Corpus Christi Sunday

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

 

          On Sunday, June 2^nd, the Church throughout the world celebrates the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

          The primary purpose of this celebration is to focus our attention on the Eucharist. At every Mass our attention is called to the Real, True, and Full, Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist ‘the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.’ ” (1374)  

          This is the key doctrine of the faith and a teaching that sets Catholics apart from most other Christians.

          The secondary focus of this celebration is the Body of Christ as it is present in the Church. The Church is called the Body of Christ because of the intimate unity which Jesus shares with his disciples – and with us

 

Gospel of John 6:51-54, 55-67

 

                   “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”

 The disciples quarreled among themselves, saying,

 “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

 

Jesus said to them,

                   “. . . unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and me in them.”

 

Then many of his disciples who were listening said,

“This is hard to understand and to believe; who can accept it?”

Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring and complaining about this, he said to them,

 

                   “Does this shock you? The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

 

As a result of this, many his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer followed him or believed in him.

 Jesus then said to the Twelve,

“Do you also want to leave?”

 Did Jesus mean that it is necessary to really eat his flesh and drink his blood?

Did Jesus mean that the bread and wine only “figuratively” represented His flesh and blood? 

 

Did Jesus ever imply that the Eucharist was just a mere symbol?

 

DID JESUS REALLY MEAN WHAT HE SAID?

 

          The disciples would probably not have been so outraged and scandalized if they had thought or believed that Jesus was talking only about a mere “symbol” of His Body and Blood.

           If they had misunderstood Jesus, thinking that He meant to literally eat His flesh and drink His blood – then Jesus could have very easily clarified his point. 

          And since “many” of the disciples left Jesus because of this teaching, Jesus would have certainly felt obligated to explain to them, if it was true, that he was just speaking in purely “symbolic” terms.

But Jesus did not make such a clarification.

 Why not?

 

THE HEART OF THE EUCHARISTIC CELEBRATION

           At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration is the bread and wine. There is an important symbolic meaning to these gifts of bread and wine:

·        They are gifts brought forward by the baptized to be presented to the priest, thus symbolizing the action and involvement of the community.

·        Bread and wine are not purely “natural” symbols as is water in Baptism, but are the product of cooperation between God the Creator and we as human beings. God does not make bread and wine; human beings do.

 THE GATHERING OF THE FAITHFUL

           We come to a particular place for the celebration of the Mass, being aware that our coming together is not like our coming to any other place.

It is the grace of God that brings us together in this place. It is in this coming together we form a sign that it is God who gathers us, and that now He will act. Both the priest and the assembly interact together. Everything that is said and done is done together, the priest and the assembly. It is all a sign of the Church as Christ’s body and Christ as the head of that body.

 EUCHARISTIC PRAYER

During the Eucharistic Prayer, Christ in the person of the priest, gives thanksgiving for the action and praise that He is now about to perform.

Through the hands of the priest that rest over the gifts of bread and wine, he prays:

 ·        asking the Father to send down His Spirit so that they may become the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ,

 ·        That those who take part in this Eucharist may be one body and one spirit.

 ·        The priest lifts up the true presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord, and

 ·        Presents them to God the Father as the perfect offering made to the glory of His name.

 In that moment, we as the Church are doing what Christ did and forever does: the Church offers His one Body, to which the Church has been joined, to the Father for the glory of his name and for the salvation of the world.

HOLY COMMUNION

Each one of us in receiving, eating, and ingesting the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are:  

·        now united to Christ in an intensely and deeply personal way.

·        now In the body of the gathered assembly, we become an enormous sign of Christ’s presence in the world.

 How should all this affect . . .

 

·        Our belief in God? 

·        Our relationship with Jesus?

·        Our relationship with each other?
·        Our living out our Christian life as Catholics?

 Let us pray,

“Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.”

 

        Strengthen our faith, reinforce our belief, and banish the darkness of doubt.  Help us to pray courageously, to do good to all, and to guard against losing the spiritual salt of our faith. Give us the resolve and the wisdom to be Jesus’ follower, even when it isn’t easy.  Help us to receive the truth of your presence in our lives.