On a feast day like today, Corpus Christi, I feel somewhat nostalgic because I have some very fond and good and positive memories of this Feast Day, Corpus Christi, as I grew up in my hometown of Loch Ray in County Galway in the west of Ireland. And during that time, during the '70s and '80s in particular, we had our procession through the streets of the town, and in a sense we were the Church Triumphant. The Eucharist carried by the bishop was paraded through the streets while the First Holy Communion children carpeted the roofs with the multi-colored flower pedals. And the Legion of Mary in their blue capes and white mantillas recited the rosary, as the Knights of Columbanus, in their military robes marched solemnly to the melodious tune of "Faith of Our Fathers." And I, innocently enough, often carried a flaming torch, flanking the Holy of Holies, mesmerized by the whole occasion. And there was a sense of occasion in our town. And there was a sense of solidarity and a sense of unity. And there was, above all, a sense of the sacred created by the mystery which permeated this entire event. Of course, we were carrying out our duty prescribed for us by Pope Urban IV of the 13th Century. And since that time processions had become very popular throughout Europe and then they became very popular throughout the world. And I suppose the processions were a public display of the faith of the community, and they were a reminder of the real presence of Jesus in the sacred host. And it was to give a boost I suppose to Eucharistic devotion generally. And it was also an attempt to remind us of what had happened at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday night, lest we forget. And it's the same reminder that St. Paul is giving to us today that he gave to the Corinthians over two thousand years ago in today's second reading, "that the Lord Jesus on the night he was handed over took bread and after he had given thanks, broke it and said 'this is my body that is for you, do this in remembrance of me.'" So is there a need then to be reminded today of what the Eucharist is really about? Do we fully understand the significance of our time here this morning gathered around this altar?

Well, I do have fond memories, but I also have mixed feelings about this day. When I look back now on the processions through our streets, I am conscious of the dramatic irony which unfolded or was acted out in such a bold, I suppose, and insensitive manner. While 98 percent of my community were Catholic, what about the other 2 percent? What were they feeling as we triumphantly marched around their streets? And when we marched in solidarity, we insensitively excluded our Christian brothers and sisters-our neighbors. And in a sense, the Eucharist must have become for them a symbol of separation, of division, of rejection. The Eucharist could not have been seen as Communion, as community of being one, as a means of communication. On the contrary, it could only have been seen as creating a "them" and "us" scenario.

Now while the idea of processing around a town in Eucharistic devotion is fast dying out in Ireland, because most people now are not comfortable with the idea, the controversy of intercommunion continues on a daily basis. And this was brought to a head recently when our President Mary McAleese received communion in Christ Church, that is a church of our Protestant brothers and sisters, and her actions were described as a sham by our recently elevated Cardinal, Desmond O'Connell, Archbishop of Dublin. This had the effect of driving a wedge between the churches on the issue of Intercommunion on which so much work had been done by those working in ecumenical circles. And it also opened up the debate again about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and above all it opened up a discussion about the worthiness to receive Communion even within our own churches.

As I see it, The Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ, Corpus Christi, is about communion, it is about community, it is about unity. Christ is the head, and we are the body. Together we are one. And what brings us together, and what keeps us together is our sharing of the one bread and the one cup. Now if we invite people to a meal and then prohibit them from sharing in that meal, well, this doesn't make an awful lot of sense to me. And on the problem of unworthiness, the simple question is, "Who IS worthy?" As one theologian put it recently, "whenever the Eucharist is celebrated, all of us who take part are people wounded by sin and prone to further sin." So don't we easily forget the symbolic action of breaking of bread a reminder of Jesus's own brokenness. Jesus's own fragility, as he hung dying on the cross. We are as bread that is broken-all of us. So note Jesus's response to the suggestion by the twelve in today's gospel. The twelve approached him, and said, "Dismiss the crowd." Now Jesus was not in the business of dismissing people; Jesus was not in the business of separation or exclusion or setting people apart. No, Jesus ordered the twelve, and this is what he said to them, "Give them some food yourselves." And then we are told that they ALL ate and were satisfied. So imagine how dissatisfied people are and how hungry people remain when they are refused Communion, when they are dismissed, when they are sent away because we won't share our bread with them.

Recently when I was in a Greek Orthodox Church I wasn't too sure whether I should receive myself and my uncertainty was soon dismissed when the priest there naturally and instinctively gave me a piece of bread, there were no questions asked, there was no hesitancy, and therefore I felt truly in communion in that place. I felt this was Holy Communion. I felt wanted, and I felt welcomed, and I felt nourished. Generally when we eat food it is changed into us. It becomes our flesh, it becomes our bone, our tissue, our hair, and it becomes our energy that we burn up. However, with the Eucharist, with Communion, it is the reverse order: It is WE who are changed; or at least it is WE who should be changed. We should become more like Christ. We should become what we eat: the Christ who is welcoming, the Christ who feeds the hungry, the Christ who is inclusive, and not exclusive, the Christ who is father and mother, gathering us around this table in fellowship and love.

Now just as the procession's bulge let us be united and gave us a sense of solidarity so should our sharing of the body and blood this morning let us feel united; united as a church community to make a real and substantial difference in our world.

The body & blood of Christ should never, never be a source of division, a source of disunity, a source of exclusion. So today we eat, and we drink deeply of love, making us the dwelling place of God, from which love really flows without measure to all and without exclusion. Amen.