Corpus Christi
Jun
10
Written by:
Sunday, June 10, 2007
June 10, 2007
We Catholic Christians have a very radical religion indeed. Corpus Christi, the solemnity of the Body and blood of the Lord, is my favorite feast day because it demonstrates just how radical our faith really is.
Our Church has believed for 2000 years that Jesus really hides himself under the appearance of bread and wine in the Mass. He does this so that we might both consume him and worship him. In a very real sense, he even permits us to see him in this life, and thus to gradually become like him both now and in eternity.
Jesus told us quite plainly, "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:53). Many of those who heard Jesus say this at the time were quite scandalized by this kind of talk, and scripture says that after hearing it, "they followed him no more (John 6:66). Who could blame them? The Mosaic law forbade Jews from drinking blood of any kind. They must have concluded that Jesus was both a law-breaker and a cannibal. Many of the Romans, in fact, also thought the early Christians to be cannibals for the same reason.
It takes a gift of faith to believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. It still looks like bread and wine; it smells like bread and wine; it even tastes like bread and wine, but in truth, the Eucharist is far more than that. When Jesus walked the earth, he didn't look like the Son of God either. In all outward appearances, Jesus looked like an ordinary man from northern Israel. Just as it took faith then to see Jesus as god, so today it takes faith to see Jesus in the Eucharist he left us.
This, then, is our opportunity to demonstrate our faith in Jesus, by the way we genuflect before the tabernacle, the reverence with which we receive the host, and the preparation we make before Mass begins. Do we thank Jesus after we have received him or are we too busy watching everyone else go up the aisle?
Yes, the Eucharist looks very ordinary, so that we might have faith in Christ. Thanks be to God for our radical faith in Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament!
Father Gary