Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ
Probably each of us has a comfort food that we go to in times of distress or trial. Sometimes it’s a particular recipe from a loved one, sometimes it’s just a type of food like homecoming or an ethnic cuisine. It may betray my youth, but for me, pizza is definitely one of my comfort foods. There’s nothing quite like a few greasy slices of bacon and pineapple pizza to make me feel good inside.
The Eucharist is, or should be, our spiritual comfort food. It was prefigured by the manna in the wilderness that satisfied the Israelites in the desert for 40 years (which we heard about in our first reading). Psalm 78, speaking about the deliverance from Egypt and the sojourn in the desert for 40 years was meant to be a reminder of this spiritual food as it said, “God rained manna upon them for food; grain from heaven he gave them. Man ate the bread of the angels.” The very popular Corpus Christi hymn, “Panis Angelicus” in fact means, “Angelic Bread” or “Bread of the Angels.”
But the Eucharist is not simply a reminder. St. Paul tells us that when we receive the Eucharist, we participate in the Body and Blood of Christ. So many Catholics (a 2010 study by the Pew Forum put that number at 50%) do not believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, a cornerstone teaching of our faith. And yet, we heard Jesus very clearly in our Gospel today: “‘Unless you eat of the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.’” In order to share in the life of Jesus, we need to be connected to Jesus, and the best way that we can be connected with Jesus is by receiving His Body and Blood into ourselves in the Eucharist. And our belief about what the Eucharist is changes the way we act.
During the Eucharistic Prayer, as the bread and wine become by Transubstantiation the Body and Blood of Jesus, we kneel. We lower our bodies to express what is (hopefully) happening interiorly: the humbling of our souls as this miracle takes place. Even before we get to Mass the Church asks us to refrain from any food and drink which is not water or medicine for 1 hour before we receive the Body and Blood of Christ, so that we may truly hunger for Jesus. Some of you are old enough to remember a Communion fast which was much longer than just 1 hour! But we try to prepare ourselves by not brining in coffee or juice to the church, by not chewing gum during Mass, and by doing our best to focus all our senses on Jesus who humbles Himself to become truly present under the appearance of bread and wine.
The Church also asks us, based upon St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, to examine ourselves to see if we are in a state prepared to receive Holy Communion. Does our life witness to what the Church teaches as true? If not, if we find ourselves rejecting, either in thought or in deed, a major teaching of the Church, then we are asked to refrain from the Eucharist so that our communion with Jesus, which always means communion with His Mystical Body, the Church, may be real, and not lip service.
But besides the before of the Eucharist, there is also the after. If we receive the Eucharist worthily, then it should transform our lives. From time to time we may think, ‘If Jesus was walking this earth, then I would follow Him and live as a faithful disciple.’ Jesus does come to earth, especially through the Eucharist. In fact, we don’t even need to have the separation of Him being outside of us that the Apostles and disciples experienced. Jesus, in the Eucharist, enters into us so that we can be a faithful disciple. The reception of the Eucharist is meant to have an affect on the way we live our lives. It is meant to give us hope, give us strength, and help us to bring the gift of Jesus to those we encounter every day. Maybe people who encounter us wouldn’t know exactly why we’re different, but could people recognize the difference in us after we receive the Eucharist?
Jesus promised at the Ascension that He would be with us always, even until the end of the age. And He fulfills that promise in the Eucharist. Do we prepare to receive our spiritual comfort food? Do we examine our lives before receiving Holy Communion? And does our reception of the Eucharist transform us to be more and more like Jesus each week?
