"Tell no one..."

Had I been asked to "break open the Word" for today's Mass, I would've skipped right to the end of the gospel reading and focused on Matthew 16:20, "Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ."

Throughout the synoptic gospels, Jesus tells his disciples and other groupies to keep their yaps shut about who he is (the Christ) and what he has done (healed the sick and raised the dead). Do they? Doubtful. After all, they are human; forbidden fruit takes many forms. For all we know, Peter, James, and John raced down the mountain right back to Jesus Headquarters to blab about the Transfiguration.

So what was Jesus up to in these stories? Working a bit of reverse psychology? And if so, to what end? Was he being strategic? I think this is all worth pondering and plan to do so as I lay supine on the couch for the rest of my Sabbath afternoon.



Image snagged from: Jesus of the Week

Corpus Christ

I think I was a bit too much under the thrall of this morning's homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. My evidence is what happened while I was distributing Communion.

The priest at the 11:30 Mass was wired with a wireless mic that allowed him to move away from the ambo. Dear God I wish this would happen more often. I find it easier to connect to the message(s) when the homilist wanders into the nave without clutching a sheaf of papers. Note, I do mean into the nave and not into the pews as if we were at Michael Feldman's Whad'ja Know?

Stepping away from the ambo underscores how the homily is a teaching moment and serves to strengthen the link to how Jesus taught in addition to what Jesus said. Of course I realize not everyone is well suited to this teaching style. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has noticed that for some the ambo is a necessary prop in every sense of that word.

I was also captivated by the content of the homily which in addition to explaining what we believe about Real Presence, included a lesson about receiving Communion. That's right! We received a play book distinguishing among current forms of reverence, including what seemed a wistful reference to kneeling at altar rails and a somewhat bizarre reference to EM's making sure that the Host is consumed on the spot rather than taken home "for Satanic worship."

It was either during that part or the commentary about receiving on the tongue when I wished I hadn't been sitting in one of the front pews. I so wanted to observe the Body of Christ's facial expression and body language.

Alas, when it came time to distribute Communion I wasn't observing the Body of Christ closely enough to avoid placing the Host on the tongue of a very surprised woman who evidently wanted to receive Him in her hand. You may be wondering how this could possibly happen. No, I did not force her jaws open as if I were pilling a cat. Let's just say that we were both rather startled and then both tried to not laugh.

After Mass, when I went over to apologize, she confessed how in the wake of the homily she was so busy deciding between a head nod and a solemn bow that she neglected to get her hands up quickly enough. By the grace of Almighty God, I resisted saying anything about spiriting the Host home for God only knows what.