Corpus Christi, or the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, is that feast where we refresh our faith in the real presence of our Lord in the bread and wine consecrated in the Eucharist.
“The Church has always recognized that Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially present – in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity – in the Eucharist. The bread and wine consecrated…in the Liturgy of the Eucharist become the Body and Blood of Christ” (The Didache Bible, Jeffrey Cole ed., pg. 1372, 2021).
In the first reading, we hear of the King Melchizedek, who is also a priest of God the Most High, offering bread and wine. He then blesses Abram, on behalf of God. In this foreshadowing of the Holy Eucharist, the element of blessing is clearly present. In this vein, we need to say that Mass is a blessing. It is a blessing to be here, it is a blessing to be able to access Mass, it is a blessing to be part of a parish that offers Mass every day. In our rural diocese, we do not have to look very far to see churches and parishes where the faithful do not have access to Mass – not only daily Mass, but also Sunday Mass.
In the second reading from the Letter to the Corinthians, St. Paul speaks of the first and original Eucharist. In the Last Supper, before He underwent His passion, Jesus Christ offered bread and wine. He explicitly said that the bread and wine become His body and blood. There is a great trust here. God offers himself to us. Christ, the God-Man, entrusts himself to weak and sinful people. He knows our weak and sinful human nature, and yet He still offers Himself to us. “The Eucharist is…the active presence of Christ himself, who gives himself to us unconditionally so our lives might be united to his” (The Didache Bible, Jeffrey Cole ed., pg. 1372, 2021). Christ knows the weakness and sin of both the people of God, and of the Church’s ordained ministers. And yet, so to speak, Christ still takes the risk of leaving Himself in our hands.
In the Gospel, we hear of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and the fishes. My brothers and sisters, many of us pay attention to what we eat: we try to eat in a healthy way. Many of you have gardens, where your own vegetables are able to grow without pesticides or harsh chemicals. Our society pays attention to whether food is sustainably farmed, whether it is organic, whether it is not genetically-modified. We should all pay just as much attention to our spiritual food. We need physical food, but also the bread of angels. The Constitution Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council speaks of the Eucharist as the “source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium 11). The Mass is the source, the fount, of our Christian life. The Eucharist, the attendance at Mass at every Sunday, taking Holy Communion in a worthy way, keeps us nourished spiritually. What does it mean to take Holy Communion in a worthy way? The Bishops of the United States give us a good summary: “In order to be properly disposed to receive Communion, participants should not be conscious of grave sin and normally should have fasted for one hour. A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to receive the Body and Blood of the Lord without prior sacramental confession” (https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/the-mass/norms-for-holy-communion-under-both-kinds) By following these rules, we can receive the Lord in Holy Communion in a worthy way.
After the 11:00 a.m. Mass this Sunday, we will publicly demonstrate our faith in the real presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in a procession on the streets of our town. Let us give thanks for the blessing of the Mass, let us be grateful for the fact that Jesus Christ entrusts himself to us, and let us always receive Holy Communion in a worthy way. Let us pray to Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, that we can receive Holy Communion with the same love that she had for her divine Son.
(Fr. Pawel Ratajczak, OMI, June 19, 2022)