SOLEMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI

“FOR MY FLESH IS TRUE FOOD AND MY BLOOD IS TRUE DRINK”

Jn. 6, 51-59

Rev. Alexander Diaz

Today the Church commemorates one of the most important solemnities. With this great feast, we commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist on Holy Thursday as an end of paying tribute to the Eucharist, as public worship and solemn adoration, love and gratitude.  That is why it was celebrated in the Church on the Thursday after Holy Trinity Sunday.  In the United States and other countries the solemnity is celebrated on the Sunday after Holy Trinity Sunday, with the objective that believers will have the opportunity to participate in the public worship of adoration.

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church, it goes back to the (XIII) thirteenth century.  Two extraordinary events contributed to the institution of this great feast: The visions of Saint Juliana de Mont Cornillon and The Eucharistic Miracle of Bolsena/Orvieto.

This is a very special day in which real Christians acknowledge the divinity and real presence of Jesus in this Holy Sacrament, publicly and without reservations.

Today, the Word proclaims our attention in the food of heaven.  The food is, together with the water, that which keep us physically alive and talking, but we know very well that our life is formed only of our fragile physical constitution.  While food and water maintain our bodies, we know that in our insides there are other realities that need food in order to help us grow.   

The Eucharist is the best way we have to sustain and preserve our divine life.  The body and blood of Christ is our first fountain of eternal life.  The Eucharist occupies the central place of our faith.  Many times I ask myself, if all Catholics are aware of this reality;  that time and time again we celebrate in our temples?  The Church opens, people come in to participate in the Mass. 

The entrance hymn begins. The priest begins the rituals and the assistants respond in a great voice, big realities that many times are not adapted in daily life.  The Eucharist is not a simple historical commemoration, it is indeed the presence of Christ, dead and resurrected, a sacrifice related to the one Christ made on the cross and brought to date under the veil of the symbols.  

The feast of Corpus Christi reminds and celebrates the Real Presence of Christ in this central sacrament, that is saved in the tabernacle for the sick and travelers, it is the worshipped light of the Eucharistic memorial celebration .

Vatican (II) Two  highlighted the new aspects of the fraternal Eucharistic banquet, the Lord’s memorial and act of thanksgiving, without forgetting the ancient aspects of the Sacrament, real sacrifice and presence.  It proposed itself that the people should participate “actively, fully and consciously”, hence it was decided that everything should be done in the peoples’ language, with a selected and abundant number of readings, a recovery of the prayers of the faithful, simplification of the rites and sharing of ministries.  

It is not a matter of being mute while the priest celebrates the Eucharist, but to actively participate in the celebration.  The celebration has gotten much better, especially among the base communities.  (Cariano Floristan, de Domingo a Domingo). 

 Saint Agustine calls the Eucharist: the sacrament of love, symbol of unity, bond of charity.

Sacrament of love: in front of the Eucharist, thru faith it can encompass some of the depth and intensity of the love of Christ, since this love is responsible of the Church and the Sacraments.  “Having loved His people that were in the world” 

Sign of unity:  Saint Agustine  “Our Lord put His flesh and blood in these things – bread and wine – that, as they are multiples within themselves are reduced to only one thing, because the bread, of many grains, becomes one thing, the wine made of many grapes, becomes only one substance.”

It realizes the Unity: “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf” (1 Cor 10.17).  Christ is the head of the Mystical Body that is formed by all the baptized.  If we receive Jesus in the Eucharist, we also receive our brothers and sisters. We receive communion with all of them: saints or not, friends or enemies.

Bond of unity: without the Eucharist there will be no love for others.  Each communion should make us grow in our love towards the others. The other should be our daily host.  The Eucharist should create within us the conscious decision to go towards others and give ourselves to them. 

We believe that when we receive communion, we make Christ ours, when in reality the truth is something else.  When we eat Christ, we are being eaten by Him. The Eucharist fails when we receive communion, not when we are communion.   “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me”. (Jn 6,58).  Saint Augustine  Sacrament of Love.

Amen!!