June 26, 2011
Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
Be careful not to forget the LORD, your God...who guided you through the vast and terrible desert with its saraph serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers, that he might afflict you and test you, but also make you prosperous in the end. Deuteronomy 8:11a, 15-16
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17
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. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever." John 6:57-58
Piety
A voracious appetite for the Lord is a good thing. We can never get too much of a good thing. Our piety which is our relationship with the Lord must be fed. How hungry am I for Christ is a valid question of spirituality? Growing children seem always hungry and never seem to get enough to eat. They are the envy of older people who show too much eating in all the wrong places. The reverse takes place in the Spiritual life. We grow in our hunger for Eucharist as we mature in the spiritual life. There is a growing desire for Eucharist in the Eucharist feeding of our lives. We can never get too much of a good thing is truer of Eucharist. We are a Eucharistic people who should have an insatiable hunger for Christ as we grow closer to him in our spiritual life. We discover for ourselves by celebrating Eucharist that we are a Eucharistic people.
Study
We study what Jesus meant to say by telling us that by eating and drinking of his Body and Blood that we would live forever. Eucharist is our claim on everlasting life. Many of his disciples find this a hard saying and leave him because they do not see how Christ could give them his flesh and blood. Christ is the life of the world. He is the life’s blood of our Spiritual life and he nourishes us when we eat of his Body and drink of his blood. By our Eucharistic feed we continue to grow in the life of Christ within us. We need to be able to say that we live no longer, but Christ lives in us. Christ makes this true with our sharing of the Eucharist. The Eucharist is not just simply the food of our Journey. We are a Eucharistic people and partaking at the table of the Lord allows us to grow. We need Eucharist if we want to grow in our Spiritual life. Christ came to us by our baptism. He grows in us by every Eucharist we share. He brings us into his life even as we bring him more and more into our lives.
Action
Eucharist gives me in its sharing a reason to love those with whom I share Eucharist. One with the Lord brings oneness with all those sharing Eucharist. Eucharist brings a unity that is on the deepest level of life. We become part of each other. Family and blood relationship gives a reason to share. There is no greater relationship with God than sharing Eucharist together. We have God’s life within us. I have never felt burdened by two or three Masses on a given day because Eucharist touches the deepest level of life. Jesus is giving himself to us. We have more and more of Christ’s life within us as we allow our hearts to be claimed. Jesus does not force himself on us. God is everywhere in life. But Eucharist is the special presence of the Love of God that claims a heartfelt response.
