SOLEMNITY OF THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST
After concluding the Easter feasts, the Church proposes we celebrate two great solemnities as a transition to Ordinary Time: The Most Holy Trinity and the Body and Blood of the Lord. This second solemnity which is ordinarily celebrated on the Thursday after the Most Holy Trinity is transferred to Sunday in some places, depending on the disposition of the Bishops, so that it can be celebrated in community and to go deeper into this banquet – a banquet that is precious, admirable, healthy and full of tenderness. Each Sunday the Christian community comes together to celebrate, as a family, this banquet, which becomes the center and summit of life.
The sequence for today says: “Here beneath these signs are hidden / Priceless things to sense forbidden.” There are experiences in life that need to be dug into and savored, because otherwise they cannot be known or understood. And so, it’s necessary to look – with more love and attention, and with adoration – at the Sacrament of the Eucharist, which is a reflection of the mystery of God. A God full of love that has decided to remain sacramentally amidst humanity, as proof of this love.
The first reading taken from the Book of Deuteronomy tells us: “He therefore let you be afflicted with hunger, and then fed you with manna, a food unknown to you and your fathers,
in order to show you that not by bread alone does one live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deut 8:3) Manna has been a symbol of divine food in the Bible. The biblical symbol of manna has a special weight. It is connected with freedom and communion with the most basic staple for not dying of hunger: was the bread of all. I say together with freedom because God had rescued them from slavery, and during their trek through the desert he showed them his faithfulness. The manna was a food for and from the desert, even though in the spiritual legend it is presented as food from heaven.
One important thing that the people of Israel had to learn was trust in divine providence, because the manna was only for that day. They could not be worried about the next day or the days after that. It was useless to store it because since the desert is so hot it would just rot. In the desert, the Israelites were called to trust in faith.
The second reading even though it is short, is precious: “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?” (1 Cor 10:16) This text expresses one of the biggest and most common aspects of the Eucharist: the Communion. Saint Paul wants to correct the divisions in the community of Corinth. The participation in the eucharistic cup (the cup of blessing) is a participation in the life from the Lord; the participation in the bread that is blessed in a participation in his body, in his life, in the story of our Lord. God unites us through the one cup and bread of blessing, through his divine life itself.
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” (Jn 6:54) Saint John understands that to eat his flesh and drink his blood (these are the two eucharistic elements) brings us to eternal life. The holy fathers have spoken a lot about the medicine of immortality, and Saint Thomas uses that in his antiphon of “O sacrum convivium” as “garment of the future glory.” The eucharist should be for community, for each individual, a true nourishment of the resurrection. On Thursday, as you know, my grandmother who had taken on the role of mother, passed away. Her agony started at 6:00pm. She received the Anointing of the Sick and an hour later she received Holy Communion, after that she started to fall asleep peacefully. Do you want to live for all eternity? Now we receive a foretaste of the life of the risen Lord in the sacrament and we receive in ourselves, as a pilgrim people, the mystery of our life after death.
The Eucharist touches our existence from the grateful celebration, the adoration given and the brotherly commitment. Corpus Christi invites us to charity, and especially today reminds us that we are called to communion and community.