Word to the Wise
Sunday, June 22, 2025 - Sunday after Trinity Sunday: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (formerly called Corpus Christi"") - A"
[Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Luke 9:11-17]SUNDAY, JUNE 22, 2025 THE BODY AND BLOOD OF THE LORD [CORPUS CHRISTI]
[Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11-17[
"I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes. [1 Corinthians]
At the center of Catholic faith and worship stands our belief that through the power of the Holy Spirit, invoked by the very words of Jesus at the Last Supper, the bread and wine offered at the celebration of the Eucharist are transformed into the body and blood of Jesus. But, as St. Paul says, we do more than simply consume what we offer, we "proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes." We also share in the very life of the Holy Trinity. Our faith in this gift of the Lord is expressed in the word "communion." We are united not only with the body and blood of the Lord, but also with one another in the living Body of Christ, the Church.
Several years ago, a survey by the noted Pew Research Center purported to show that faith in the transformation that takes place at the celebration of the Eucharist did not seem to be the belief of nearly 6 in 10 of Catholics in the U.S.A.!! The American bishops launched a three year program of eucharistic revival to counteract this trend. I do not know if the results of this program have been evaluated in a subsequent survey, but the importance of this central belief cannot be exaggerated. The pastoral concern of the bishops is understandable. We have not only St. Paul's words, written about 25 years after Jesus' death and resurrection, but the very explicit teaching of Jesus in the Gospel According to John 6:53: "Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you do not have life within you."
Some of Jesus' disciples, at the time they heard these words, could not accept them and turned away. As one young woman said to me in the course of my instructing her in preparation to enter the Catholic community, when I asked her what was most difficult for her, she replied, "The Eucharist. If you accept that, the rest is easy." The celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi highlights the importance of our faith in the Eucharist, not simply as something outside of us to be adored, but someone whose very life is given to us as nourishment to be shared "in communion." We celebrate this today and remember the life and death of the Lord until he comes again. AMEN