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I read recently that filming is going to begin next year In The Last Crusade<\/em>, Indiana Jones has spent the entire movie Before he has a chance to choose one, Eager to gain the gift of immortality, Bad idea.<\/p>\n Instead of gaining immortality, And now it\u2019s Indiana Jones\u2019 turn, The Guardian says, \u201cHe\u2026has chosen wisely.\u201d The meaning is pretty clear. When Jesus chose the Twelve, In today\u2019s gospel, Jesus himself comes not as a mighty warrior messiah or wealthy king, God works through humble, ordinary things and people. On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, And not only ordinary things like bread, wine, and fish, God wants to take the ordinary, simple moments of our lives At every Eucharist, What do you have to offer as nourishment When I woke up on the first day of school last fall, I was very nervous. Up ahead on Myrtle I saw an older man out for a morning walk, The next day as I drove to work he was out walking again, Our days are filled with little opportunities like that, Today we come before the altar The Solemnity of Corpus Christi celebrates the Body and Blood of Christ For an archaeologist like Indiana Jones, But for us who are believers, And when we say come forward at communion and say \u201cAmen\u201d We become On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi
\non the fifth Indiana Jones movie.
\nI guess everybody knows who Indiana Jones is,
\nthe swashbuckling archaeologist,
\nwho goes in search of artifacts
\nlike the Ark of the Covenant.
\nWell there\u2019s a scene in the third Indiana Jones movie, The Last Crusade<\/em>,
\nthat can speak to us today
\nas we celebrate Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ.<\/p>\n
\nsearching for the Holy Grail,
\nthe chalice that Jesus is supposed to have used at the Last Supper.
\nThe Nazis are also searching for it,
\nbecause it\u2019s rumored to grant immortality to whoever drinks from it,
\nand they want this powerful artifact for the war.
\nAt the end of the movie,
\nIndiana Jones is the first one to reach the secret location
\nwhere the Grail has been protected throughout the centuries
\nby a guardian knight.
\nBut when Indiana Jones gets there,
\nhe discovers that the Grail is hiding
\namong dozens of chalices of various shapes and sizes.
\nWhich one is the true Grail?<\/p>\n
\nhis rival appears, a guy named Walter Donovan.
\nDonovan is wealthy and influential, and working with the Nazis,
\nbut he doesn\u2019t know much about archaeology.
\nSo while he holds Indy at gunpoint
\nhis assistant Elsa chooses the most beautiful and ornate
\nof all the chalices
\nfor him to drink from.
\n\u201cOh yes,\u201d Donovan says,
\n\u201cit\u2019s more beautiful than I\u2019d ever imagined.
\nThis is certainly the cup of the King of Kings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nhe fills it with water and drinks from it.<\/p>\n
\nDonovan begins to age rapidly, older and older and older,
\nuntil he finally collapses into a heap of dust and is blown away in the wind.
\nThe Guardian of the Grail says,
\n\u201cHe chose\u2026poorly.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nand he begins to examine the chalices one by one.
\nFrom among all the gold and jewel-encrusted chalices that remain,
\nhe selects a simple, dusty, earthenware cup.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s the cup of a carpenter,\u201d he says,
\nand then Indiana Jones drinks from it.<\/p>\n
\nIndiana Jones has found the true Holy Grail.<\/p>\n
\nGod works through humble, ordinary things.<\/p>\n
\nhe did not go to the temple
\nand choose the most famous rabbis
\nor the most accomplished scholars.
\nHe went to the workplace
\nand chose ordinary fishermen.<\/p>\n
\nwhen the Twelve approach Jesus about the large crowd being hungry,
\nhe says \u201cgive them some food yourselves.\u201d
\nTheir simple, ordinary food of bread and fish are sufficient
\nwhen blessed by God:
\n\u201cThey all ate and were satisfied.\u201d
\nOrdinary bread and fish.<\/p>\n
\nbut as a humble carpenter\u2019s son.<\/p>\n
\nFishermen, not pharisees.
\nBread, not caviar.
\nThe cup of a carpenter, not of a king.<\/p>\n
\nwe are reminded
\nthat in every Eucharist,
\nit is the simple gifts of the earth,
\nthat the Spirit changes into the Body and Blood of Christ.<\/p>\n
\nbut also ordinary people like you and me.<\/p>\n
\nand turn them into Eucharist for the world.<\/p>\n
\nwe take what we have been given by God\u2014
\nbread, wine, our life situations, our very selves.
\nWe bring them all to this altar
\nand we do what Jesus did.
\nWe bless God, give thanks, and through divine, self-giving love,
\nwe share the gift of Christ himself.
\nWhen we come up to communion,
\nour \u201cAmen\u201d is a commitment to become what we eat and drink:
\nThe Body of Christ broken in service,
\nthe Blood of Christ poured out in love.<\/p>\n
\nthat makes Christ present in our midst?
\nA smile, a handshake, a hug?
\nIt can be as profound as a deep conversation with a friend,
\nor as simple as a wave of the hand.<\/p>\n
\nAs many of you know, this year I started a new job at a different school.
\nIt had been twenty-seven years since I had last changed jobs.
\nAs I drove to school that first day, my stomach was in knots,
\nI was all jittery, I was nervous.
\nI had left the house early in the morning
\nand was driving down Myrtle Street to get to 29th Avenue.<\/p>\n
\nand as I drove by he turned and waved at me.
\nI didn\u2019t know why he waved,
\nbut I waved back anyway, just to return the greeting.
\nThat exchange of waves actually helped me relax;
\nit was nice to get a wave from someone.
\nIt made me feel good,
\nand was a great start to my day and my year.
\nIt was a real moment of grace for me.<\/p>\n
\nand again he waved to me.
\nAfter a few days, I realized that he waves at everyone who drives by him,
\nand I saw him almost every morning during the school year.
\nNow that school is out and my schedule is different
\nI miss seeing him.
\nI don\u2019t know his name, I don\u2019t know where he lives,
\nyet each morning I saw him,
\nChrist\u2019s grace was present
\nthrough that simple, ordinary gesture,
\nthat attempt to connect as fellow human beings.<\/p>\n
\ninvitations to let the moments of our lives
\nbe blessed by God and become Eucharist.<\/p>\n
\nand, along with the gifts of bread and wine,
\nwe bring ourselves and our lives as gifts to God,
\nand God turns them into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ
\nas food that satisfies hungry hearts.<\/p>\n
\nmade present among us,
\nand reminds us
\nthat we don\u2019t really need to search for the Holy Grail.<\/p>\n
\nfinding the chalice Christ used at the Last Supper
\nis literarily and figuratively finding the Holy Grail.<\/p>\n
\nthe Holy Grail is not hard to find.
\nEvery chalice used at every Mass is a Holy Grail,
\nbecause it is Christ in the person of the priest
\nwho consecrates the bread and wine,
\nthe same Christ who held up the earthenware cup
\nat the Last Supper.<\/p>\n
\nas we receive the Body and Blood of Christ,
\nwe each become, in a sense, a Holy Grail,
\nIt\u2019s as St. Paul says in the second letter to the Corinthians:
\nWe hold a “treasure in earthen vessels.\u201d
\nWe are the earthenware chalice
\noffering Christ to a thirsty world.<\/p>\n
\nthe Cup of the Carpenter.<\/p>\n
\nas the simple gifts of bread and wine
\nbecome the Body and Blood of Christ,
\nmay we offer ourselves to God,
\nthe simple and ordinary moments of our lives,
\ngiving them to him as gifts
\nto be blessed and transformed into nourishment
\nfor a hungry and thirsty world.<\/p>\n