Corpus Christi
This Sunday we celebrate the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ also known as Corpus Christi. In many places throughout the world the Feast of Corpus Christi would have been celebrated last Thursday but we in Ireland and many other places in the world celebrate this feast on the weekend after Trinity Sunday. The first reading tells us that the Israelites were told to remember how God led them through the wilderness and provided for them, emphasizing that they should not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from God’s mouth. It warns against forgetting God and becoming proud in their own abilities and possessions, as it was God who brought them out of slavery in Egypt and gave them abundance in the Promised Land.
In the Gospel Jesus teaches about the necessity of consuming His flesh and blood to gain eternal life. Jesus explains that His flesh and blood are real food and real drink, and those who eat and drink them will abide in Him and have eternal life. When we see the Eucharistic Bread, we believe that it is Jesus who is there before us. We are in the presence of the one who rose from the dead at Easter, The Church teaches that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.” (CCC 1324) This means that, because Christ is really, truly and substantially present in the Eucharist, we recognize that all the graces we enjoy as Catholics come from this great Sacrament, and all we aspire to, the fullness of the life of God, is contained in this Sacrament. Gathered at the Eucharist we bring ourselves to God.
We bring prayers for our needs and the needs of others to church because they raise our hope in the power and love of God to help us in our needs. We have this hope because God is with us and continues to be with us in good and bad times through the sacramental life of the Church and through the Eucharist in particular. Because of God’s faithfulness, we present our needs, give thanks, and offer sacrifice. The celebration of Corpus Christi is there to remind us that the great gift of the Eucharist is a both a gift and a mystery. Jesus is present with us in a way that is really beyond our understanding. We take Him into ourselves when we receive communion. We are united to his sacrifice on the Cross for all of us when we pray the Mass in its fullness. We come into His Presence whenever we are in Church where the Eucharist is reposed in a tabernacle or exposed on the Altar.
Over the centuries By following in our Lord’s footsteps, many Christians have made great sacrifices, for their faith. Then as now, it begins with each of us humbly asking God to show us the way to go and to provide the strength needed to follow in his footsteps. This strength we need to follow Jesus comes from the Eucharist the Bread of Life. We feed on the “living bread” that is Jesus and then, we are called to go out to be the living bread for others as we show what it means to be a follower of Christ to the people where we are.
Fullerton T 