The Eucharist – the beginning of the Church

Homily delivered at the concluding Mass for the 25th anniversary of the Diocese of Palm Beach, Oct. 24, 2009.

Posted: 10.29.09

A year has passed since we began our celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Diocese of Palm Beach. Today we celebrate its conclusion on the actual 25th anniversary of the beginning of our wonderful diocese on Oct. 24, 1984, as decreed by the great Pope John Paul II. During the past 25 years, our diocese has continued to grow in the five counties of Florida which comprise its territory. Of the 50 parishes which presently make up our diocese, 11 have been established in the past 25 years. Of the three missions which are part of our diocese, all three had been established within the past 25 years. The sole mission which existed at the inception of the diocese is now a parish. We have grown considerably as the particular Church of Palm Beach here in southern Florida, and we look forward with great hope and enthusiasm to our continued growth as the living body of christ, the people of God.

During this Jubilee year, we have centered our celebration on the Eucharist under the theme, “25 Years – a Eucharistic People.” This theme has given us the opportunity to concentrate on two realities which are central to our life as the Church. One is the great mystery of the sacrament of sacraments, the Eucharist. In this sublime sacrament, Christ gives his life for us as he truly becomes present among us, body, blood, soul and divinity.

The other reality goes hand in hand with the Eucharist. The Eucharist makes us the body of Christ and the people of God here in southern Florida. The Eucharist is not celebrated in isolation, but is celebrated for people. What makes the Eucharist particular to us is the unique and diverse people that we are in the Diocese of Palm Beach so well represented here today. From various cultural and ethnic backgrounds representing a multitude of nations around the world, we are one people united in Christ and most fully so in the Eucharist we now celebrate. We go forward into our future as a varied and growing people, drawing life from the sacrament of sacraments.

As we gather this day, as we do in our parishes, to celebrate the Eucharist, it is this celebration that makes us the Church and uniquely the particular Church of the Diocese of Palm Beach. The Eucharist comes first, and from this great sacrament flows the Church. Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, expresses this reality well in one of his personal writings. He tells us that, “Jesus’ Last Supper can now be recognized as the real act of founding the Church” (cf. “Church, Ecumenism and Politics,” pages 17-18). He beautifully expresses that “the Last Supper is the beginning of the Church” and elaborates that “the Eucharist joins human beings together, not only with one another, but also with Christ, and that in this way it makes people into the Church.”

The pope more formally repeats this insight his apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist, “Sacramentum Caritatis” (“Sacrament of Charity,” cf. No. 14). The Church lives and moves and takes its very being from the Eucharist. Pentecost, when many languages became one, came about through what occurred at the Last Supper. It is from the celebration of the Eucharist in our various parishes around the diocese that we take our life and become one people.

Our diversity is a central part of our life as the Church in Palm Beach. However, diversity of culture and background only emphasizes the uniqueness of our humanity, which is made in the image and likeness of God himself. Difference does not separate us, but unites us in the humanity which is common to us all and which Christ took to himself. God made us all single, individual and unique in order that we might enrich each other. That richness expresses itself most fully in the Eucharist when the entire Church becomes present to give praise to God who gives himself to us in the divinity and humanity of his Son. We appreciate our humanity all the more when we realize that God took it to himself. He not only took it to himself, but he created humanity in order that he might share in it with us. Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, expresses this awesome truth in another of his personal writings. He insightfully states, “God created the universe in order to be able to become a human being and to pour out his love upon us and to invite us to love him in return” (cf. “In the Beginning …” Page 30).

The abundance of God’s love which he pours out upon us is fully revealed in the cross of his Son. The Father sacrifices his Son and the Son sacrifices his life in order that we might have life. This is the essence of what we celebrate in the Eucharist. This is the celebration of God’s love for us. It is also a celebration of our humanity which has been given na even greater dignity through Christ’s death and resurrection. God’s creation of us did not make us the Church as the body of Christ, his Son. It is his redemption of us that makes us the Church and that is why the Church comes into existence from the Eucharist.

During this Jubilee year, in so many ways, we have focused our attention on the celebration of the Eucharist. From individual parish celebrations, deanery Masses, reflection on the Eucharist, adoration of the Eucharist, especially in Forty Hours devotion and in other ways, we have grown in the awareness that we are a “Eucharistic People” and that is what makes us the Church. Our diversity in culture and background unites us most fully in the celebration of the Eucharist. We are not individual communities, celebrating separate Masses in our parishes and communities for their own sake. We are one body of Jesus Christ, celebrating one Eucharist, which celebrates the love of God for the one humanity that we share. We are not individual cultures attempting to preserve our own culture. We are diverse cultures attempting to preserve the culture of the Church. Whatever our culture, background or language may be, our one home is the Church. Because of our diversity in the Diocese of Palm Beach, we are living witnesses to the true nature of the kingdom of God.

The Eucharist transcends culture, but also transcends time and space. It brings us into the Last Supper, the beginning of the Church, which anticipates the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, as well as his resurrection and ascension. When we celebrate Mass, his passion, resurrection and ascension take place and we participate in Christ’s redemption of us. We do not recall these events. They occur for us now. However, the Eucharist also transcends the Last Supper as it is a reflection in time of the eternal giving of the Son to the Father in the Holy Spirit, which is the very life of God himself. Heaven truly breaks into the world. We enter into that love which exists before the beginning of the world. It is the love from which he created the world so that he could become part of it. God is love and it is this love present in the Eucharist which is the life of our diocese in our five-county area of southern Florida.

We began our Jubilee year during the Year of St. Paul and we conclude during the Year for Priests. We began our celebration on the weekend dedicated to priest appreciation and we conclude on the same weekend. I, again, wish to express, on all of our behalves, deep gratitude to our priests for the loving service they give to us in their faithful ministries. They, too, represent diverse cultures and backgrounds, and through their ministry make us into the one people of God. We are most grateful to them for the gift of the Eucharist, which makes us who we are, for as Pope Benedict XVI told in his opening letter for the Year for Priests, without the priest, there would be no Eucharist.

We are truly in our diocese the “City of God.” Our city represents the diversity of God’s people made one in the Eucharist. Our city is part of a much larger one, which is the kingdom of heaven. That kingdom is most fully present when we do what we are doing now – celebrating the Eucharist. Present are not only those we can see before us, but the entire Church, all those who have gone before us and all the angels and saints in the heavenly Jerusalem.

With us are our patroness, Mary, Queen of the Apostles and Woman of the Eucharist; as well as her spouse, St. Joseph, provider for the bread of life. In his monumental work, the “City of God,” St. Augustine, reflecting on the Eucharist, has particular words for us here in our diocese. He tells us, “This wholly redeemed city, the assembly and society of the saints, is offered to God as a universal sacrifice by the high priest who in the form of a slave went so far as to offer himself for us in his passion, to make us the body of so great a head. ... Such is the sacrifice of Christians: we who are many are one body in Christ.”

As a “Eucharistic People,” let us with all the gifts God has bestowed upon us, continue to build the “City of God” here in the Diocese of Palm Beach so that heaven’s breaking into this world is quite evident in southern Florida.

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