The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
The feast of Corpus Christi has arrived! With it, a core teaching of Christ, preserved and celebrated by His Church, is presented openly. This teaching is none other than the institution of the sacrament of the Eucharist by our Lord. As Catholics, we view the Eucharist as the source and summit of our spiritual life here on earth. It is through the Eucharist that we maintain the real presence of Christ, that which nourishes us both spiritually and bodily. Each time we receive communion, each time our priests consecrate their respective hosts, and each time we truly believe Christ’s proclamation, we find ourselves closer to Heaven.
For Jesus Himself said it best in our Gospel reading: “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”. Without Him I am nothing, apart from Him I can do nothing, and it is only with Him that I find joy in this world. For this world calls us away from Christ and rather towards itself. The vain life of the deceitful world will thus draw men to what they think is best. That which is “best” for me, “best” for those around me, “best” for my ego. And yet often time will tell that these endeavors for the self rarely lead to fruit, that treasures built up on earth are susceptible to decay, and that little of this earth will be taken with us when we leave.
It is in the Eucharist that we see the eternal promises of God, told to us and to a people before us ages ago. In our first reading, after the assent of the people of Israel to follow all that the Lord their God has commanded, Moses takes the blood of the sacrificed bulls and sprinkles the people. Moses seals this covenant made between God and His chosen people as he says: “This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words of His”. This covenant with the Lord, our God almighty, is offered to us in a similar manner through Jesus’ passion on the cross for us. It is only through His paschal suffering that the blood of the unblemished lamb can be offered to us for the atonement of sins and the future hope of bodily resurrection in Heaven.
This point is further expanded upon in the book of Hebrews when the author states that Jesus “entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption”. It is through this eternal redemption that the transgressions we are liable for can be washed away. It is also through His death that we could be shown the fullness and glory of the resurrection and what eternal life is to look like. It is through His church, which He left under the care of His apostles, that we can come to build His kingdom, on earth as it is in Heaven. This same church that now celebrates the most holy Eucharist at each and every Mass offered.
Let us rejoice then! Rejoice in His most holy body and blood, which is true food and true drink for us all. Rejoice in the Eucharist, given to man so that he may eat and hunger no more, that his spirit may be full for an eternity thereafter. And rejoice in the fullness of communion that the Eucharist provides us each and collectively. That Jesus remains in each of us as we remain in Him, that we are united as one body within His church that celebrates His sacrament, and that we anticipate the coming hope of an eternity together. An eternity with all the church triumphant, His angels, and Christ Himself in Heaven. Hallelujah Hallelujah!