June 14, 2020

Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

Homily of Father Peter Gideon

“My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”

The Solemnity of Corpus Christi complements the liturgy of Holy Thursday when Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. It arose in the Middle Ages as an expression of the faithful’s devotion to the Blessed Sacrament. It was celebrated first as a local feast and then Pope Urban IV made it a universal feast in 1264. It became associated with processions through the towns and villages of Europe during which the monstrance which contained the sacred host was carried under a festive canopy and the crowds knelt as the Blessed Sacrament passed to receive the blessing.

The task of composing the liturgy for the feast was given to the great Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas. He created the well-known antiphon to accompany the singing of the Magnificat. This antiphon, which begins with the Latin words O sacrum convivium, brings out some of the riches of this wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist especially as it relates to the past, the present and the future: “O sacred banquet / in which Christ is received, / the memory of his passion is renewed, / the mind is filled with grace / and the pledge of future glory is bestowed.”

We see these three aspects of past, present and future in our scriptures as they speak of the Eucharist. We are reminded in Deuteronomy how Israel in the past escaped from the slavery of Egypt and celebrated this freedom at the Passover meal. But God continued to feed them with manna as they made their hungry way through the desert to the promised land. And then later Jesus himself at Passover celebrated a meal with his disciples at which he gave them his body and blood, which looked forward to his sacrifice on the cross. At each Mass the past is remembered, and Jesus’ death is recalled.

But at the Eucharist Jesus’ body and blood are really present now under the appearances of bread and wine. It is the crucified and risen Christ who is received in this sacred meal. In the Gospel Jesus emphasises the reality of this present food, “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” We receive life from Jesus, the life he

shares with his Father. This food is a present reality; it feeds us now.

And, thirdly, the Eucharist looks to the future and points forward to that final banquet which we will share in heaven. A pledge of future glory is bestowed at every Mass: “Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.” We may proclaim after the consecration: “When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim your Death, O Lord, until you come again.” Then we are invited to the supper of the Lamb.

At this great feast of Corpus Christi we can reflect on the past, present and future riches of the sacrament and let our lives be filled with Christ’s grace. We need to keep in the front of our minds the historical reality of the cross to remember how much Jesus suffered in his flesh for us. He left the Eucharist as a way of reminding us of the sacrifice he made. But in the Eucharist that sacrifice is made present for us today and becomes a call for us to share our lives as Jesus did. He fed those who were hungry, he satisfied their spiritual needs with his words and then he gave himself to them, body and blood. Now he nourishes us with this bread from heaven. We go to Mass to show our devotion and to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. But we are also told to imitate what Jesus did. He still shares himself at each Mass and at each Mass he invites us to do the same: “Do this in memory of me.”

And finally, this feast can remind us that we are on a journey. We are pilgrims. Here is no abiding city. When we get too settled in our worldly ways and live as though this world is all that concerns us, the Eucharist reminds us of our true destiny. We hear the priest say, just before communion, that “we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ”. We are called to share in that final heavenly banquet with God and all the saints. Even as we prepare to meet God, we are given food for that journey. We receive the Blessed Sacrament as viaticum, food for the final journey.