Reflection on The Solemnity of Corpus Christi
Franciscan Reflections From The Hermitage – The Solemnity of Corpus Christi – Choosing a Blessing or a Curse – (John 6:51-58)
Yes, truly a Sacrament that can be a blessing or curse spoken into our lives and the lives of our families … sharing in the work of redemption … or claiming for ourselves the blessing that belongs to all … ‘I am so glad I am not like that other one … let them eat cake … what do I care … I am so happy that it’s not my problem … after all, it’s not my house burning to the ground!’
In Christ, our contemplation focuses on the central point of time and space… as we extend our arms and our being in this union, we touch not only the past and the future but reach into that liminal space that is beyond all time and beyond all space. In the mystical experience, we come to know that this is sacred, repeated always and everywhere… it is only our focus that is diffused, misdirected, and scattered. The shape of liturgy directs us back into this experience of the holy.
At the celebration of the Eucharist, the past and the future are manifested in this present moment, this Eternal NOW. Through Christ, my past and my future become present in this Eternal NOW to be healed and transformed by the action of Jesus in the Christ event.
As we contemplate the Christ event, the Last Supper and Crucifixion come together in the one ‘eternal’ moment. This is the Christ event at the centre of history… the birth, death, and resurrection of God of eternity with us, here and now within time and space… This is our threshold into eternity.
This is where we encounter the two that are really one and the same sacrifice. Not the same sacrifice repeated, but the one sacrifice, the table of the last supper is the cross. This is given to us as the Way, the process of divinization that heals and transforms our past to re-create our actions for the purpose of Good and re-directs our future in accordance with God’s eternal plan, spoken by the Word.
This mystery is proposed for our contemplation … to show that the risen Christ walks among us and guides us toward the Kingdom of God. Today we manifest what Jesus has given us in the intimacy of the Last Supper, because the love of Christ is not confined to the few, but is intended for ALL …yes, all!
This Communion is stronger than all our little divisions, the com-union of God himself. The word ‘communion’, which we use to designate the Eucharist, sums up the vertical and horizontal dimensions of the gift of Christ. When we ‘receive communion’, the act of eating the bread of the Eucharist, we enter into communion with the very life of Jesus… from God, through Jesus, into u… a unique communion is transmitted in the Holy Eucharist.
In Christ, in Eucharistic Communion, I am transformed into Christ, my individuality, opened up, freed from self-centredness, and placed in the heart of Christ in the Person of Jesus, who in turn is immersed in the Trinitarian communion.
The Eucharist unites me to Christ and opens me to others, making us members one of another… We are no longer divided, but one unity in Christ.
Eucharistic communion unites me to my neighbour, even to those I consider enemies, and also to my brothers and sisters who are in every corner of the world.
When we recognise Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we come to recognise also our brother and sister who suffers, who is hungry and thirsty, who is a stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned so that I may commit myself to their need. This is my share in the work of Christ, the work of redemption … revealing the intrinsic dignity of the Christ image in creation.
From the gift of Christ’s Love comes our special responsibility as Christians in building a more, just and fraternal society. This unity will not be built without God, without true Love.
Because we identify ourselves as members of one family, the same body, the body of Christ, we learn from the Sacrament of the Altar that communion, Love is the path of true justice … speaking blessing into and upon all creation across time and space.
When Jesus says: “This is my body which is given to you, this is my blood shed for you and for all”, He accepts his passion out of love, with its trial and its violence, even to death on the cross and by accepting it in this way he transforms it into an act of self-giving Love.
This is how God continues to renew humanity, history, and the cosmos … through this chain of transformations, of which the Eucharist is the sacrament.
Through the consecrated bread and wine, in which his Body and Blood are truly present, Christ transforms us, assimilating us in him… He involves us in his redeeming work, enabling us, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to live according to his same logic of gift, like grains of wheat united with and in Christ.
Choose life … or choose death!
- The Church Year and Advent - December 1, 2024
- Easter Sunday Reflection: The Way – Love Overcomes Violence & Death - March 29, 2024
- Palm Sunday Reflection: Re-Espousing And Anointing - March 22, 2024
