Here is the text of Bishop Jaime Soto's homily on May 23 during Mass inside Folsom State Prison, on day three of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage in the Diocese of Sacramento.
The sacrament of the Eucharist is essentially sacrificial. In offering the Holy Mass, we offer the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We stand with the Blessed Virgin Mary and the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross. When we take into our hands the Body of Christ, we are receiving the crucified Christ that was glorified by the Father. We make his saving sacrifice our own.Take and eat. This is my body which will be given up for you. Take and drink. This is the chalice of my blood which will be poured out for you and for many. The Lord Jesus gives us more than his own body and blood, he offers us his one, saving sacrifice to the Father. He invites us into a personal communion with his sacrificial prayer to the Father.
Notice that in the words of consecration, the priest remembers the words of Jesus in the future tense “This is my body which will be given up for you.” “This is the chalice of my blood, which will be poured out for you and for the many.” The merciful mystery of the Eucharist brings us into the personal, living presence of Jesus as he offered himself to the Father in the upper room. Jesus personally invites us into his sacrifice so that we may in communion with him as he culminated his sacrifice by his last breath on the cross.
“Take and eat. Take and drink.” These are profound words that offer us unimaginable grace. These words also ask that we open our heart, that we take hold of Christ and embrace his sacrifice as our own.
Contemplating the sacrifice of Jesus, we now understand the words of Jesus in the gospel today (Mk 9:41-50). Jesus asked his disciples to sacrifice in themselves whatever will keep them from entering into the kingdom. He spoke of cutting off a hand, a foot, or removing an eye in order to enter into the fullness of life in the kingdom. His words are an invitation to walk with him to Calvary so that we may climb the stairway of the cross into heaven.
In the sacrifice of the Mass, we participate in the saving sacrifice of Jesus. Through the Holy Eucharist, the Lord’s sacrifice of Calvary becomes the one, saving sacrifice of the Church, the one Body of Christ offered by the Lamb of God for the glory of the Father.
There is another important element of the Lord’s sacrifice which we should ponder. In the one bread and the one chalice of the Eucharist the Lord offers himself for us and he allows us to offer ourselves with him for others. Our communion with Christ in the Eucharist is not just for ourselves. We cannot belong to Christ in the Eucharist unless we are in union with those who have become or will become his own.
The powerful communion of the Eucharist defies the walls and barriers we build with our hands or with our hearts. This too asks that we sacrifice ourselves and all with which the Lord God has blessed us so that we can possess the eternal treasure of heavenly communion now and forever.