The Body and Blood of Christ
Community Celebrating &
Covenant Connecting
May I suggest that these statements are at the core of the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. They are combinations of nouns and verbs and they help us to appreciate both the substance of Body and Blood and the action they inspire. This feast is situated at the end of a transition period from the Easter Season back to Ordinary Time and is peppered with four huge feasts. First is the Ascension during which Jesus both commissions the disciples with several action words AND his dramatic Ascension into heaven right in their sight. Next is the Pentecost event, during which the Holy Spirit gives the disciples what Jesus commissioned them to do, not simply what they thought they needed. Thirdly, we celebrated the very identity of our ONE God manifest as three persons in the Trinity. This helps us to see a God who is always in relationship between the persons and us as well.
This weekend we mark the last of the four. We celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ. For years the Latin title for this feast was Corpus Christi, or the Body of Christ, putting the emphasis on only one of the elements that Jesus chose to identify himself with and then give to us as a gift. For many years, there was no mention of the Blood of Christ. The truth is, Jesus used TWO elements to identify himself with during the Last Supper – Bread and Wine. I believe so strongly in the action of Jesus giving himself to us in the Eucharist as a gift – the greatest gift – that He, as the second person of the Trinity, gives.
It is grounded in the gift that the first person, God the Father, gives and that is His very self. God gives HIMSELF to us in the form of the human Jesus, and Jesus giving HIMSELF to us in the Eucharist. This is very clear when we recount His sacred words of institution:
“Take this All of you and Eat it. This is my Body,
which will be GIVEN up for you.
Take this all of you and drink from it.
This is the Chalice of my Blood, the blood of the new and eternal Covenant. It will be poured out for you … Do this in memory of me.”
The institution of the bread and cup both begin with an action word … TAKE. Take this because He is giving us not simply a gift, but the GIFT of HIMSELF, sealed in the Eucharist. In a profound moment of grace, we open ourselves up to receive this greatest of gifts, and seal the holy covenant by proclaiming AMEN.
As we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, let us situate it in the dramatic action of the series of feasts that both conclude the Easter Season and flow into Ordinary Time. The Ascension Commission that Jesus gives includes the action words … Go, Make, Baptize, All, Teach and Behold the everlasting presence of God to the community of disciples. Pentecost is a feast of an active and Holy Spirit that continues powerful activity in us, the community. These actions started the Church. The Trinity is active by nature, three persons of the ONE God, constantly connected and in relationship with each other and with us. That is a lot of action in a few weeks!!
St. Paul tells us that WE are the Body of Christ, the community of believers marking both what we receive and who we are at the same time. That is something to be celebrated. Covenant is an essential word used by Jesus to mark a connection with us. God extending a hand to all humanity in the desert is a spiritual bond that Jesus Christ fulfills every day through the sacred celebration of the Eucharist. This sacred connection is punctuated by the words Jesus said while holding and giving the cup.
Bread and Cup. Body and Blood. Two manifestations of God in our midst, who gave himself to us in the form of Jesus, who gives himself to us in bread and wine. In all of this, there is a sacred melding of physical realities and spiritual entities, nouns and verbs, the physical elements of bread and wine are vehicles for spiritual giving action of God. Community Celebration and Covenant Connection. Let us celebrate community as we deepen our connection with God and each other in His covenant.
Adoration Chapel
A wonderful way to focus on the Body and Blood of Christ is to spend time in our beautiful Adoration Chapel that is located near the east entrance of the Narthex. It offers a quiet, sacred place to meditate on both the REAL physical presence of Christ and the covenant that we have with him. I suggest reading a passage of scripture, ideally one for the coming week’s Mass, simply sit in silence, focus on the scripture and trust in the Real Presence of Christ with you as you do. Try it.