The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary for The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) challenge us to contemplate our desire for communion with Christ.
In the reading from the Book of Exodus, Moses hears the people proclaim ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.’
* [24:4] Sacred stones: stone shafts or slabs, erected as symbols of the fact that each of the twelve tribes had entered into this covenant with God; see 23:24; Gn 28:18.1
Psalm 116 is a thanksgiving for recovery from illness.
* [Psalm 116] A thanksgiving in which the psalmist responds to divine rescue from mortal danger (Ps 116:3–4) and from near despair (Ps 116:10–11) with vows and Temple sacrifices (Ps 116:13–14, 17–19). The Greek and Latin versions divide the Psalm into two parts: Ps 116:1–9 and Ps 116:10–19, corresponding to its two major divisions.2
The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews declares Jesus is the mediator of a new covenant.
* [9:11–14] Christ, the high priest of the spiritual blessings foreshadowed in the Old Testament sanctuary, has actually entered the true sanctuary of heaven that is not of human making (Heb 9:11). His place there is permanent, and his offering is his own blood that won eternal redemption (Heb 9:12). If the sacrifice of animals could bestow legal purification (Heb 9:13), how much more effective is the blood of the sinless, divine Christ who spontaneously offered himself to purge the human race of sin and render it fit for the service of God (Heb 9:14).3
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus celebrates the Passover with the Disciples as the Institution of the Lord’s Supper.
* [14:22–24] The actions and words of Jesus express within the framework of the Passover meal and the transition to a new covenant the sacrifice of himself through the offering of his body and blood in anticipation of his passion and death. His blood of the covenant both alludes to the ancient rite of Ex 24:4–8 and indicates the new community that the sacrifice of Jesus will bring into being (Mt 26:26–28; Lk 22:19–20; 1 Cor 11:23–25).4
Eileen Burke-Sullivan comments that the Gospel of Mark witnesses to the last supper and what Jesus and the disciples were saying and doing. Take and eat; take and drink – Christ’s Body and the Blood of the Covenant to do God’s Will.
Today it is clear that for the good of all of God’s people it was necessary that we deprive ourselves of participation in the Eucharist for however long we had to. Other means of giving our lives in service for the sake of “the many” were practiced by those who wore masks, remained socially distant and exercised other required or recommended precautions. Being vaccinated, when health allows it, is one more step toward reverencing the whole Body of Christ. Furthermore, it is the means by which we will be able to be fully restored to the community’s practice of the Eucharist by Eating and Drinking that Jesus invited us to in the Last Supper.5
Don Schwager quotes “Your Word will enlighten and save me,” by Clement of Alexandria, 150-215 A.D.
"The commandment of the Lord shines clearly, enlightening the eyes. Receive Christ, receive power to see, receive your light, that you may plainly recognize both God and man. More delightful than gold and precious stones, more desirable than honey and the honeycomb is the Word that has enlightened us (Psalm 19:10). How could he not be desirable, who illumined minds buried in darkness, and endowed with clear vision 'the light-bearing eyes' of the soul? ... Sing his praises, then, Lord, and make known to me your Father, who is God. Your Word will save me, your song instruct me. I have gone astray in my search for God; but now that you light my path, Lord, I find God through you, and receive the Father from you, I become co-heir with you, since you were not ashamed to own me as your brother. Let us, then, shake off forgetfulness of truth, shake off the mist of ignorance and darkness that dims our eyes, and contemplate the true God, after first raising this song of praise to him: 'All hail, O light!' For upon us buried in darkness, imprisoned in the shadow of death, a heavenly light has shone, a light of a clarity surpassing the sun's, and of a sweetness exceeding any this earthly life can offer." (excerpt from EXHORTATION TO THE GREEKS 11.8)6
The Word Among Us Meditation on Exodus 24:3-8 reflects that centuries later, when Jesus shed his blood on the cross, he established a new covenant with us (Mark 14:24). For his part, he promised to cleanse us of sin “once for all” (Hebrews 9:12). He also poured out his Spirit, who would write his law on our hearts rather than on tablets of stone (8:10; Jeremiah 31:31-34). For our part, he asks us to follow his commandments, seek his forgiveness when we stray, and reflect his love and mercy to the people around us.
This means that you are not just a passive recipient of this precious covenant; rather, you have a part to play in upholding it. Of course, God doesn’t expect you to do it on your own. He has given you his Holy Spirit and all the grace you need to be faithful to him.7
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the binding nature of the Covenant that was cut in blood. The Letter to the Hebrews contrasts Jewish customs with Jesus as leader to a heavenly sanctuary. Friar Jude explores differences in the expressions of Luke, Paul, Matthew, and Mark around the Cup of the New Covenant.
Michael Holman SJ, Acting Superior of the London Jesuit Community, comments St Alphonsus’s prayer is first and foremost an expression of a desire for union with Christ. He has found it helpful to enter into the meaning of this prayer by reminding himself, with the help of the patristic readings in the Divine Office, of the significance of desire for union with Christ in all our prayer.
This prayer, in the version I have to hand, begins with a statement of belief: ‘My Jesus, I believe you are present in the most holy sacrament of the Eucharist’. It continues with a response of love and longing: ‘I love you above all things and desire to receive you into my soul’. There is then a statement of fact: ‘Since I cannot receive you sacramentally at this time’, followed by a petition, ‘come to me spiritually’. The prayer ends by speaking of the unity of Christ with the believer and the believer with Christ: ‘I embrace you as already being here. I unite myself wholly to you’; and an aspiration that this unity may persist always, ‘never let me be separated from your love. Amen.’8
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, notes that the whole movement of Christianity is found in the Incarnation. Jesus was not satisfied to remain Word, he became flesh. Already in the first century, the New Testament speaks of the resurrection and redemption of the body. God did not play a trick on us humans, saying “I’m going to give you sexual desire, but don’t you dare really think, feel, or act sexually!” But that’s what happens with dualism and when we view God as separate. The word sex itself comes from the Latin sectare (to cut), so the original root meaning suggests that reality is cut or divided. We split matter and spirit into two and we are searching for union or our other half.
As the writer and Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber puts it, “When two loving individuals, two bearers of God’s image, are unified in an erotic embrace, there is space for something holy. What was separate has come together. Two spirits, two bodies, two stories are drawn so close that they are something together that they cannot be alone. There is unity.” [1]9
Our acute sense of separation in pandemic times is a starting point for our desire for communion with the Body of Christ.
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