Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. This is a very special day in our church. Catholics believe that the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ at the consecration by the priest.
This is unique to the Catholic Church. Yet, less than thirty percent of Catholics believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. That is an astounding statistic for one of the core beliefs of our Church.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus said to the Jewish crowds: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
Lack of faith in the Eucharist is nothing new. As soon as Jesus said it a quarrel started among the Jews who said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” We see that even at the time when Christ made this statement there was controversy surrounding it. But Jesus went on to say: “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.”
This life within us is emphasized a few sentences later when Jesus said: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him.”
St. Ambrose wrote: “This bread is bread before the words of the Sacrament. But when the words of Christ come to it, it is the body of Christ … Before the words of Christ it is a cup full of wine and water. When the words of Christ become operative, the blood which has redeemed the people is caused to be there.”
Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila wrote: “The invitation to lift up our hearts at the most important part of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is an invitation by Jesus through the voice of the priest to give our hearts to the Father, as He gave His life for us. We prepare to make our hearts and lives a total self-gift to the Father as Jesus made Himself a total gift to the Father for us on the Cross.” And we reply “We lift them up to the Lord.”
By lifting up our hearts together we become one body in Christ. We bring the bread and wine to the altar, but we receive the body and blood of Christ. Through his body and blood, we become one with Christ and one with each other to form the true Body of Christ – the Church.
In the second reading the Apostle Paul elaborated on this: “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.” St Augustine has this to say about Paul’s writing: “If that is so, it is the sacrament of yourselves that is placed on the Lord’s altar, and it is the sacrament of yourselves that you receive.”
In the fourth century, St Augustine wrote about the concept of many becoming one loaf and many becoming the wine: “Now bear in mind that bread is not made of a single grain, but of many.” And he continued: “Think how wine is made. Many grapes hang in a cluster, but their juice flows together into an indivisible liquid.”
When the Deacon or Priest pours the water into the Chalise of wine he prays: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share in our humanity.” This mingling of divinity and humanity is much like many grains becoming one loaf and a cluster of grapes becoming an indivisible liquid.
So, it is with the Church. We, though many ,are one body; to love, to share, to serve others as Christ loved and served even the untouchables of his day.; the leper, the tax collector, and the sinner. When we receive Christ in his Body and Blood, we say “Amen” confirming that we believe and that we are one in Christ. We must love and serve the untouchables of our day; the immigrant, the prostitute on the street, the homeless on the corner asking for money, the family member whom we hate or just don’t associate with due to the past.
St Augustine said: “You reply “Amen” to what you are, and thereby agree that such you are. You hear the words “The body of Christ” and you reply “Amen.” Be, then, a member of Christ’s body, so that your “Amen” may accord with the truth.” We become one Body in Christ.
Gerald Darring wrote: “This is why the body and blood of Christ signify unity and peace: there is one Christ, and all who eat and drink the body and blood of Christ become one in the one Christ.”
Jesus spoke and acted with authority. When we receive the true Body and Blood of Christ, we become one with him and one body together. As one body with Christ, we are compelled to speak and act as Christ would in the world around us.
Saint Augustine said: “These things, my friends, are called sacraments, because our eyes see in them one thing, our understanding another. Our eyes see the material form; our understanding, its spiritual effect.“
In The Eucharist and the Hungers of the Human Family, the US Bishops wrote:
“The mysterious reality of the Eucharist—“My flesh is real food and my blood real drink” — is a
puzzle to some, a scandal to others.
It has always been so.
But for those who believe in Jesus’ teaching because they believe in Jesus Christ himself, the Eucharist
is, among all his gifts to us, the most cherished and the cause of our deepest gratitude.”
The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is what sets us apart from the rest of the religions in the world. Protestants receive communion in remembrance or as a reenactment of the Last Supper so it has little significance to them. I am a convert, and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, is why I am Catholic.
