A Reflection on The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Feast of Corpus Christi

Deu 8:2-3, 14b-16a
Ps 147:12-13, 14-15, 19-20 (12)
1 Cor 10:16-17
Jn 6:51-58

We all know how we feel when we haven't eaten all day. Our bodies soon alert us to the need for food by the pangs of hunger we feel.

Our soul and spirit can experience hunger also. We recognize this hunger as a deep yearning for union with our God. This feast of Corpus Christi, that we celebrate today, is a reminder for us of the gift of love that Jesus left for us on the night before He died; a gift that allows us to experience a measure of that union... His Body and Blood in the form of the consecrated Bread and Wine that we consume each time we receive Communion.

Through the priest's words of Consecration, we believe this ordinary bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ... that same Body that was sacrificed and Blood that was shed for us on Calvary. The Body and Blood that gives us life.

In today's Gospel of John, Jesus speaks to us of the importance of accepting and receiving His precious gift: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you." (Jn 6:53)

And again, "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in Me and I in him." (Jn 6:56)

In the Corinthian reading, Paul beautifully reminds us that we participate in the Body of Christ when we break the bread and bless the cup. And that "...we, though many, are one body..." (1 Cor 10:17)... a wonderful description of the community of believers.


~ Image by Hermano Leon Clipart