is He going to do? And He tells them
exactly the sign that they had missed, that He Himself is the bread come down
from heaven, the true bread which His Father will give to the world, and that
this bread will give life to the world so that whoever believes in Him will
never thirst and anyone who comes to Him will never be hungry. The reason for that
is because we are completely filled with Christ.
But remember that the word manna means “What is it?” It is a question rather
than a statement. The people walked out of their tents and said, “Manna?” –
“What is it?” That is how it got its name. And how often do Catholics look at
the Blessed Sacrament and say, “What is it?” They do not believe. They do not want to believe because they cannot see, because
they cannot feel, and because they cannot hear with their senses, and so they
reject the covenant itself because the Eucharist is the covenant. This, again,
is the point: Our law – our covenant – is not transmitted by angels, but our
covenant is the Son of God, and He has given Himself to us in the Eucharist. If
we do not recognize Him there, then, in essence, in our stiff-necked nature we
have rejected Him. Uncircumcised in heart, we cannot open the heart to be able
to receive Him.
So we need to pray that we do not oppose the
Holy Spirit because it was the Holy Spirit Who overshadowed Our Lady to conceive
Our Lord and it is the Holy Spirit whom we call down upon the bread and wine to
change them into the very Body and Blood – indeed, the very Person – of Our
Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not recognize Him there, if we do not worship Him
there, if we do not love Him there, then we are the ones who are opposing the
Holy Spirit. And if the people of the Old Testament were in trouble because
they rejected the law transmitted by angels, what will be the judgment upon us
if we reject the Son of God Himself? if we do not recognize the gift that He
has given, the true bread come down from heaven, which is He Himself, which He
gives to us so that we can have life, so that we will never hunger again, so
that we will never be thirsty? Not physically hungry or thirsty, but rather
filled with the Son of God, united with the Son of God, and transformed into
the Son of God, how will we ever be hungry for anything more because we will be
united perfectly with Him. That is what He is offering us in the Eucharist, so
that just as the bread and wine are completely changed to become Christ, so
too, we who receive Him are changed into the One we receive. We, then, become
the Son of God. We are so perfectly united to Him (if we can get to that point)
that we are transformed to become one with Jesus Christ. That is what this gift
is all about. That is the gift He is giving us. And that is the sign of the
covenant. The Eucharist is the sign of our covenant, and the Eucharist is the
covenant itself. If we refuse to recognize Him there, then it is we who are
opposing the Holy Spirit.
* This text was
transcribed from the audio recording of a homily by Father Robert Altier with minimal editing.