CORPUS CHRISTI
This Sunday we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi in some places this celebration took place last Thursday. It seems so strange that we have been unable to receive the greatest gift from God the Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist during the corona virus instead we have been making a spiritual communion but that is not the same. let us remember the importance of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ! The Body and Blood of Christ is an eternal testament to the unconditional love of God for us. Throughout history, this love has been shown to the people of God by God, over and over again, as partially described in the first reading from Deuteronomy. The second reading from 1 Corinthians reminds us that receiving the Body and Blood of Christ is the participation in the life of Christ and that we are one body. In the Gospel passage according to John, Jesus tells the Jewish crowds and us that he is the living bread,
that the living Father sent him, and that we have life within us because of these things. We are spiritually alive and eternally connected. When we see the Eucharistic Bread, we believe that it is Jesus who is there with us: such is our faith in the Eucharist the bread of life. We are thus in the presence of the Resurrected One, He who has conquered death and who is now in Heaven, in the Glory of the Father! Only God can have a Heart so full of Love that he invites us in this way to contemplate him with the eyes of faith, for our eternal happiness, for his own Glory, forever and ever! Not only as individuals does Christ call us to store up eternal heavenly treasures, as opposed to earthly treasures which decay, but we are also called as a people to live virtuous lives. Sadly, we see the moral decay in our own time. By following in our Lord’s footsteps, Christians over the centuries have sacrificed greatly, in a labor of love, for their faith and their Christian way of life. Then as now, it begins with each individual humbly asking God to show the way and to provide the strength needed to follow in His footsteps. Gathered at the Eucharist even through the webcams we bring our prayers to God especially during this COVID19 Pandemic.
We each have our own needs. Friends are sick. Kids need work. The person who has been in our lives for so long has died. There are so many other needs as well and we bring our prayers to church because they remind us of our need and they raise our hope in God. We have this hope because God has rescued us and continues to rescue us time after time. Our relationship with God has produced fruitfulness, satisfied our longings, and brought us peace. Because of God’s faithfulness, we give thanks, offer sacrifice, and once again present our needs on this feast of Corpus Christi knowing that we will be heard by the Father in heaven who loves us with an everlasting love and does not give up on us or let us down.
Fullerton T 