June 2, 2013 The Body and Blood of Christ C

Bulletin  June 2, 2013 The Body and Blood of Christ   C Readings

Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11-17

The feast of the Body and Blood of Christ; the feast of Corpus Christi; the feast of the Eucharist; this is a time for me to reflect on the Eucharist in my life and to become more aware of God’s love for me and each person in this sacrament.

What is the meaning of the Eucharist?  The great theologian and saint, Thomas Aquinas, summarized its meaning in a prayer, ‘O Sacrum Convivium’ that has been set to a number of musical pieces. It says: “O Sacred Banquet in which Christ is consumed, the memory of His passion is recalled, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.”  I must sit and reflect on this for quite a while to come to a deeper awareness of what is happening when I receive, when I celebrate, when I share.

The healing stories in Luke’s gospel show Jesus as caring and compassionate.  Luke also includes a number of banquets and meals that Jesus shared with others.  I was thinking of this and reflected on a dear friend who died last year.  Because of our busy schedules, it was very difficult to spend time together, so we would just plan to go out to dinner; husband, wife and me.  We did this as often as we could, which really was not that frequent.  The night of his death, we went to dinner in Richmond and it was as always a delightful time.  Stories were told, experiences shared, some serious conversation and laughs.  We departed in friendship and love.  Three hours later my dear friend died of a massive heart attack.  I drove to the hospital in shock.  Along the way I thought, ‘If I knew I was going to die tonight what would I like to do… and the response came so easily…I would have dinner with dear friends who are totally real.’  I used these words at the funeral.  I’m remembering them today as I think of the Eucharist…as I think of the Last Supper where Jesus instituted this meal as a sign of His love and as the Sacrament of His love, the sacrament of Himself.   And this meal comes with an invitation:  ‘Come, eat My flesh and drink My blood.  Jesus is inviting each person to come.  I have the great honor to celebrate this sacrament and the invitation is to come; what does it mean? 

John shares this in what has come to be known as the Bread of Life Discourse:  “The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us [His] flesh to eat?’  Jesus said to them, ‘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.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.  For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink.  Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him.  Just as the living Father sent Me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will have life because of Me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven.  Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.’”   (John 6:52-58).

This is the meaning of the feast:  Jesus freely gave His body and His blood poured out for my salvation and everyone’s.  And this act that is celebrated in the Eucharist is not just a meal, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, ‘it is a banquet’, a happy gathering of people around a sumptuous dinner.  The Eucharist is not bread and wine it is Christ.  As Fr. Charles Miller, a Vincentian scholar, says, “St Thomas agreed with St. Augustine who said that we do not change the Eucharist into ourselves as we do ordinary food, but Christ changes us into Himself.  That is God’s grace, His gift.”

I am privileged to have a priest from Tanzania as a friend.  We were on Sabbatical at Notre Dame in the early 90’s.  Many times we talked about the Eucharist and one time he said, ‘You Americans are obsessed with food, you are always eating.  There doesn’t seem to be anything special to you about eating.  For us food is life and celebration.’  I never really thought about this; but it’s true.  There is the typical breakfast, lunch, dinner; then the coffee breaks, munchies and then the ever present ‘midnight snack’.  Food constantly surrounds each one of us…I guess that’s why diet plans make so much money in this country.  ‘Put it in your mouth consistently, you gain weight; do it responsibly and you won’t.’  My Tanzanian friend made me think on how much we waste food.  I heard a statistic that the restaurants of the US waste enough food daily to feed the entire population of Canada each day.  And still over half of the population of the world goes to bed hungry each night.  This made me think of the ancient custom that Jews fasted before a feast in order to make the food taste better.  And in Tanzania and so many other places meals are family celebrations where they shares stories of their ancestry and traditions. 

So I think of how I come to the celebration of the Eucharist: What am I thinking about when I come into Church?  When I approach the altar what is my mind-set?  What am I allowing God to do to me and in me in each celebration? What mission do I leave with from the Eucharist?  So I reflect on:

Sacred Space entitles this week, “The Gift of the Eucharist” and I and each person are invited to remember the gift of the Eucharist.  “For as life moves forward and we continue our journey, the Eucharist, where the Body and Blood of the Lord is blessed and shared out for us, becomes the food giving us nourishment and strength for all the challenges coming our way…And even if, just now, I do not actually partake in the Eucharist itself, still I am at this moment mystically present at that table.  I am a guest there, or at least being invited there.  So my prayer is always Eucharistic.  And—drawn into Trinitarian life, nourished there by love poured out in Jesus, through His giving us His whole life in His Body and Blood—we are ourselves in some sense a Eucharistic gift as we allow our lives to be shared out as a blessings for others.” 

·       What does the presence of Christ in the Eucharist mean to me as I live my life with others?

·       How does this meal that nourishes me relate to the hungers of the people in my world and the whole world?

·       What is my Eucharistic responsibility?  What does partaking of the meal commit me to do?

Sacred Space concludes:  “Paul handed on only what he had received from the Lord.  I think of how I hand on the blessings and insights that I receive from the Lord for the good of others.  As I look for God’s blessing. I pray that I may be a source of blessing for others.

Evan as He was betrayed, Jesus gave His life freely for others.  I ask that I not be held back by discouragement or disappointment, but give freely of who I am, as Jesus did.”