Friends
Peace be with you.
I had a short career as a wrestler in middle school. The coach at Miller Middle School in Marshalltown, Mr. Kearney, was known to help cultivate great wrestlers so, in sixth grade, I thought I’d give it a try. He taught us how to do single leg takedowns, half nelsons, cradles, wizzars, and other moves. We got to our first meet and I was a wrestling a guy who was a little heavier than I was with whom I would become good friends in high school. As the referee started the match, it was like everything Mr Kearney taught me went out of my head. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. My opponent wrapped his arms around my entire upper body and threw me to the ground in a bear hug. We’d studied all kinds of moves but I had no idea how to get out of this one. I was pinned within thirty seconds of the match starting. I remember walking away from that match and deciding that I was going to quit. It took me two days but I eventually walked into Mr. Kearney’s office in the gym and told him I was quitting the team. He didn’t try and talk me out of it and I suspect I know why.
One of the aspects that impresses me about St. Mark’s description of the night of the Last Supper is that this has all been planned out. Jesus tells his disciples to go to someone who has a room for them to celebrate the Feast of Passover and they are to make preparations for everyone else. Then, Jesus takes a Seder meal, which has its own unique plan, and adds his own plan to change the blessing of the bread and wine into a re-enactable ritual in which they become his body, blood, soul, and divinity. I recently read a good description of what I mean by this in the journal Communio in an article entitled “Notes Toward the Definition of Memory”. It said that Jesus, by telling us to do this in memory of him, meant it was “…a re-presentation, which is possible because…the power of the living God does not fade away, but remains effective: ‘the chief function of (Old Testament religious practices) was to actualize the tradition. Israel celebrated in her seasonal festivals the great redemptive acts of the past both to renew the tradition and to participate in its power. God’s action is a permanent blessing. In this respect, the reenactment, by making the original event present again, is a renewal of God’s blessing, which was given in a way that is both definitive, ‘once-for-all,’ and remains infinitely fruitful and thus ever open to further fulfillments.” In other words, while the plan for that night was for Jesus to take the 12 apostles into the upper room and celebrate The Last Supper, the plan of the Last Supper was that it be something where it both happened in time and is, therefore, not repeatable, and to invite us into that once-for-all celebration whenever we gather for the Eucharist. Every Mass, therefore, is part of God’s plan for making us a part of the Body of Christ, the Church.
A few weeks ago, at the Easter Vigil, I asked those who had already been baptized but were asking to be Confirmed and receive First Eucharist to repeat a Profession of Faith. It said, “I believe and profess all that the Catholic Church teaches, believes, and proclaims to be revealed by God.” I wonder if we all think about the fact that, when we are offered communion and the person says, “The Body of Christ” that this is really what is being asked of us. If we are receiving the Body of Christ, it means we want to be part of God’s plan, we want to be a part of the Body of Christ, the Church. It’s not just a question of believing in the real presence, though that is challenging enough. It’s a question of whether we believe that all life is sacred, from natural conception until natural death. Do we believe it’s important to forgive others, even those who aren’t particularly worthy of our forgiveness, because God has forgiven us? Do we believe that Mary was born without original sin and that she was taken up body and soul into heaven?
My problem with wrestling was that my heart wasn’t in it and I didn’t think it ever would be. I didn’t believe I could ever care enough about it to really try. You may say I gave up too quickly and you may be right. But it wasn’t an important enough activity for me to figure out how to dive in head first and really try. I feel like this is how a lot of people treat Christianity. It’s something we do because it might get us into heaven. Or it’s something we do because we’ve always done it and we like the music. Or it’s something we do because we’re good people and the bad people are the ones who don’t go to church. At the risk of sounding unfairly judgmental, those seem like rather lukewarm reasons. It’s okay to struggle with church teachings because we find them challenging. In some ways, that’s better than giving up and pretending like we can dissent from church teachings but continue to be a part of the church. The challenge is, if part of coming to Mass has to do with being included into a plan that’s been unfolding since time began, what do we need to committ to believing so that we can, in good conscience, truly say, “Amen! I believe and profess all that the Catholic Church teaches, believes, and proclaims to be revealed by God.”
