Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 7, 2015 - Body & Blood / Corpus Christi - B
[Exod 24:3-8; Heb 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16, 22-26]While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is my body." Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many." [Mark]
Three Sundays in a row we have been reminded of central realities of our faith: Pentecost (the promise of the Spirit), Trinity (God's way of being) and now Corpus Christi (the Body and Blood of the Lord.) These are all different ways of saying how God is present in our midst. However, the celebration of Corpus Christi is a reminder that Christ is uniquely present in the consecrated bread and wine which takes place in his memory, as he commanded us. [Luke 22:19] We call the entire celebration, which takes place everyday somewhere except Good Friday, the Eucharist, which means "thanksgiving."
It is this physical presence that is challenging and has many meanings. Christ is really present in the faces of the poor, in the assembly gathered to worship, in his word proclaimed, and in the celebrant who acts in his name, but he is uniquely and physically present in the form of bread and wine at the celebration of the eucharist. Occasionally as I am giving "communion" to a long line of people and seeing the different looks on faces, I wonder if the real power of the event sinks home. Do we attend the Eucharist, or do we just "go to Mass." Are we in the presence of the Lord, or are we just paying our respects to somebody who died terribly a long time ago? What does "receiving communion" really mean to each of us? Pope Francis is calling it "medicine for sinners" and not a reward for the elite. There is a lot of power in what he says!
The theologian, John Shea, describes the Eucharist in this way: Gather the people, Tell the story, Break the bread. Today we can pay more attention to breaking the bread of life. AMEN
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