Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 18, 2017 - Sunday after Trinity Sunday: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly called Corpus Christi"") - A"
[Deut 8:2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Cor 10:16-17; John 6:51-58]SUNDAY, JUNE 18, 2017 THE BODY AND BLOOD OF THE LORD (Corpus Christi) [Deuteronomy 8:2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17; John 6:51-58] "I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." [John] The Eucharist is the center of Catholic worship. It is the continual presence in a unique way of the Lord in our midst. Christ can be truly present in other ways - through our gathering, through the proclamation of his word, through the faces of the poor - but the Eucharist is uniquely physical. It is that physical quality that repelled the audience in Capernaum when Jesus said that he would give us his flesh to eat. St. Paul's words in the second scripture for today show the way we Catholics do understand it. We are not cannibals! We are the Body of Christ, unified by our participation in the unique gift of the bread and wine transformed by the Holy Spirit at our worship into the true "Body of Christ." We are told in the Gospel According to John that some of the disciples found this hard to accept. But, as one young woman I received into the church once told me, if you can accept the Eucharist, the rest is easy! We "go to communion" hundreds of times in our lives. It is a familiar ritual. If we are excluded for some reason, we feel it. But the sheer ritual character of the act may dull us to the significance of it. Christ promised to remain with us until the end of time. This is the most dramatic way he can fulfill that promise. St. Paul warns us to be worthy of this. Our intentional consideration of the Body and Blood of Christ can be a powerful source of spiritual energy not just today but every time we attend the Eucharist. AMEN
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