Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi which is the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is central to who we are as a people of faith for in the words of the Second Vatican Council the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”
This past Tuesday we celebrated the Memorial of Saint Justin Martyr who wrote heavily concerning the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the Most Holy Eucharist in roughly the year 125. Concerning the Eucharist he wrote: “And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who believes that the things which we teach are true, and who has been washed with the washing that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoyed. For not as common bread and common drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior.”
Here Saint Justin points out that the Eucharist is not common bread. This is a truth that is professed by the Church and yet how many do not fathom what it is that they behold and have the opportunity to receive? You see the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Christ our Lord. I do not state this as if it were some symbol, but rather the Lord is truly present with us. If we were about to behold Christ how would we act and in what desposition would we desire to be? To this Gandhi stated: “I would like to believe what you Catholics believe about Jesus in the Eucharist. But I am unable to do so, because I don’t think you Catholics really believe what you say you believe; because if I really believed that my Lord and my God were truly present in the tabernacle as you say He is, I would crawl on my belly to the church every day to worship and adore Him.”
This is an interesting opinion concerning the Eucharist which should make us reflect on how much we take to heart that what we receive in Holy Communion is not common bread, but is the Body and Blood of Christ.
Seeing that this sacrament is so serious the Church must continue to protect and defend this sacrament. This was reflected in the words of Saint Justin Martyr when he referenced who could receive Holy Communion. Therefore, only those who have been baptized, those who believe what the Church believes, and those who are free from serious sin. Instead of taking the reception of the Blessed Sacrament so seriously we are often found careless when it pertains to sin and what it requires of us as a believer. Through reception of such a wondrous sacrament we ought to dare to take Christ into the world and live the message contained within the Gospels.
On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi it is my hope that we will foster devotion and love for Christ present with us in the Eucharist. Through such devotion and love we allow ourself to enter into relationship with Him. May we always allow this sacrament to be our source of unity. Let us frequent the sacrament of confession which prepares us to commune with our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Let us promote Eucharistic devotion including doing what is necessary for us as a parish to reopen our perpetual adoration chapel which has been closed since COVID-19. Truly let us, as a parish community, foster those words of the Second Vatican Council and thus make the Eucharist “the source and the summit of the Christian life.”
