7 June 2026

7 June 2026 - Feast of Corpus Christi

Transcript

Reading:  

John 6:57

Write:  

Just as the living Father sent me
 and I have life because of the Father,
 so also the one who feeds on me
 will have life because of me. 

Reflect:   

Jesus gives us life through the Eucharist. It is God’s life – the totality of God, not just Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, or the Father – no, it is the totality of God. The Catechism of the Church says that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our spiritual lives.

Apply:   

I want to talk today about my own spiritual life. I have told you some of my life’s story – including about having been engaged to be married. But I am not sure I have ever told all of you “the rest of the story” about how I ended up choosing the priesthood.

The lady I was engaged to was named Sue Ann. My nickname for her was “Lady.” It was at the time when Kenny Rogers hit song “Lady” was big. Naturally, that became “our song.”

Sue Ann was not a Catholic. She would go to a Methodist church or an Episcopal Church, whatever she felt like. Well, in the summer of nineteen seventy-seven, (it was a hard summer on our relationship because I was in Omaha and she was in Norfolk, Virginia) that she issued me an ultimatum over the phone: leave the military and the Catholic Church in order to marry her. My response was immediate: “When you met me you knew I was Catholic and you knew I was working toward a career in the military. You do not have the right to make those demands. If we were married and I wanted to make one of those kinds of moves, you would have some say in the matter. But because we are not married, you take me as I am or you don’t take me.” The last part of that is exactly what I told her: “you take me as I am or you don’t take me.” She hung up the phone on me.

Now, you have to also understand how serious all this was. We had already bought our rings. We had even named our first children. The only thing we had not done is set a date.

I left all that in her hands. She hung up the phone on me; so she needed to call me back if she could accept my choice of the military and the Catholic Church. About two months later she did call, claiming that she could accept both. But the relationship was too damaged, and it turns out she was not serious about accepting my terms – I’ll explain. It was in early April of nineteen seventy-eight that I told her it was not working. And I broke off the engagement. Stay with me – I’m coming to my point. Six weeks after I broke off the engagement, a Franciscan priest I was taking classes with at UNO – he was on a sabbatical – asked me a number of times if I ever thought about being a priest. I finally asked him why he kept asking me that. His comment was simply, “I think you have the qualities to be a good priest.” Two weeks – yes, just two weeks – after he said that to me I walked across the street from UNO to the chancery and applied to the seminary. I never looked back.

Now the rest of the story concerning Sue Ann. It was in late May that she called me again and asked if there was any way we could get married. I told her I had applied to the seminary. She said, “well, you could be an Episcopalian priest and we could still get married!”

She did not get my point. The Catholic Church is where I need to be. And, Jesus was calling me to the priesthood. At that point I hung up on her.

Why did I go into this on the Feast of Corpus Christi? It has to do with the Eucharist. There are very few churches that have the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Methodist and Episcopalian are not among them. This is what we celebrate on this day. Corpus Christi – the Body of Christ. How could I go anyplace else? As the saying goes, I “dodged a bullet” by walking away from her. Not even a pretty face can replace the Eucharist! The Eucharist is what we are all about. As I said, the catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith. It is both the source from which all spiritual life flows and the summit of our worship.

I cannot understand how anyone can choose to back away from it – to find it an irrelevancy. I also cannot understand how anyone who has done any serious thinking about what Jesus did in giving us himself in the Eucharist, and how he stated that in John chapter six, can choose to stay away from the Catholic Church! Jesus said to the … crowds: "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

This is something we as Catholics understand – at least in some way. It is worth giving up everything else in the world to possess Jesus. It is worth giving up everything else to become a priest! Young men, are you hearing me? To be allowed to say the words of Jesus from the Last Supper, and have the bread and wine transformed – transubstantiated – into his body and blood… It is a very humbling thing. And, I honestly did not know what I was getting into. But, I gladly quote Saint Peter’s answer to Jesus. Jesus asked his Twelve after our Gospel reading from today: “do you also want to leave?” Peter answered: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

Peter’s answer is what sustained me in my decision in nineteen seventy-eight. I could not go back to Sue Ann. Six years in the seminary and forty-two years as a priest. Where else could I go?!? My oldest sister’s daughters gave me a plaque when I was ordained with a quote from St. John Vianney:

To live in the midst of the world; to be a member of each family, yet belonging to none; to share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets; to heal all wounds; to go from men to God and offer him their prayers; to return from God to men to bring pardon and hope; to have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity; to teach and to pardon, console and bless always, My God what a life! And it is yours, oh Priest of Jesus Christ!

This weekend saw a new priest being ordained for the Archdiocese. He received a very big blessing: his First Mass is offered on the Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus. Because of the way the calendar worked, my First Mass was on Pentecost forty-two years ago. So, by far the majority of my life has been absorbed by the Eucharist. “My God what a life! And it is yours, oh Priest of Jesus Christ!”

Pray/Praise:

Let us pray.

Lord Jesus, on this Feast of your Body and Blood, we ask you to pour out your blessings on us in multiple ways. The gift of the Eucharist is the source and summit of our spiritual lives and nourishes us on our journey toward heaven. We give you thanks that you have given such a great gift that transforms hearts that are open. We also give you thanks for the priesthood that brings us your Body and Blood. We pray for those men that you have chosen – especially those who do not know – now – that they are chosen. Ready their hearts to receive your calling to serve your people in the Eucharist. Help us to keep them in our prayers, especially the men from Midtown Catholic whom you are calling to your altar. Amen.

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