Corpus Christi, The Body of Christ
A Reflection by
By Rev. Bob Johnnene OFM
Mission Sts. Sergius and Bacchus/
Franciscans of Mercy
The feast of Corpus Christi has very special significance in the Church.
In honoring the Eucharist, especially following the celebrations of the
Ascension and the Trinity the universal church proclaims one of the basic
beliefs of the Catholic faith, that in the Eucharist or Holy Communion as some
refer to it, we are receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
The feast of Corpus Christi is one of the most exalted mysteries of the Catholic
faith, since for sublimity and incomprehensibility to mortal man; it yields
nothing to the allied mysteries of the Trinity and Incarnation and is often one
that is challenged by other Christian denominations along with the other two
mysteries.
It is one of the mysteries that require you to have complete faith and
trust in God.
Recently Pope Francis had this to say about the Eucharist in his reflection
on the Seven Sacraments; “First,
the Eucharist affects the way we see others. In his life, Christ manifested his
love by being with people, and by sharing their desires and problems. So too
the Eucharist brings us together with others – young and old, poor and
affluent, neighbors and visitors. The Eucharist calls us to see all of them as
our brothers and sisters, and to see in them the face of Christ.
Second, in the Eucharist we experience the forgiveness of God and the call to forgive. We celebrate the Eucharist not because we are worthy, but because we recognize our need for God’s mercy, incarnate in Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist, we renew the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ for the remission of sins, and our hearts are enlarged to receive and show mercy.
Third, in the Eucharistic celebration, we are nourished as the Christian community by Christ’s Word and Life. It is from the Eucharist that the Church receives continually her identity and mission. It is in our celebration that Christ fills us with his grace, so that our lives may be consonant with our worship of God in the Liturgy. Let us live the Eucharist in a spirit of faith and prayer, with the certainty that the Lord will bring to fulfillment all that he has promised”. On Thursday, the feast of Corpus Christi in many countries especially Italy the Pope said this regarding the Eucharist; “To live the experience of faith means to let the Lord nourish us and to build our existence not on material goods, but on the reality, that does not perish: the gifts of God, his word and his body, The Body of Christ is the bread of the end times, capable of giving life, and eternal life, because the substance is this bread of love.”
Second, in the Eucharist we experience the forgiveness of God and the call to forgive. We celebrate the Eucharist not because we are worthy, but because we recognize our need for God’s mercy, incarnate in Jesus Christ. In the Eucharist, we renew the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ for the remission of sins, and our hearts are enlarged to receive and show mercy.
Third, in the Eucharistic celebration, we are nourished as the Christian community by Christ’s Word and Life. It is from the Eucharist that the Church receives continually her identity and mission. It is in our celebration that Christ fills us with his grace, so that our lives may be consonant with our worship of God in the Liturgy. Let us live the Eucharist in a spirit of faith and prayer, with the certainty that the Lord will bring to fulfillment all that he has promised”. On Thursday, the feast of Corpus Christi in many countries especially Italy the Pope said this regarding the Eucharist; “To live the experience of faith means to let the Lord nourish us and to build our existence not on material goods, but on the reality, that does not perish: the gifts of God, his word and his body, The Body of Christ is the bread of the end times, capable of giving life, and eternal life, because the substance is this bread of love.”
Because Holy Thursday is linked so closely with the final days of
Christ’s earthly life and therefore often with sadness it was very appropriate
that we celebrate the gift of that day to us of Christ’s body and blood on a
separate day to honor the Corpus Christi.
The Eucharist is often called “The
Bread of Life” because of the promise by Christ that; “He that
eats of My Flesh, and drinks of My Blood, lives in Me, and I in him” which
is found in John 6:54.
The words found in John 6 are a clear explanation of why we celebrate the
feast of Corpus Christi as a separate joyful feast and one that is affirming
and welcoming and clearly shows Almighty God’s infinite and everlasting love
for us.
In the Eucharist, we have been given Christ as a companion to us for as
long as we live and through partaking of this bread of life we receive the
strength to overcome the daily temptations that plague us. The Body of Christ
is a sustaining strength for us and therefore a life-giving source.
Paul’s letter to the Hebrews
9:11-15 proclaims the following; “the
blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through
the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do
our service to the living God. When we receive
the Eucharist, no matter if we receive it as just the bread or in the bread and
wine, we receive the Body and Blood of Christ which will nourish us and assist
us to reject temptations.
If only we all could have the kind of
love and devotion and belief young children have when they receive their First
Communion every time we receive the Eucharist.
I feel that as adults, we become
complacent and receive the Eucharist more out of habit rather than recognizing
what a wonderful gift God has given us in the Eucharist. If we approached the
table with more faith and devotion when we receive the Eucharist we might
receive and appreciate the gift Christ left us and be more open and willing to
live our lives as He instructed us. We
might become more concerned for the wellbeing of all the people of this world
and be more active in speaking up against injustice, poverty, war and genocide.
We might have to courage and strength to fight for fairness and equal rights
for all people regardless of their race, nationality, creed or sexual
orientation.
Prayer
O God, who in a
wonderful Sacrament has left unto us the memorial of Your Passion; grant, we
beseech You, that we may so venerate the sacred mysteries of Your Body and
Blood as to experience continually, within ourselves, the fruit of Your
Redemption. O Lord Jesus Christ, in the Most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored
and loved, with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of
the world, and by all who receive you into their bodies and souls, even to the
end of time! O Sacrament most holy! O
Sacrament divine! All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine! We
ask this in the name of our redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who lives
and reigns with God the Father, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world
without end. AMEN
