The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, challenge us to contemplate our unity with Christ and and our action as community of One Body.
The reading from the Book of Deuteronomy recalls God’s Care with manna in the desert.
* [8:3] Not by bread alone: Deuteronomic theology puts the good things promised faithful Israel into the context of the Lord’s gratuitous love. As in 6:10–12, the goods of life must be seen as gift. Israel is to seek what really matters; all else will be added (cf. Mt 6:33). (Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 8, n.d.)
Psalm 147 is praise for God’s Care for Jerusalem.
* [Psalm 147] The hymn is divided into three sections by the calls to praise in Ps 147:1, 7, 12. The first section praises the powerful creator who restores exiled Judah (Ps 147:1–6); the second section, the creator who provides food to animals and human beings; the third and climactic section exhorts the holy city to recognize it has been re-created and made the place of disclosure for God’s word, a word as life-giving as water. (Psalms, PSALM 147, n.d.)
The reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians tells of participation in the Blood and Body of Christ
* [10:14–22] The warning against idolatry from 1 Cor 10:7 is now repeated (1 Cor 10:14) and explained in terms of the effect of sacrifices: all sacrifices, Christian (1 Cor 10:16–17), Jewish (1 Cor 10:18), or pagan (1 Cor 10:20), establish communion. But communion with Christ is exclusive, incompatible with any other such communion (1 Cor 10:21). Compare the line of reasoning at 1 Cor 6:15. (1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 10, n.d.)
In the Gospel of John, Jesus' Last Supper Discourse turns to the Gift of His flesh and blood.
* [6:54–58] Eats: the verb used in these verses is not the classical Greek verb used of human eating, but that of animal eating: “munch,” “gnaw.” This may be part of John’s emphasis on the reality of the flesh and blood of Jesus (cf. Jn 6:55), but the same verb eventually became the ordinary verb in Greek meaning “eat.” (John, CHAPTER 6, n.d.)
Andy Alexander, S.J. (1999) ,invites us to imagine Jesus speaking to each of us today. Imagine him, risen in Glory, speaking to us.
And know that this nourishment is a communion in me. In me you become one in solidarity with my body throughout the world. One bread, one people. One cup, a bond forever. In this meal the hunger of the world comes together. In this communion, you will hear and feel the cries of brokenness from the rest of your body, my body. When any part of this body suffers, the whole body turns in compassion. In this communion, you taste your mission to be bread and wine - my body and blood - for those who hunger and thirst for justice. (Alexander, 2023)
Don Schwager quotes “Let faith confirm you,” by Cyril of Jerusalem, 315-386 A.D.
"Failing to understand his words spiritually, [the Jews] were offended and drew back, thinking that the Savior was urging them to cannibalism. Then again in the old covenant there was the showbread. But that, since it belonged to the old covenant, has come to an end. In the new covenant there are the bread of heaven and the cup of salvation, which sanctify body and soul. For as bread corresponds to the body, so the Word is appropriate to the soul. So do not think of them as mere bread and wine. In accordance with the Lord's declaration, they are body and blood. And if our senses suggests otherwise, let faith confirm you. Do not judge the issue on the basis of taste, but on the basis of faith be assured beyond all doubt that you have been allowed to receive the body and blood of Christ. (excerpt from MYSTAGOGICAL LECTURES 4.4-6) (Schwager, n.d.)
The Word Among Us Meditation on 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 comments that on this feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, St. Paul reminds us that we are “one body” in the Lord (1 Corinthians 10:17). Jesus has called us into one community as his brothers and sisters. He has gifted all of us with the “one baptism for the forgiveness of sins” (Apostles Creed). And he has filled each of us with the same Holy Spirit that filled Mary, Peter, John, and all the saints. Everyone has a first-class seat! Everyone has the same high privilege of being named a child of God!
Today during Holy Communion, look at the brothers and sisters gathered with you. Lift them up in prayer. Honor them as the beloved of Christ that they are. And welcome them into your heart, just as Jesus has welcomed you!
“Jesus, thank you for giving yourself to me so freely and generously!” (Meditation on 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, n.d.)
Peter Edmonds SJ, a member of the Corpus Christi Jesuit Community in Boscombe, takes us through the bread of life as the Eucharist (6:51-59) section of John’s Gospel.
The bread of life is now the Eucharist. We meet new words: flesh, blood, eat, drink, and a new definition of the bread: it is Jesus’s ‘flesh for the life of the world’. Sarx (flesh) emphasises the physical reality of this bread. This bread is for the world (3:16). Now we find hints of the cost of this gift: it is the death of Jesus as the Son of Man. It is ‘the blood of the covenant which is poured out for many’ (Mark 14:24; Matthew 26:28).
The response of the Jews is hostile: they ‘began to fight among themselves’. A fourth ‘Very truly…’ saying repeats previous teaching in the context of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of Man. A new word is used for eating (trogo), one that is extremely physical, implying chewing or munching. Blood, an obvious Eucharistic word, occurs for the first time. This eating and drinking is now a condition for possessing eternal life, for being raised on the last day, and for mutual abiding in Jesus.
Thus, to possess eternal life one must:
see and believe in the person of Jesus, the bread of life (6:40);
hear and believe the revelation that Jesus embodies as that bread (6:45,47);
eat and feed on bread of the Eucharist (6:51,54,58). (Edmonds, 2021)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the question of the Rich in the desert about the food given by God: “What is it?” or manna. Paul teaches the Corinthians that we become one with Christ and each other in the cup of blessing and the bread of life. Friar Jude notes the difficulty of kosher tradition with Jesus' Body and Blood and the realized and future eschatology in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that the Franciscan theologian St. Bonaventure (c. 1217–1274), building on Jesus’ incarnation and Francis’ love of all nature, saw the traces or footprints of God in everything. The whole world is the “incarnation” of the God mystery, and indeed the very “Body of God” (see Romans 8:19–23). Jesus is the microcosm of the macrocosm, the hologram of the whole, the corporate personality for humanity—in other words, the stand-in for everything and everyone else (see Colossians 1:15–20).
“The soul’s journey into God,” as Bonaventure put it, was to learn how to see the unity of all being, how to look for this partially hidden God, and how to honor those footprints everywhere once they were seen. It was a surrender to gratitude—and to immense confidence that we are a part of something very good. The result is a continuous life of appreciation, reverence, non-consumption, and simple joy—while still living a very helpful life in the world! [4] (Rohr, 2023)
We are called to unity in One Body as we proclaim the humanity and Divinity of Christ in our Eucharistic celebration.
References
Alexander, A. (2023, June 11). Creighton U. Daily Reflection. Online Ministries. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/061123.html
Deuteronomy, CHAPTER 8. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/deuteronomy/8?2
Edmonds, P. (2021, August 5). The bread of life: John 6. Thinking Faith. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/bread-life-john-6
John, CHAPTER 6. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/john/6?51
Meditation on 1 Corinthians 10:16-17. (n.d.). The Word Among Us: Homepage. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://wau.org/meditations/2023/06/11/704296/
1 Corinthians, CHAPTER 10. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/1corinthians/10?16
Psalms, PSALM 147. (n.d.). USCCB. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/147?12
Rohr, R. (2023, June 11). Sacred Reality — Center for Action and Contemplation. Daily Meditations Archive: 2023. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://cac.org/daily-meditations/sacred-reality-2023-06-11/
Schwager, D. (n.d.). He Who Eats This Bread Will Live Forever. Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved June 11, 2023, from https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2023&date=jun11a
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