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Corpus Christi Sunday
Jun
6
Written by:
Sunday, June 06, 2010
Corpus Christi Sunday
Pastor’s Column
June 6, 2010
It was such a thrill to celebrate Mass in Corinth on our pilgrimage following the footsteps of St. Paul two years ago. Of course, today, Corinth doesn't look anything like it did two thousand years ago when St. Paul lived and preached there. The ruins that we see today give little indication of how important Corinth was at that time. Now, all that is visible are rocks and columns lying about. The one thing from that period that has survived is the Mass! Though they called it the “Breaking of Bread” or “Eucharist,” Saint Paul would have recognized the essential elements of the liturgy we have today: the Body and Blood of Christ and the Word of God.
Listen again to what St. Paul says to the Corinthians in this Sunday’s second reading:
Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my Body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying “This cup is the new covenant of my Blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
What Saint Paul goes on to say a little further in his letter is even more interesting!
Everyone is to recollect himself before eating this bread and drinking this cup; because a person who eats and drinks without recognizing the Body is eating and drinking his own condemnation.
1 Corinthians 11:28
Clearly, the Christians of 2000 years ago celebrated the Eucharist essentially as we do today and truly believed that this was the Body and Blood of Christ! Do I recollect myself before I receive the Eucharist? Am I able to make an act of faith that this really is the Body and Blood of Christ? Do I know who it is that I am receiving? Is my soul in the state of grace? If I am aware of a mortal sin on my soul, I must go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation before receiving the Lord, so that I do not receive him unworthily. When I receive the Eucharist at Mass on Sunday I am connected in faith with St. Paul and the Christians of Corinth, and directly with Christ himself. Assisting at mass is the most awesome moment of our lives. Every Mass we have participated in worthily will remain forever, when all the other visible things of this world, like Corinth itself, have passed away.
Father Gary
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