A focus on the great gift of the Blessed Sacrament
Reflections on the readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (June 6, 2021): EX 24:3-8; PS 116:12-13,15-16,17-18; HEB 9:11-15; MK 14:12-16,22-26
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
We have the joy of venerating the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist that we revere as both sacrament and sacrifice.
On this Solemnity we commemorate the institution of the Holy Eucharist that took place during the Last Supper on Holy Thursday. Because our attention is taken on that day with the start of the Passion of our Lord as well as the establishment of the priesthood, this feast was created in the 13th century. Today we focus on the great gift of the Blessed Sacrament – the Body and Blood of Christ that He first gave to His Apostles. “He took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, ‘Take it; this is My body.’ Then He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, ‘This is My blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many’” (Mark 14:22-24).
We have the joy of venerating the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist that we revere as both sacrament and sacrifice. On the evening before He died, our Savior consecrated bread and wine, transforming it into His own body, blood, soul, and divinity. But more than offering this incomparable gift to those present on that occasion, He conferred on them the priestly power to do the same. In this way that Jesus is actually present to all those who have received this Holy Communion down through the generations. We receive into our being what is truly the very being of Christ Himself. He nourishes us with the same Body that hung dying on the cross and the same Blood that flowed from His many wounds. Today we rejoice as we say the words of adoration and thanksgiving that we so often pray at the Consecration of the Mass: “When we eat this Bread and drink this Cup, we proclaim Your Death, O Lord, until You come again.” Sacrificing Himself for us was not enough for the Son of God. His flesh and blood would become one with ours on earth so that we might more surely be changed into His image for time and eternity.
