The Body and Blood of Christ (CORPUS CHRISTI)

The Body and Blood of Christ (CORPUS CHRISTI) June 11, 2023

Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14-16; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:51-58

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Augustinian nun Juliana of Liège had a vision in which a glistening full moon appeared to her. The moon was perfect but for some hollow dark spots which she was told represented the absence of a feast of the Eucharist. This led to the celebration of Corpus Christi which was introduced into the church calendar in 1264.

Why do 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).

How to understand the Eucharist in the Church today? Eucharist in the church can be understood as a communal sacrificial meal, offered by the community of believers along with the priest, to the heavenly Father together with Jesus for the remission of sins and as an offering of gratitude and thanksgiving. The Eucharist is essentially and of its very nature a community action in which every person present is expected to be an active participant and the priest presides over it. We are here, on the one hand, recalling what makes us Christians in the first place - our identification with the life, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. And that identification with Jesus is expressed not through a one-to-one relationship with him but in a community relationship with him present in all those who call themselves Christian.

The Feast of Corpus Christi reminds us that we as Christians possess an immense treasure. Jesus himself, through the Eucharist, grants to us the most powerful experience of intimacy possible within our earthly existence. In his teaching Jesus said, "I am the living bread that came down from Heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." With these words Jesus offered his own life for the sins of the humanity.

In today's first reading Moses reminds the Israelites of Yahweh's providence during their wilderness experience and tells them that they wandering in the desert could not have continued their journey without being sustained by God. He wants them to remember the special food, manna, God provided for them during their journey. The properties of the manna were intended to teach the people to trust in God. They had to trust that God would provide for them each day.  If they tried to set some manna aside for the next day, it spoilt overnight. Saving the manna was a demonstration of self-reliance rather than trust in God.

And in today's Gospel John picks up the theme of manna, and contrasts the bread the Israelites ate in the desert with the new bread of life given by Jesus. John says that, in the person of Jesus, there is a new Word of God and new bread from heaven. This Word of God has become flesh; and the new bread of heaven is the very life of Jesus himself. To eat this bread, says John, is to have a share in the life of God's own self, and to share eternal life. These verses contain the climax of Jesus’ ‘Bread of Life’ discourse, which announced a bold promise of eternal life for all who believe in him and partake of his presence in the Eucharist. In unmistakable language, Jesus identifies himself with the elements of our Eucharistic sacrifice, namely, the bread and wine. We feed on Jesus by believing or "taking in" his Word and acting on it, and by believing in and "taking in" his divine presence in the bread and wine. Just as we and the substances we eat and drink become one, so Jesus and those who feed on him form an intimate union. Jesus tells the people and the disciples that unless they eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, they will have no life in them. Eucharist is a gift, not just to be adored and revered, but also to be consumed, digested and lived by every Christian.

Let us live the Eucharist. Let us Take ourselves before God, Be Blessed by God, Break ourselves in Sharing what we have with others. The Eucharist thus becomes alive in us.

Happy Feast