June 6, 2010
The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
By Rev. Joe McCloskey, SJ
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets. Luke 9:16-17
Piety
We are a Eucharistic people. Our faith and our spirituality flows out of the life of Christ that is fed into us by the word of God and Eucharist. Baptism gives us the rebirth in Christ. Eucharist feeds the Christ life within us. How easy it is to take eating for granted. We have our own way of preparing a meal. The inexpensive meal that is tasty and good for us is what is common in our lives. We eat because we are hungry. We have some special meals that belong to our family history and the taste buds that family develops in us. I still like the favorite meals of my childhood. When I go out to eat and pay for a special meal, I want it to be good. Because I am a Depression baby, I like to be able to finish everything that is on my plate. I find it hard to waste something. Every Eucharist is special. Jesus is with us in a gift that is so special that there is nothing on earth equal to it. Christ gives us his special life. Jesus not only takes us into his life, but he also becomes a fullness of our life. In Christ we have our life and our love. How easy it is to take his presence for granted. What sort of reverence do I owe to Christ who takes me back in the Eucharist to his very dying for me? How do I honor the moment of reception of his gift of self? How do I prepare myself to receive Eucharist? There was a wine auction and my friend paid more than $6,000 dollars for a bottle of wine more than one-hundred years old. It was a wine that by taste was worthy of a ritual to show appreciation of the gift that was being shared. Three young men that were not wine drinkers who hurried to finish off the wine so they could get to their beer, shocked me by their cavalier attitude to the gift they were offered. They drank it without any awareness of its value. How often do I do that in my reception of Eucharist? Celebrating Eucharist each day has given me a cultivated taste for Christ in my life.
Study
“For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” I appreciate that Jesus takes us into a moment that is forever. Jesus died once and forever that we may bring our sacrifices into his. We fill up what is needed to the sacrifice of Christ for our world today. The humanness of Christ is safely ensconced in heaven. We are his humanness on earth. He, one human person, had to die and rise that he could be the many of us. The radical of filling up of what is wanting to the suffering of Christ’s body, the church, is what unites us all together in the work of redemption. We remember Christ by becoming Christ in all we say and do. We are called into his life by the Eucharist that makes us one with his dying for us and we become one with all by our dying for the world we would bring to his redemption. We are especially the Mystical Body of Christ at the moment of Eucharist by bringing all that we are together in his Name.
Action
The multiplication of the loaves and the fishes in the Gospel narratives is what gives us reason to believe in the multiplication of Christ in the Eucharist of Church. When we share our lives, we are Eucharist to those we share with. God teaches us in the Eucharist of others. “Wherever there is love, God is there.” The unending sacrifice goes on in all the ways we share our lives with others. The best actions of our lives are the eating his body which he gave for us. We grow in strength as we drink his blood which he poured out for us. The paradox of Eucharist is that the more we pour our lives out for the sake of others, the more Christ we have room for in our souls. Conversion turns us into Christ for each other. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ is best celebrated by our renewed zeal to share Christ with our world. Eucharist is the fullness of action in our lives!
