Corpus Christ, B June 6, 2021
Fr. Albert St. John the Evangelist, Jeanerette
On October 10, 2020 in Assisi, the Church beatified a young Italian named Carlo. He was born in 1991, meaning he would be younger than me if he were still alive. He is the first millennial to be beatified, which is the last step before being canonized as a saint.
When we say that word – saint – we tend to picture 16th century nuns or old miracle-working priests or paintings with halos. We imagine them praying or fasting or preaching. Carlo Acutis, however, has pictures of him dressed up as Spider-man and was known to love computers, Super Mario, and Pokémon. How did he become a saint?
In part, because of how he died. Diagnosed as a teenager with leukemia, he courageously endured that suffering in a way very similar to Charlene Richard, whose canonization we are pursuing in our own diocese. He united his suffering to Christ on the Cross, offering it for the pope and the Church. And that makes sense; All saints – indeed all Christians – are made holier through suffering with love. But it wasn’t just how he died that made him holy. It was how he lived.
And it’s not like he was some bizarre miracle child who always prayed and did everything his parents asked. As I mentioned, he played games and geeked out about cultural things just like his peers. But there was one thing he geeked out about more than anything else: The Eucharist. Carlo Acutis is going to be a saint because he loved the Eucharist. In fact, he loved it so much, that at 11 years old, he started to build a website dedicated to it. Specifically, he compiled all the information he could about Eucharistic miracles.
You see, the Eucharist is not just a symbol. After the words of consecration, the bread and wine substantially change into Jesus Christ’s body, blood, soul, and divinity even though it still looks, smells, feels, and tastes like bread and wine. The technical term for how this happens is Transubstantiation.
Everything in our world has a visible component and an invisible component, an inner reality. Think of people. You can see their bodies and hear their voices, but they have an invisible soul. Imagine keeping the body and voice but replacing the soul. That’s kind of what happens. God reaches in and takes out the invisible breadness and wineness and replaces it with the invisible substance of Jesus. This is impossible for us to do. It is an extraordinary miracle and, usually, it’s totally invisible. To be Catholic means to believe this is true.
Every once in a while, however, God performs a visible miracle to remind us about the invisible one that happens at every Mass. Sometimes the bread visibly turns into living heart tissue. Sometimes the wine coagulates like blood. Sometimes a face appears on the host. There’s dozens of examples, some of them with thorough scientific evidence saying, “this is impossible, we can’t explain it.” Carlo Acutis, loving the Eucharist and his Catholic faith, compiled these miracles and you can read about them on a website that’s still active to this day.
That is the power of the Eucharist, which we celebrate in a special way today, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. God breaks the laws of nature every single Mass so that he can say to us like he did at the last supper “take it; this is my body.” The Eucharist it the greatest of the sacraments because it is God himself come to us hidden behind the appearance of bread and wine. Receiving the Eucharist is… or should be the holiest thing we can do on this earth. Carlo Acutis, the nerdy millennial is going to be a saint because of the Eucharist.
What gives, though? Millions of Catholics receive the Eucharist every week, but how many of them still lie, cheat, steal, and even kill? How many Catholic politicians receive it often, but still flagrantly defy the Church’s teaching? We receive every week, but how many of us are lazy, selfish, or judgmental? It’s not enough to avoid big sins. Saying “I’m a nice person” or “I haven’t killed anyone” isn’t enough. Carlo isn’t a saint because he didn’t do bad things, he is a saint because every day he actively sought ways to serve and promote Christ and his Church.
The Eucharist made him a saint, what about us? Did the Eucharist stop working? Of course not! The Eucharist always works as long as we use the right words with the right stuff. Grace is what makes us holy and the Eucharist always gives grace. In fact, it’s a guaranteed infinite amount of grace. What isn’t guaranteed, however, is how much we receive. If you put a sealed container under a waterfall, it still doesn’t fill up. If you fill the container with sodium, the water makes it explode. The Eucharist pours out infinite grace, but our souls are often too small to receive or too full of the wrong things to benefit from it.
This is standard teaching. Every sacrament has two sides: what it gives and what we receive. To receive what it gives, we have to be properly disposed, open and ready to receive. We also have to be ready to put it to use. And this is no joke. From him to whom much is given, much is expected. Receiving communion carelessly isn’t neutral. If you receive communion unworthily or if you waste it, it hurts your soul. It makes you less holy and less likely to go to heaven.
So, how do we avoid that mistake? What are the things we should not do? If you show up to Mass, sit there passively and begrudgingly, and then leave as soon as you get communion, it won’t do you much good. If you have not been to confession in over a year, you should not receive communion. If you’ve committed a mortal sin, you should not receive communion. If you publicly contradict the Church’s teaching, you should not receive communion. If you’ve eaten in the past hour, you should not receive communion.
But the point isn’t a list of “thou shalt nots.” The point is that the Eucharist has infinite potential to make you holy, which is what really gives us lasting joy. Tapping into this potential requires that you follow the simple command of Jesus Christ: love God and love your neighbor.
Love God by reading scripture every day, even if just for a minute or two. Love God by learning more about the Eucharist – check out Carlo’s website. Love God by confessing your sins at least once a year, preferably more often. Love your neighbor by being welcoming them when you see them at Church. Love your neighbor by checking in on them during tough times; by donating time, effort, and money to those in need. Love your neighbor by praying with them and studying the faith together. Love your neighbor enough to know when to gently correct them with the truth and when to quietly and patiently endure their faults and failings. Love God and neighbor by fasting and by uniting your sufferings and trials to Christ on the Cross.
This doesn’t mean you have to live like a monk or be a total weirdo – Carlo played video games and hung out with his teenage friends – but it does mean you have to put priorities in order. It does mean loving the right things in the right way. Be repentant, be in awe in the astounding gift of God’s grace, be reverent, be grateful, be ready to receive well, and then you too will be holy.