The Lordship of Christ in heaven and on earth
The homily given by Saint Charles Borromeo in the Cathedral of Milan during the celebration of Corpus Christi, on 9 June 1583
the homily given by Saint Charles Borromeo on 9 June 1583
Saint Charles gives communion to the infected , Tanzio da Varallo, collegiate church of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, Domodossola (VB)
The Old Testament tells the noble story of the Easter lamb that had to be eaten in every home by the family; should any be left and not be eaten, it was to be burned in the fire. That lamb was a figure of our spotless Lamb, Christ the Lord, to be offered for us to the eternal Father on the altar of the cross. John, the precursor, seeing him said: «Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world» 1. That marvellous figure has taught us that the Easter Lamb could not be totally eaten by the teeth of contemplation, but must be completely burned in the fire of love 2.
But when I meditate within myself that the Son of God gave himself completely in food to us, it seems to me that there is no more room for this distinction: this mystery is totally to be burned in the fire of love. What reason, if not love only, could lead the most good and great God to give himself in food to the miserable creature that man is, rebellious from the beginning, driven out of the Earthly Paradise, into this miserable vale from the very beginning of the creation for having tasted the forbidden fruit? This man was created in the likeness of God, set in a place of delights, made chief of all creation: all other things had been created for him. He transgressed the divine precept by eating the forbidden fruit and, «while he was in a situation of privilege, he did not understand it»; thus «he was like to the animals that do not have intellect» 3; that is why he was constrained to eat their same food.
But God has always so loved men as to think of a way of raising them up when they were barely fallen; and so they would not feed off the food destined to animals - contemplate the endless charity of God! – He has given Himself as food to man. You, Christ Jesus, who are the Bread of angels, have not scorned to become the food of rebellious men, sinners, ungrateful. Oh grandeur of human dignity! By a singular eventuality how much greater the work of reparation, how much this sublime dignity goes beyond the mishap! God has done us a singular favor! His love for us is inexplicable! Only this charity could lead God to do so much for us. Therefore how ungrateful are those who do not meditate in their hearts and often think upon these mysteries.
God, creator of all the things, had foreseen and known our frailty and that our spiritual life would have need of food for the soul, as the life of the body necessitates material food; that is why he arranged for us abundance of each of these two nourishments: on the one hand that for the body; on the other that which the angels in heaven enjoy and we can eat, here on earth, hidden under the species of bread and wine. That most holy servant of God, Elizabeth, having perceived that it was the Mother of God who was come, could not help exclaiming: «Who am I that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?» 4. But how much more should those who receive God himself exclaim: «Who am I that he should come to me, sinner, miserable, ungrateful, unworthy, worm and not man, infamy of men and abjection of the people; that he should enter under my roof, into my soul that I have often reduced to a cave of bandits, and there live my Lord, Creator, Redeemer and God, in whose presence the angels desire to be?»
Let us come to the second point for meditation.
The Church celebrates the solemnity of this holy mystery today at the proper time. It might seem more opportune to celebrate it on the fifth feria in Coena Domini, the day on which we know Our Savior, Christ, instituted this sacrament. But Holy Church is like a child, well-mannered and well brought up, whose father has come to the end of his days and, while he is on the point of dying, leaves him a vast rich inheritance; he has no time of stop to think about the legacy received: he is totally involved in lamenting his father. So the Church, bride and daughter of Christ, is so taken up in those days of passion and atrocious torment with lamenting as not to be able to celebrate as she would like the immense inheritance left to her: the Holy Sacraments instituted in these days.
That is why she set this day for the celebration: on it she would like to render thanks to Christ in a particular way for the immense gift received, that because of our poverty of spirit we are unable to offer. Therefore the Son of God, who knows all from eternity, ministered to our frailty by instituting this Holy Sacrament: for us «he gave thanks » to God, «blessed and broke» 5. With this institution he taught us to thank him as much as we are able for such a great gift. But why has Holy Mother Church fixed precisely this time to commemorate this mystery? Why precisely after the celebration of the other mysteries of Christ: after the days of Christmas, of the Resurrection, of the Ascension into Heaven and the sending of the Holy Spirit? Child, do not fear: all that is not without reason! This most holy mystery is so linked to all the others, and is such an effective remedy in view of them, that it is quite rightly conjoined with them. Through this most holy mystery of the altar, through the receipt of the life-giving Eucharist, with this celestial Bread believers are so effectively joined to Christ they can draw with their mouths the boundless treasures of all the sacraments from the open side of Christ.
Like any king, in the moment of taking possession of a kingdom, he goes first to the city that is capital and metropolis of the kingdom rather than any other (and like a magistrate or prince who lends himself to administering a kingdom on behalf of the king), so also Christ: assigned the widest dominion and every right in heaven and on earth, first took possession of Heaven and from there, almost as demonstration, poured out on men the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But having chosen to reign on earth also, He left himself here, in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the altar, in this Holy mystery that we venerate today. For this extraordinary reason the Church orders that it is carried in procession in solemn form in towns and villages.
