Corpus Christi Sunday!
Corpus Christi Sunday!
The famous Swiss theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar says it this way: "When receiving the Eucharist each person must remember that he is falling into the arms of God like someone dying of hunger in the wilderness of this life.”
Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ! Corpus Christi Sunday! This feast is the heart of our church and the heart of the lives of each one of us. Catechism of the Catholic Church 1322 says “The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life." Most of the Sacraments take place in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
The first reading from the book of Exodus (24:3-8) gives us solemn enactment of the Covenant with Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses reads the “book of the Covenant” to the people and they say, “We will do everything that the LORD has told us, Exodus (24:3).” This covenant sealed with a sacrifice, as Moses proclaims, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD has made with you according to all these words of his (24:8).” The Sinai ritual is a prototype of the Eucharistic covenant. We see this passage in Hebrews 9:18-20. Jesus uses the same words at the Last Supper, offering himself as a sacrifice that seals the new covenant. Today, in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus said to his disciples, “This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many (Mark 14:24).” The letter to Hebrews uses the Greek term ‘diatheke’ means covenant. Jesus came to establish the new covenant. In the first Corinthians 11:25, Paul quotes Jesus words and says, “After supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.””
The second reading is from the letter to the Hebrews, which was written for the Jews who were kicked out of the synagogues for accepting Jesus. The reading for today (9:11-15) compares the sacrifice offered by the High Priest in the Temple and the true sacrifice Jesus offered. Jesus is the Priest and sacrificial victim. We read in the book of Leviticus 1:3 “If a person’s offering is a burnt offering from the herd, the offering must be a male without blemish. The individual shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to find favor with the LORD…” In the Old Covenant between God and Israel was sealed through the sacrificial blood at Mount Sinai, the New Covenant between Christ and the Church is sealed through the blood of Christ.
During Jesus public life, he preached, healed, fed people, but he didn’t lose anything, but at the Last Supper when he said “this is My Body” and “this is My Blood,” he was looking at the Cross and that eternal sacrifice. The culmination of the new covenant is on Calvary and offered His life. He has to sacrifice everything to give us the “Bread of Life.”
On Sunday, June 6 on Corpus Christi Sunday, at the Angelus, Pope Francis said, “Jesus gives us the greatest sacrament. His is a humble gesture of giving, a gesture of sharing. At the culmination of his life, he does not distribute an abundance of bread to feed the multitudes, but breaks himself apart at the Passover supper with the disciples. In this way Jesus shows us that the aim of life lies in self-giving, that the greatest thing is to serve. And today once more we find the greatness of God in a piece of Bread, in a fragility that overflows with love, that overflows with sharing. Fragility is precisely the word I would like to underscore… In the Eucharist fragility is strength: the strength of the love that becomes small so it can be welcomed and not feared; the strength of the love that is broken and shared so as to nourish and give life; the strength of the love that is split apart so as to join all of us in unity... And there is another strength that stands out in the fragility of the Eucharist: the strength to love those who make mistakes. It is on the night he is betrayed that Jesus gives us the Bread of Life…. Each time we receive the Bread of Life, Jesus comes to give new meaning to our fragilities.”
Lumen Gentium 11 states, “Taking part in the Eucharistic sacrifice, which is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life, they offer the Divine Victim to God, and offer themselves along with it.” Every time we gather together to celebrate Mass, we bring ourselves as we are to offer to God; with our joy and sorrows, strength and weakness: our total life. We become one with Christ’s sacrifice. We receive nourishment and send out to continue the mission of Christ, to break and share our lives with one another like Jesus. It is not easy, it is painful. Jesus’ Body and Blood give us strength.
This years our cluster Eucharistic procession will be on Saturday, June 8, after the 4:30 pm Mass at St. Anthony and a meal follows. If you prefer to go for Mass in your respective parish, please come and join by 5:30 for the procession. Thank you!