May you become in your attitude, thoughts, words and actions like Jesus whom you receive in the Eucharist to the extent that you can exclaim like Saint Paul: I no longer live but Christ lives in me! Happy Solemnity of Corpus Christi Domini. + John I. Okoye
DOCTRINE AND FAITH
This Sunday, we celebrate on the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. What we celebrate in this solemnity is the mystery of the real presence of flesh and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. The aim of this solemn celebration is three fold: to make us always aware of what a great and generous gift this sacrament is; to keep our faith alive and convinced of the realities of this sacrament and to exhibit sentiments of gratitude to our Lord Jesus Christ who instituted this sacrament on the night in which he was betrayed, as a sign of his extreme love for us.
In the first reading from the book of Deuteronomy two imperative verbs dominate: remember and do not forget. Moses continuously reminds the people of Israel to always have alive in their minds all that God has done in their favour: Remember the paths the Lord God had led you through all these 40 years in the desert... Do not forget that he brought you out of Egypt, the country of your bondage and slavery...; that He led you in this vast dangerous desert; that he caused water to gush out from the rock for you; and that he fed you with manna in the dessert. The people of Israel should for no reason forget these favours God wrought on their behalf, either from the motive to remain grateful to God or that of remaining faithful to him in times of trials. Also in this solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, the Church exhorts us, the present people of God, not to forget but always remember all the Lord did for our salvation; deeds that are manifest in the passion, death and resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. With St. Thomas we are not to forget that the Eucharist is the greatest of all the marvelous deeds of Christ and the admirable sign of his deep love for his people.
The gospel reading of John 6, 51-58 can be seen as a homily or a dense catechesis on the Eucharist. In an unmistakable language Jesus declares that his flesh is food and his blood is drink: My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is true drink. The phrase flesh and blood is rich in meaning. On the literal level, it is a common way of characterizing a human being. When applied to Jesus, it is a proclamation of faith in the incarnation. He was indeed flesh and blood. On another level, it calls to mind the victim of sacrifice that is first slaughtered (flesh and blood) and then shared at a cultic meal (food and drink). Jesus is flesh and blood in this way as well, first as the sacrificial victim on the cross and then as food and drink. Thus the flesh and blood of Jesus have become a source of life for those who partake of it. In other words, eternal life comes from feeding on Jesus, not simply from believing in him. Jesus goes a step further on his teaching on eternal life. He implies that it is not something believers merely hope to enjoy in the future. Rather those who share in this meal already possess eternal life. What the future holds for them is the fullness of life that will be enjoyed after the general resurrection on the last day. The course through which eternal life passes from God to us is simply sketched. The living God, the Father of Jesus, is the source of this life; Jesus already enjoys it because of his intimate union with God; believers already enjoy it because they feed on Jesus who is the bread of life. Jesus further develops the eating metaphor. He maintains that just as we and the substance we eat and drink become one, so Jesus and those who feed on him form an intimate union. In a mutually intimate way, they abide in him and he abides in them. The Greek word used here (meno) means to stay in a place, to abide forever. This implies that Jesus not merely visits those who feed on him, but he really stays with them; he dwells there permanently. Union with Jesus is as intimate as the act of eating and the mutual indwelling those results from it is just as personal.
Jesus’ teaching to give his flesh and blood as food and drink was a bold one. Paul stretches it further. He states that partaking of the bread and the cup not only joins us with Christ, but actually makes us participants in the body and blood of Christ. Humanity and divinity are joined in one. The Eucharist is a sign of unity in another way. Joined to the body and blood of Christ we are joined to one another. We are one body and that body is Christ. The Eucharist is a truly a celebration of thanksgiving for our transformation and thanksgiving for our unity.
What should be our response to this wonderful and marvelous gift to us, Catholics? On one hand we Christians should not fail, out of sheer lukewarmness or spiritual laziness, to often nourish ourselves with this spiritual food. On the other hand, receiving the Eucharist often should not be out of habit, rather we should approach the Eucharist with the best disposition of the soul, that is, with strong faith, ardent desire, in the state of grace and with the intention of imitating Jesus, thereby allowing him to transform us into himself. May we therefore, ask Jesus in the Eucharist today for the grace to realize and appreciate the immense love he has for us by establishing this sacrament and the grace to requite this love by allowing him to transform us in such a way that we no longer live in ourselves but He (Christ) lives in us. Happy Solemnity of Corpus Christi +John I. Okoye
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