Solemnity of Corpus Christi: Year B)

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Exodus 24,3-8; Hebrews 9,11-15; Mark 14,12-16.22-26: Solemnity of Corpus Christi: Year B)

          

The Church invites us today to celebrate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, that is to say, the mystery of the Eucharist in which our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man is truly, really and substantially present. The three biblical readings of this solemnity point to the central theme of Eucharist as sacrifice. The Eucharist is the sacrament that renders the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary, the sacrifice of the New Covenant and the new pact of friendship between God and man that is ratified in the blood of Christ, perennially actual. 

          The first reading from Exodus narrates how God, through Moses, made the people know about his Laws and Commandments. The people took it upon themselves to observe them: We shall observe all the commandments which the Lord gives us.  The pact was ratified by the blood of sacrificed animals, half of which Moses poured on the altar and then sprinkled the rest on the people. The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews declares the end of the Old Law whose function was to prepare for the coming of Christ and salvation through faith in Him. The unique, perfect and infinite valor of the sacrifice of Christ replaced all the sacrifices of animals of the Old Law. The entire blood of animals sacrificed, according to the Old Law, was substituted with the unique, immaculate and innocent blood of the victim of the perennial sacrifice, Jesus Christ. There is no more provisional Covenant or one for Israel alone; but a definitive Covenant, an eternal redemption, for all people. What is more, it is no longer an external purification ritual, but the purification of our consciences from dead works in order to serve the Living God. This is why Jesus at the institution of the Eucharist pronounced these words: this is my blood, the blood of the New Covenant, poured out for all. The Eucharist, the unique and perfect sacrifice of Christ, is sacramentally present under the signs of bread and wine to the praise of God the Father, for the expiation of sins and the imparting of graces to all people.

 

          The Eucharist, however, is not only sacrifice but is at the same time, a banquet, a meal to which all are invited. Christ established it in the context of the paschal meal - the Last Supper - with elements that are typical of banquet, bread, wine over which he said: Take, this is my body... then he took the chalice and gave thanks, and gave it to them and all drank. The celebration of the Eucharist (The Holy Mass) is simultaneously and inseparably sacrifice, and banquet. It is a sacrifice in which the sacrifice of the cross is perpetuated, the memorial of the death and resurrection of the Lord who said: Do this in memory of me (Luke 22,19). It is a banquet in which through communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, the people of God participate in the benefits of the paschal sacrifices. All Christians are invited to participate in the Eucharist as Vatican Council enjoins: Participating at the Eucharistic sacrifice, source and summit of the Christian life, the faithful offer to God the Divine Victim (Jesus); receiving the Body and Blood of Christ in the assembly (the faithful) manifest concretely the unity of the people of God, which is marvelously shown and expressed through this majestic sacrament. The participation in the Eucharistic liturgy should be active, pious, attentive and void of external and internal distractions. 

          As the Mass is the actualization of the sacrifice of Christ, it behoves us who participate in it to make ourselves sacrifices that are pleasing to God the Father by leading saintly lives and by uniting our individual sufferings and sacrifices of our daily lives to that of Christ, and taking on the style of life that reflects that of Christ and which finds concrete expression in the immolation of, and donation of ourselves for the love of others. Do this in memory of me means also. Do for your brothers and sisters what I have done for you. Looking at the Eucharist as a banquet, where the members of the family of God are gathered and all are nourished with the same bread and wine, Christ himself, the celebration of the same Eucharist enjoins us to live in brotherly and sisterly love, in harmony, heart to heart acceptance of one another, and sharing one’s goods (spiritual or material) with those who are in need of them. How can we take part in the banquet of love and at the same time nurse sentiments of rancor towards any one or live in disharmony or remain insensitive to the needs of the other? Let us therefore, pray in this Eucharistic celebration that the good Lord may offer us the graces to make the Eucharistic be really the center of our Christian life and express it concretely in the exigencies of our daily societal lives. Happy Celebration of the Solemnity of Corpus Christi! Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye