6-7-26 Reflection for Corpus Christi
Corpus Christi
6-7-26
Today we
celebrate the great sacrament of the Eucharist, which is the body and blood of
Jesus Christ. It is not a symbol of
Christ’s body, it is really him. We know this because we have the testimony of
the apostles who at the Last Supper heard the words- “This is my
body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.”(Luke 22:19) and
the testimony and promise of Jesus who
said: “For my flesh is true food, and my
blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.
(John 6: 55-56) When we receive this sacrament of
the Eucharist, with full intent and
acceptance of this belief, then we become one with Jesus Christ and Jesus
Christ becomes one with our bodies and our souls. It is a known fact among those who work with
people who are dieting that “what you
eat is what you’ll become.”1 If
you eat foods with high caloric count, and that are filled with fatty or sugary
things, then you too will become fat. If you are more conscious of what you
eat, then your body will reflect that also.
If you eat the body and blood of Jesus Christ, if you accept that food
into your bodies and your souls with full intent and acceptance, then you
become more like Christ than you would without it. When are original parents Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, the
power of death, through their disobedience, entered the world. That power of
death brings with it fear and shame. That is why in the Genesis account, they
hid themselves in the garden when the Lord came to walk with them in the coolness
of the afternoon. Adam said to the Lord, when he asked him why they were hiding
from him- “I heard
you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” Then God asked: Who told you that you were naked? Have you
eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat?”(Genesis 3:9). It was not the nakedness of having no clothes that made Adam and Eve hide. This sense of nakedness they were
experiencing was that of guilt which left them with feelings of fear and shame,
of being exposed. Not only was their
disobedience exposed, but they became aware that they had disappointed the one
who had created them and who loved them.
And even today, when we are aware of our sins, we too can be caught in
that web of guilt, fear, and shame that can make us hide from God. Jesus came to reconcile (i.e., cause to coexist in harmony)2
us to Father that we might have once again access to the relationship that was
begun at the dawn of creation. Through
Christ’s gift of the sacrament of reconciliation, we are forever able to
restore, if we choose, that precious relationship forged in the dawn of
humanity’s creation. And when we are
ready and open to receiving the gift of the Eucharist, through reconciliation,
then we become united in body and soul the one who redeemed us and the one who
empowers us to endure faithfully the journey back to our true home with the
Father. For through his sacred redeeming
presence in us and empowered by the Holy Spirit which Jessus left us within his
church then the fear and shame that sin causes are cast out. And when that happens, the power of death,
that came into the world through sin, has no more power over us. Will we physically die? Yes? But our souls will not die. Only that which holds the soul will die. And in the resurrection, that has been
promised to us through Christ, God will restore to us our bodies, in a form that
glorifies, the true and eternal nature of our being. “What eye has not seen, and ear has not
heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for
those who love him,….”(1Corinthians 2:9) Furthermore, the unity and blessing that the sacrament of the Eucharist
brings to us is echoed in our second reading this weekend from that same letter
in which Paul says- “Brothers and sisters: 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? (Corinthians 10:16). “ A
pastor once visited an elderly woman in his parish named Mabel. She was nearing the end of her life and
wanted to speak with him about her wake and her funeral. She told him that when the time came, she
wanted, at her wake, to be laid out in the casket with a fork in her hand. The pastor was puzzled. “Why a fork, he asked?” Mabel smiled, “Because at every
church supper I ever attended, when the dinner plates were cleared, someone
would always say, ‘Keep your fork.’ That meant something better was coming.
Dessert was on the way. So, when I am
laid out in the casket and people see me holding a fork, I want them to know
that, for a Christian, the best is yet to come.” The next day during his sermon at the mass for the woman, the pastor said, “Later today
you all will probably forget what I had to say in this sermon for Mabel, but I
am sure you will never forget the fork in Mabel’s hand and what it meant.”3
In
the Eucharist, is the living presence of Christ, our savior. That presence, in face of all uncertainties,
even death can cast out all fear. So, we
are not to be afraid, for we have been redeemed, restored, and we are called to
live that truth and that joy. For
through the eucharist, we have united ourselves with a perfect love and that love
of Christ that casts out all fears. May this feast of Corpus Christi fill you with joy, hope and the
assurance that:
The
Best Is Yet to Come.
1. 1. Physiologie du Goût,, Jean
Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 1826
2. 2 https://www.bing.com/search?q=what+does+reconcile+mean
3. 3.Voicings.com
