A: Solemnity of Corpus Christi (14 June 2020) - BRINGING WORSHIP TO THE PEOPLE (Jn 6:51–58)

A popular saying goes: “If the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed must go to the mountain.”

While delivered within the tale of an alleged revelation of the angel Gabriel in Mt. Hera for the prophet Mohammed to spread Islam, this statement has been casually used to denote leaving one’s comfort zone to reach out more people in the open. In a similar vein, this same principle must be at the back of our minds in our individual approaches to religion, regardless of our religious belief-systems and congregational affiliations.

For Roman Catholics, while it is physically impossible to go to churches nowadays because of pandemic-related restrictions to mobility, ecclesiastical leaders must be creative enough to reach out the faithful without obligating them to come to established sacred edifices. Indeed, virtual prayer meetings, bible studies, and eucharistic celebrations serve this very purpose, and Vatican has approved and encouraged these efficacious activities. As a matter of fact, the Holy Father on a regular basis goes online in delivering catechism, imparting blessings, and officiating masses. Amidst this so-called new normal, we should value and appreciate these new liturgical expressions. Thus, if we may rephrase the maxim above, we can also say: “If the faithful will not come to churches, church celebrations must go to the faithful.”

This bringing of formal worship to the common people is not something new. In our gospel today, Jesus introduced himself as “the living bread that came down from heaven” (Jn 6:51), a manifestation of his true presence in the eucharist. The whole context of this proclamation is during Jesus’ multiplication of the loaves and feeding of the multitude in a mountain (v. 3). But most importantly, it was occurring during the week of the Passover when under normal circumstances faithful Jews would make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices (v. 4).

However, Jesus previous two visits to Jerusalem had gone south. In his first visit in Jn 2:13–25, he was enraged upon seeing the temple became like an emporium, where animals for sacrifices are sold, merchants profit from ordinary poor pilgrims, and the “house of the Father” has been disrespected (vv. 15–16). His fury made him drive away this abomination using a whip of cords, which in effect planted the seed of a Pharisee-led persecution of Jesus forcing him to leave Judea immediately (Jn 4:3). His second visit is about the incident of Jesus’ healing of the paralytic and the forgiveness of his sins (Jn 5:1–18). As he did this during the sabbath (v. 9) and became equal to God by forgiving sins (vv. 14, 18b), it clearly offended the Mosaic practitioners and vanguards. Similar to what happened earlier, they began to persecute Jesus; but this time in a higher level for “the Jews tried all the more to kill him” (v. 18a).

By and large, we can say that Jesus was really frustrated with the power-play in Jerusalem in general, and in the temple precincts in particular. While the ordinary faithful were mandated to perform worship only in Jerusalem, they were handcuffed by the rules imposed by the temple leaders, who largely were focused only in protecting their interests and status quo within the imperial Roman hegemony. As a result of this, Jesus in the mountain was probably suggesting an alternative way of practicing Yahwism without necessarily going to their highly politicized temple. Accordingly, Jesus gathered a large crowd composed of simple folks, inclusive of the sick, the poor, and the hungry. Jesus practically put into flesh what he earlier said: “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth” (Jn 4:23). By introducing a different expression of worship in a deserted mountain minus the formalities of a temple-setting, Jesus teaches us that true worship happens in our heartful encounter with God … and that can happen anywhere as long as there is God’s Spirit and truth.

- Rex Fortes, CM