“What He did at supper seated, Christ ordained to be repeated, His memorial ne’er to cease: / And His rule for guidance taking, Bread and wine we hallow, making Thus our sacrifice of peace.” (Sequence / Lauda Sion)
Reflections on the readings for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (June 19, 2022): GN 14:18-20; PS 110:1,2,3,4; 1 COR 11:23-26; LK 9:11-17
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
The very idea of Christ’s Body and Blood being contained in the form of consecrated bread and wine is a mystery and a blessing.
On this day we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, formerly called the feast of Corpus Christi. In some countries where it is a Holy Day of Obligation, it is held on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday. However, throughout the Church this is a joyful time meant to venerate the gift of the Holy Eucharist, often with processions and Benediction. At the Last Supper, Jesus blessed and offered up bread and wine which became His own Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. In today’s second reading we hear: “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 11:25-26). On Holy Thursday, at the start of the solemn Triduum, we have a great deal to contemplate and appreciate. In addition to the institution of the priesthood, there was also he washing of the Apostles’ feet, and Jesus’ agony in the garden before His arrest. So in the late middle ages, the idea of a separate feast meant to venerate Christ in the Blessed Sacrament was established. St. Thomas Aquinas, who wrote the Sequence (Lauda Sion) for the feast of Corpus Christi as well as other hymns honoring the Holy Eucharist, stated that “The Eucharist is the Sacrament of love; it signifies love; it produces love. The Eucharist is the consummation of the whole spiritual life.”
The very idea of Christ’s Body and Blood being contained in the form of consecrated bread and wine is a mystery and a blessing. And it is one that we human beings could never have anticipated or now fully grasp. Only the infinite compassion and mercy of the God -- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit -- could make us a gift of the life of our Savior. His Real Presence is among us now, just as our Lord was in the midst of His Apostles. He lives, and He wants to live in us. It is up to us to receive Him, to adore Him, to follow Him. It is up to us to let our flesh and blood by touched and transformed by His. Let us regularly say the Divine Praises: Blessed be Jesus in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar!
