When a non-Catholic married a Catholic about 50 years ago, the usual custom was for the non-Catholic to convert. But, after Vatican II, the rule sort of changed. It says that the non-Catholic party may choose to remain in his or her original religion simply because religion is a matter of conscience and for an adult, religion cannot be a matter of coercion. However, the Church lays stringent conditions that the Catholic party must not defect from the faith and all efforts must be made by the Catholic party to baptise and bring up the children as Catholics.Why does the Church require this? As we celebrate Corpus Christi, it would be a good time to refresh our understanding of the reasons for this requirement.
First, we begin with a phenomenon known as “taking things personally”. A really good example is when we are excluded from a good friend’s party. We had expected an invitation and when we were not invited, we take it personally that we have been rejected. God is different. He takes things personally, but not in the sense that we sometimes do. God takes our sin personally because Christ who was sinless took upon Himself our afflictions. He bore our sufferings and healed our wounds.
The Solemnity of Corpus Christi invites us to know this God who takes things personally through the event of today’s Gospel. Luke tells us that Christ welcomed the crowd and performed the miracle of feeding 5000 and more. This is a “wow” type of miracle and in John’s Gospel, we are told that the crowd who had been fed by Christ came looking for more. Christ told them not to work for food that cannot last. Notice the change that took place in the synagogue at Capernaum, as the conversation took a turn from earthly food to eternal food. Christ told them that the food that He had provided would not stave their hunger forever. Earthly food cannot satisfy spiritual hunger. Hence, the only food that would stave off spiritual hunger would be the bread from heaven. And, Christ equated this bread of Heaven as His own flesh. To be exact: “I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world”.
Now you begin to see how God becomes personal with us. In Matthew 28, just before He ascended, Christ promised to be with us till the end of time. How? It cannot be that He makes this promise without any way of fulfilling it. Thus, through the Holy Spirit who acts in His Church, Christ becomes present to us. He does so in a manner by which we can recognise Him. The Creator communicates with the creature in a manner by which the creature is able to understand the Creator. Through the Eucharist, Christ communicates with us as He does two things: first, He fulfils His promise to be with us. Second, He provides us with the means to gain eternal life: "The bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world".
When we celebrate the Eucharist, His flesh becomes available to us for eternal life. However, we may appreciate that He promised to be with us, but the challenge is that we might have a little more trouble understanding or appreciating the mode or manner of His presence. But, observe how Christ did not modify His language even when the crowd began to disperse. “This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?” And, as they left Him, one by one, He turned to Peter’s Eleven and asked: “What about you”? We know Peter’s answer for himself and the Eleven.
Corpus Christi, in which the highlight is the procession, allows us to recognise how incredibly Real Christ’s presence is in the Blessed Sacrament. His presence is as real as He walked 2000 years ago, albeit His reality is sacramental through the species of bread and wine.
As we live in a world whereby our conception of reality is measureable, we need proof in order to believe. This is also in line with the canon of science. This where our faith in Christ’s Presence is challenged. Not because there is no proof but with the Church Militant in such a disarray, no proof is enough. We ask if God was ever present at all and most of all, how can He be present in the Catholic Church? It is not uncommon for people to leave the Church because of what they see around them. Corpus Christi is a timely reminder that Christ has kept His promise to us and through the Eucharist, He strengthens our feeble faith as He urges us to make our faith the measure of the world instead of the contrary. It is the same faith that brings us to the requirement I spoke of earlier, of why children of a Catholic parent needs to be baptised.
First, baptism is the gateway to all the other six sacraments. It is the passport to receive the sacrament of eternal life. Second, at baptism we are incorporated into the Body of Christ—we become a member of the Body of Christ. As the saying goes—we become what we eat. Thus, the regular reception of Holy Communion allows us to become more and more authentically the Body of Christ.
Remember that we used to make the announcement before Holy Communion. Well, the reason was not because we wanted to exclude but to remind people that persistence in sin is not in consonant with the desire to be incorporated into the Body of Christ. For example: a divorcee in an irregular relationship is disallowed from receiving Communion not because we judge him or her to be bad. [1] Good or bad is a matter between the divorced person and God. Instead, what we are saying is that the action of remaining in the irregular relationship contradicts the desire to be a member of Christ’s body. [2]
From my observation, very humbly, I submit that some people do not realise the depth of what it means to be incorporated into the Body of Christ. It explains why there are parents who want to delay the baptism of their children under the guise of the freedom to choose. In the matter of schooling, you enrol your child into the best school. I know of parents who fake their home address in order to enrol in Catholic High School, currently the best school this side of town. In the matter of talents, as soon as you detect some musical inclination, you put your child through the discipline of music. In the matter of health, you rush to the hospital when a child is suspected of H1N1. All these done without giving a second thought about the child’s freedom to choose.
But, here is where the irony is. Communion is not just “holy” Communion. When you line up here to receive it, you signify your acceptance that firstly, the host is truly the Body of Christ [albeit in the form of bread] and secondly, the Communion you receive is the assurance of your eternal life. A parent who receives it but denies the child the baptism which gives it the same right to receive Communion at the proper age is not committing a sin, but living a contradiction which reveals a lack of understanding of what he or she is receiving. In short, a person does not really know what he or she is believing, let alone receiving.
I preach this homily not because of people who have made their choice. There are people who are in a difficult situation and I empathise with them. Instead, I preach this homily because we live in a small world and the chances of falling in love with a non-Catholic is far higher than with a Catholic. And in my line of duties, the baptism of children can be problematic. So, this is like a wake-up call to Catholics to think of this whilst dating and not wait until it becomes too late when all preparations have already been made and the solution lies in a compromise which is contradictory to the Catholic’s belief. The Church’s requirement for baptism of the child and the subsequent education of the child in the Christian faith is based on this precept that we try as best as we can not to live in contradiction. It cannot be that I believe it but only for myself but not for my child. Now you know why the Church’s mission cannot stop. We evangelise not because we are better than other religions. The truth is we often behave worse than many others. But, still, we cannot refrain from evangelising because we want to share the bread of eternal life with the world. Thus, it behoves that we live in a manner which makes us worthy recipients of this bread so so precious for eternal life.
Finally, remember the Chinese custom during the 7th lunar month. Paper money, paper effigy of cars, houses, or servants are burnt. But, no matter how rich a person is, NOT a single cent will follow him into the next life. Therefore, the only important thing is the assurance that we will have eternal life because the life we have today is a fraction of the eternal life God has promised us.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In this sense, the announcement is not a personal “attack”. Instead, it is an invitation to reflect on one’s “actions”. Christ when He dealt with the woman caught committing adultery zeroed in on her actions rather than judge her personally. He merely told her to refrain from sinning again.
[2] The Church obliges her children to attend Mass on Sundays. She does not oblige them to receive Holy Communion. Thus, a divorcee, like any other person who because of an objective situation of not being able to receive Holy Communion, is still related to the Church. As Pope John Paul II pointed out in Reconciliation and Penance, the Church desires such couples to participate in the Church's life to the extent possible (and this means participation at Mass, Eucharistic adoration, devotions, etc).
