For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. <\/em><\/p>\n[audio:http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2012\/06\/HOMILY061012.mp3|titles=HOMILY061012]\nLast week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the end of World War II.\u00a0 If you go on the Internet, you can find some remarkable stories of Catholic priests who ministered to the soldiers \u2013 and how some of the priests spent the war. Many were martyrs for the faith, who died while administering the sacraments.<\/p>\n
But some of the most moving stories I found weren\u2019t about the priests who were at the front lines\u2014but rather, the ones who spent the war behind barbed war.<\/p>\n
They were the Catholic priests of Dachau.<\/p>\n
If you want to fully grasp what we are doing today \u2013 what we are celebrating on the feast of Corpus Christi\u2014you should hear some of their stories.<\/p>\n
Dachau, of course, was one of the most notorious death camps of the Second World War.\u00a0 And many people sent there were Catholic priests, considered to be enemies of the state.\u00a0 The priests weren\u2019t usually executed \u2013 at least, not in the way the Jewish prisoners were.\u00a0 Instead, they were worked to death.\u00a0 They did hard labor.\u00a0 They were used in medical experiments. They were starved.\u00a0 They were tortured and beaten in the most inhuman ways.<\/p>\n
But in the middle of this nightmare, there was one inexplicable saving grace: Mass.<\/strong> While the Polish priests were denied even the most basic rights, in Dachau German priests were at least permitted to say Mass. The prisoners converted a cellblock into a chapel.\u00a0 They made their own vestments.\u00a0 They even made a monstrance for the Blessed Sacrament.\u00a0 One priest wrote after the war:<\/p>\n\u201cIn addition to our simple wooden monstrance, we had another one for important feasts. It sparkled like real silver, yet it had been made from empty tin boxes. An Austrian communist prided himself, on the fact that he made this monstrance secretly in the workshop under the eyes of the SS. Solemn Divine Services were forbidden, as was also every form of religious activity outside the chapel. During the day, no one was permitted to enter the chapel.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the chapel contained the Blessed Sacrament. And often prisoners would risk their lives to go there and pray.<\/p>\n
One of them was Fr. Marcel Pasiecznik, who survived the camp and was able to describe what it was like. \u201cI participated every morning in a secret Mass and received Holy Communion,\u201d he said in an interview. \u00a0\u201cAnd three times I celebrated Mass for my colleagues before our liberation. I even made visits to the Blessed Sacrament reserved in the German priests\u2019 chapel, but you had to tell one of them the password. One time I remember it was \u201cLux de luce,\u201d light from light.\u201d<\/p>\n
And so it went until the camp was liberated in 1945. \u00a0Those men risked their lives to pray before the Blessed Sacrament.\u00a0 They faced torture and persecution and degradation for a sliver of communion \u2013 and for just one reason: they knew that this was more than\u00a0 bread.\u00a0 This was Christ. The one who had climbed Calvary was with them in their own Calvary.\u00a0 He shared their suffering.\u00a0 He brought them grace.\u00a0 And he gave them hope.<\/p>\n
There, in the darkness, was \u201clight from light.\u201d<\/p>\n
And just as he was with them then, he is with us now.<\/strong> Here.\u00a0 This day.\u00a0 In this tabernacle.<\/p>\nIt is a gift beyond measure.\u00a0 A gift to die for \u2014 and to live for.<\/p>\n
Do we even grasp that?<\/p>\n
Do we even realize what is being placed in the palm of our hand or on the tip of our tongue?<\/p>\n
Nearly two thousand years ago, just a hundred years after Christ\u2019s death and resurrection, the saint Justin Martyr described how the faithful received communion. It was the same then as it is now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey make of their hands a throne,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThey make themselves ready to receive a king.\u201d<\/p>\n
We cannot forget that.\u00a0 Every time we come forward for communion, we are standing in the throne room of the king.\u00a0 And he is giving himself to us.\u00a0 Here is our nourishment.\u00a0 Our sustenance.\u00a0 Our hope.\u00a0 Our salvation.\u00a0 Our creator.<\/p>\n
Our God.<\/p>\n
That is what the priests hungered for during their endless days and terrified nights in Dachau.<\/strong> In the depths of their suffering, they longed desperately to feel a closeness, a communion, with God. \u00a0To be a little less alone in their suffering.<\/p>\nBy the grace of the Eucharist, they were reminded of the words we heard just last week in the gospel: \u201cI am with you always, until the end of the age.\u201d\u00a0 The Eucharist is a living reminder of that promise being kept.<\/p>\n
This morning, the feast of Corpus Christi, we honor the one who made that promise.\u00a0 We prepare to welcome him into our lives, into our bodies, into our being.<\/p>\n
But as we do that, take a moment and remember those who fought and suffered and died for what we are about to do.\u00a0 Think of the countless priests at Dachau \u2013 unnamed soldiers for Christ who fought their own spiritual battles while a world war raged around them.<\/p>\n
Many of them were sick, malnourished, starving.<\/p>\n
But remember this: they didn\u2019t risk everything for bread.<\/p>\n
They did it for the bread of life.<\/p>\n
Image: Orthodox Icon of Christ Leading Prisoners from Dachau<\/em><\/p>\nClick here<\/a><\/strong> for rare video of Mass being celebrated at Dachau after it was liberated<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[Click here for readings] For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. [audio:http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2012\/06\/HOMILY061012.mp3|titles=HOMILY061012] Last week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the end of World War II.\u00a0 If you go on the Internet, you can find some remarkable stories of Catholic priests who ministered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[11175],"class_list":["post-14105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homilies","tag-homilies"],"yoast_head":"\n
Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ -- UPDATED WITH AUDIO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. Last week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ -- UPDATED WITH AUDIO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. Last week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-09T13:50:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-03-13T21:02:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2012\/06\/5654774048-575x405.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/\",\"name\":\"Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ -- UPDATED WITH AUDIO\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-09T13:50:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-03-13T21:02:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. Last week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ — UPDATED WITH AUDIO\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ -- UPDATED WITH AUDIO","description":"For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. Last week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ -- UPDATED WITH AUDIO","og_description":"For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. Last week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2012-06-09T13:50:57+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-03-13T21:02:13+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2012\/06\/5654774048-575x405.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/","name":"Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ -- UPDATED WITH AUDIO","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-06-09T13:50:57+00:00","dateModified":"2015-03-13T21:02:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"For audio of this homily, from the 11:30 am Mass, click the green arrow below. Last week, we marked the anniversary of D-Day, the invasion that began the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2012\/06\/homily-for-june-10-2012-solemnity-of-the-most-holy-body-and-blood-of-christ\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Homily for June 10, 2012: Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ — UPDATED WITH AUDIO"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2012\/06\/5654774048-575x405.jpg\" "\\"5654774048\\"")
<\/p>\n