Every year on the second Sunday after Pentecost, we celebrate the feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, traditionally known as Corpus Christi. Like the Trinity, this is a mystery of our faith that has survived the test of time. Using human concepts and words, we still struggle to fully understand the mystery of this awesome sacrament.
Remember, at the Last Supper, Jesus shared bread with his disciples, telling them that this bread is his body and that they were to eat this in remembrance of him. As we heard in the gospel, he had told them that he was “the living bread that came down from heaven.” He then assured them that “whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
Jesus startled some of his listeners with this claim, along with the farfetched notion that whoever “drinks my blood has eternal life.” As we heard, “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’” Indeed, how can Jesus do that?
Many downplay what Jesus said, arguing that he is only speaking symbolically. Namely, that the bread represents his body and that the wine represents his blood. They see this ritual only as a commemoration of the death of Christ, and not as his endeavor to literally nourish us in this lifetime.
The core of our Catholic belief is that we take his words literally; that bread and wine, when consecrated, become for us the body and blood of Jesus Christ. He is truly present. When we receive the Eucharist in a state of grace, we are in fact consuming Jesus. Perhaps by now you are thinking that I am “preaching to the choir” as the saying goes yet after 31 years of being a priest I know many Catholics still do not believe what the Eucharist truly is. Otherwise every Mass would be standing room only.
St. Thomas Aquinas described the change of bread and wine as transubstantiation. I cannot explain how this happens but then there are many other mysteries I cannot explain either. What enables me to believe what Jesus has said is the awareness that God can do much more than we are able to do ourselves. If out of nothing, God can create all that exists and has existed, from the smallest creature to the largest star, who are we to limit what God can or cannot do? Since Jesus is the Son of God, then he is able to do what God the Father can do. Through the intercession of the Holy Spirit, our gifts of bread and wine are transformed into his body and blood because he wills that for our sake.
And if you are still skeptical, think of what happened on Easter when Jesus appeared to the apostles behind locked doors. That wasn’t a ghost they were seeing; in his risen form, Jesus could do things that no one had ever seen or done before. He invited them to touch him. He invites us to do the same when we consume his body and blood.
Flannery O’Connor, a Catholic author, tells the story of a Protestant friend who started going to Mass with her. After doing this for several months, her friend decided to become Catholic. When asked why, she replied, “Well, the sermons were so horrible, I knew there had to be something else that made those people want to come to Mass.”
Since the first Easter morning, the Eucharist has drawn Catholics together because this sacrament has provided them with strength and support, regardless of their age, ethnicity, gender and background. We call this sacrament Holy Communion because when we partake of the Eucharist, we are affirming our common belief in the tenets of our faith that sets us apart from other Christians. As Paul points out, it is the body and blood of Christ that unites us!
This feast reminds us that we are not here alone. We are a faith community, joined together, listening to the same scripture and breaking the same bread as our brothers and sisters throughout the world are doing, whether in cathedrals or prison chapels, openly or secretly.
That was no ordinary meal Jesus served at the Last Supper nor is this anything ordinary that we are being served today. Jesus makes the point that those who eat his flesh will have eternal life. “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.”
To limit our understanding of the Eucharist to a symbolic representation of Jesus is to risk forgetting that Jesus is truly present. The Mass is likely to become less meaningful for anyone who doesn’t believe in the real presence of Jesus and when that happens, the motivation to attend diminishes.
So, what is your reaction when you hear the words, “Body of Christ?” Do you truly believe that the consecrated host being offered to you is indeed the body of our Lord Jesus Christ? In response, those who do will say, “Amen,” for good reason. They are publicly declaring their belief in the real presence.
Although celebrated often, Eucharist remains extraordinary for those who believe. Even if we do not deem ourselves as being worthy to receive him, Jesus does. He wants to be one with us. No wonder this sacramental encounter is called Eucharist, which in Greek means thanksgiving. Like the healed leper who thanked Jesus for curing him, we too are grateful that we are being fed the manna we need to complete our journey to the Promised Land.