As a rule, deacons are the ministers of the Blood of Jesus at Eucharistic liturgies. At my ordination Mass, I was given a chalice that held 16 ounces of the Blood of Christ. My communion station was close by the northwest door of the St. Paul Cathedral. As I was distributing the Blood of Christ to the priests attending the ordination, a homeless man budged in near the front of their line. The general rule in the distribution of Holy Communion is that no one in line is refused. As the homeless man stood in front of me, he said to me, “Just what do you got there?” I replied, “This is the blood of Christ.” He said, “I’ll have some of that.” I handed to him the chalice. He nearly consumed 10 ounces of the Blood of Christ. Alarmed, I reached to get the chalice back from him. Smacking his lips as he handed it back to me, he said, “Amen to Jesus!” He then turned and walked out the west door as I and the rest of the priests looked on in bewilderment. Little did I know that 10 years later, I would be working with the homeless community at St. Stephen’s in South Minneapolis. Jesus comes to us in all sorts of disguises.
Some of us might look upon the homeless man with scorn for being sacrilegious. Some of us may merely pass this off as another one of those odd, amusing scenarios that arise within worship. I have, at times, harbored perhaps both of these feelings. However, what has become more important for me, is that the homeless man receiving the Blood of Christ has become a profound moment illustrating the need for all who receive the Body and Blood of Jesus to BE the Body and Blood of Jesus to others, especially to those who may seem, at least on the surface, to be less than worthy.
In the Gospel account of the feeding of the 5000, not all of those 5000 gathered were worthy to receive the loaves and the fishes that Jesus multiplied. Scattered among that number would have been those who would later plot Jesus’ death. Surely, his apostles, who would later betray and abandon him, were present. Yet, it mattered not to Jesus, who fed them generously, nonetheless.
As we look around us at Mass, we see that we sit in communion with those around us. Some may appear to be as we see ourselves, others overly pietistic, others eclectic, others distracted, and even others reluctant to participate. Yet the Body and Blood we receive unite us in communion with one another. In flesh, we are in “communio” as the living and breathing Body and Blood of Jesus.
In coming forward and receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus, we all share in communion a common mission. This mission is not to be merely receivers of the Body and Blood of Jesus. The grace we receive in Holy Communion is not be hoarded but rather to be shared with others. To use the story of the feeding of the 5000, we become the loaves and fishes that Jesus multiplies to be shared with others. We need the grace and the strength of Holy Communion as Jesus breaks us into his Body and Blood to be shared with those most in need in our world.
Every time we receive Holy Communion, every year when we celebrate this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Jesus, let us remember that as we say “Amen” to the real presence of Jesus in the bread and the wine, we say “Amen” to the real presence of Jesus in our own Body and Blood. Let us take and receive so that as the Body and Blood of Jesus others may take of us and receive his presence.