But there is another reason for this.
Among the mysteries of the Son of God that we have meditated on so far, the
most recent was the Ascension into Heaven. It happened so He might receive in
his own right and ours the possession of the Kingdom of Heaven and that the
lordship might be made manifest, of which he had claimed shortly before: «All
power in heaven and earth has been given me» 6. Like any king, in the moment of
taking possession of a kingdom, he goes first to the city that is capital and
metropolis of the kingdom rather than any other (and like a magistrate or
prince who lends himself to administering a kingdom on behalf of the king), so
also Christ: assigned the widest dominion and every right in heaven and on
earth, first took possession of Heaven and from there, almost as demonstration,
poured out on men the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But having chosen to reign on
earth also, He left himself here, in the Most Holy Sacrifice of the altar, in
this Holy mystery that we venerate today. For this extraordinary reason the
Church orders that it is carried in procession in solemn form in towns and
villages.When the all powerful Pharaoh wanted to do honor to Joseph he ordered him to be conducted along the streets of the city and, so that all might know the rank of him who had read the Pharaoh’s dreams, he said: «You shall be my steward and at your orders all my people shall obey: only for the throne shall I be greater than you. Behold I make you chief of all the land of Egypt. The Pharaoh took the ring off his finger and set it on Joseph’s hand, garbed him in clothes of fine linen and set a gold band upon his neck. Then made him mount on his second chariot and before him a herald cried, so that all knelt in front of him. And so he set him over the whole land of Egypt» 7.
Also Assuereus, when he wanted to pay honor to Mardocheus, made him wear regal garments, set him on his horse and to fulfil his purpose commanded Aman to lead him round the city and proclaim: «Such happens to the man whom the king will honor» 8.
God wants to be the Lord of the heart of mankind; he wants to be honored, as is fitting, by all mankind. That is why, today, in solemn fashion, led by the clergy and the people, by prelates and magistrates, he passes through the streets of towns and villages. That is why the Church openly declares that this is our King and God, from whom we have received all and to whom all is due.
Oh dearly beloved children in the Lord, while shortly earlier I was walking through the streets of the city, I thought of that large multitude and variety of people who up to today, to our day, is oppressed by the wretchedness of slavery and for so long have had to serve masters as vile as cruel. I glimpsed a certain number of young people who have let themselves be dominated by lasciviousness and lust and, as the Apostle says9, have proclaimed their god is their belly. (Whoever sets anything as the purpose of his existence, wants that thing to be his god. God in fact is goal of all). Let them renounce the flesh, these people, lust, the frequenting of taverns and inns, bad companions; let them renounce sin and recognize the true God that the Church professes for us. I wept over the insufferable pride and vanity of some women who are idols to themselves and who devote those hours of the morning that they should consecrate to prayer to making-up their faces and curling their hair; who every day demand new clothes, so as to turn their husbands into poor unhappy men and their sons into beggars and waste their inheritance. Out of this a thousand evils come, illegal contracts, non-payment of debts, failure to pay pious legacies; out of this neglect of the most good and great God, neglect of our soul. I saw many misers, merchants of hell, people who so dearly buy for themselves the eternal fire; of them the Apostle quite rightly said: «Avarice is a form of idolatry» 10. They have no other God but money; their actions and words are addressed to thinking and deciding how best to make a profit, buy land, amass wealth.
I could not help seeing the unhappiness of some who claim to be experts in the science of governing and have only that before their eyes. They are those who don’t hesitate to trample on the law of God that they claim is contrary to that of their governing (wretched and unfortunate as they are!) and force God to withdraw. Men to pity! And are those who judge and openly declare themselves and the world more important than Christ to be called Christians?
The Lord has come, with this holy institution of the Eucharist, to destroy all these idols so that, with the prophet Isaiah, we can cry out to the Lord today: «Only in You is God; there are no others, other Gods do not exist. In truth you are a hidden God, God of Israel, Savior» 11. Oh good God, till now we have been slaves of the flesh, of the senses, of the world; up to now god has been our belly, our flesh, our gold, our politics. We want to renounce all these idols: we honor You only as true God, we venerate You who have done us such good and, above all, have left Yourself as food for us. Ensure, I implore you, that from now on our hearts are yours, and nothing tears us away from your love. We prefer to die a thousand times than offend you even in the slightest way. And so, improving by the strength of your grace, we shall enjoy Your glory for ever. Amen.
Notes
1 John 1.29
2 cf Ex 12,10ff.
3 Psal 49.13
4 Luke 1.43
5 Matt 26,26; Luke 24.30
6 Matt 28.18
7 Gen 41,40ss.
8 Est 6.11
9 cf Phil 3.19
10 Eph 5,5; Col 3.5
11 Is 45,14ff.