Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ, June 19, 2022
Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11b-17
One day a man went to the priest and said that he could not believe that the bread on the altar can be transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. The priest said that it is really easy. We all eat so much of bread and other materials and they are quickly changed into our flesh and blood. It is a miracle of nature. The man was not convinced. He asked how the huge body of Jesus can be contained in a small host. The priest took him out and showed him the scenery. He asked him how this entire scene can be contained in a little eyeball and all is visible to him. The man still would not accept it all. He said how one Jesus can be found in every church at the same time. The priest then brought a small mirror and asked him to look into his own image there. Then he quietly dropped the mirror and it broke into hundred pieces. He then asked the man to look into each piece and asked how he was now seen in hundred pieces and he is still the same. The man was now convinced that Eucharist is truly a miracle and Jesus was found everywhere body and blood.
Why at all we need a feast of the Eucharist? A feast like this affords us the opportunity to give God collective thanks for Christ’s abiding presence with us which is made visible in the Eucharist. It is also an opportunity for us to seek a better understanding of the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ and to order our attitude to it accordingly, since the Eucharist is a sacrament of life which, if misused, could bring about the opposite effect. As St Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “All who eat and drink in an unworthy manner, without discerning the Lord’s body eat and drink judgment against themselves. For this reason many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Corinthians 11:29-30).
Today’s Scripture readings contain three themes: the Eucharist as blessing or praise of God (action of Melchizedek in Gn 14:18-20), the Eucharist as memorial of what Jesus did at the Last Supper (1 Cor 11:23-26) and the Eucharist as food for the multitudes (Lk 9:11b-17). The never-ending supply of bread with which Jesus fed the multitude prefigured his own Body, the consecrated Bread that sustains us until he comes again. The Eucharist is also a re-enactment of Christ’s sacrificial Self-giving. The Jews offered animal sacrifices to God, believing that life was in the blood, and the animal blood was a substitute for human lifeblood. Following this Jewish tradition, Jesus offered his own lifeblood as a substitute for the lifeblood of all human beings and, so, sealed the New Covenant made between God and humankind (1 Cor 11:25), bringing new life to the world. The Corpus Christi readings remind us of Jesus’ offering of his Body and Blood which serves in the Church as a lasting memorial of His saving death for us. We renew Jesus’ Covenant by participating in the banquet of his Body and Blood, a banquet that, through his death, gives us life.
We understand that Jesus gives his disciples the Eucharist. Eucharist means thanksgiving and blessing. We express our gratitude to God for all the gratuitous gifts God has given us in Jesus and we offer back to him the gratitude in the form of bread and wine. Eucharist means a Blessing. Blessing actually means prayer of praise and glorification for all the Lord God has done for us in Jesus. It is a meal shared by the community in the name of Jesus. It is a sacrificial meal, meaning it is an offering to God as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus uses here the symbol of a simple meal to show his presence to us and chooses to remain in the form of simple bread and wine, a poor person’s meal.
The Feast sums up three important confessions about our Faith.
First is that God became physically present in the person of Christ, true God and true Man.
Secondly, God continues to be present in His people as they form the Mystical Body of Christ in his church.
Thirdly, the presence of God in the form of bread and wine is made available to us on the altar at Mass and preserved there for our nourishment and worship. Jesus gives us his Body and Blood so that he might live in us and become life for the world.
The presence of the Eucharistic Lord demands our deepest reverence in our day today life. A simple bow helps us to acknowledge before God our humility and our worship to him.
Just as Jesus took the bread, broke and gave to his disciples, we too in our life take ourselves before the Lord, break and share ourselves in the service of those suffering humanity.
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