Corpus Christi, the body of Christ. One of the great feast days of the Catholic, and some other Christian churches, that commemorate the true presence of Christ in the consecrated bread and wine. For centuries the church has celebrated this unique and wonderful gift from Jesus at the last supper. When Jesus said “take and eat, this is my body” and “take and drink this is my blood” the church came to believe that the bread and wine was truly changed into the body and blood of Christ. This body and blood was and is the bread of life and the cup of salvation. All who eat this bread and drink this cup will never go hungry and will enjoy life everlasting.
We give you thanks Lord for the gift of your son and that we can receive Him daily through the Eucharist. What does the Eucharist do for us? Like from other food we expect nourishment, strength, the ability to grow. This food is spiritual and the benefits are spiritual. This food helps our faith grow, while at once our faith is required to maximize the benefits, this holy food gives us faith. Faith is not just believing in what we cannot see, or believing in things that others have told us, but also to be enlightened, to be given a hidden knowledge, not from books or other physical sources but from Gods mind to our heart through the Holy Spirit. It is this knowledge that causes our lives to change for the better. This knowledge that God is real and that we are loved to the most incredible depths we can imagine moves us. God’s love penetrating into our consciousness stirs a love in us for all of God’s creation. The commandment to love God with all our heart, mind and soul, and our neighbor as ourselves becomes easy and desirable.
Corpus Christi will change the world. The idea that we are not just consuming the body of Christ but that we are and are becoming the body of Christ changes our view of all people’s. They are actually part of our own body.
Consider then how our bodies work and especially how they heal themselves. When we are sick, our bodies send healing blood cells and certain enzymes to assist healing. Our body is constantly monitoring itself and always trying to rebuild and strengthen. When there are those in our world with nothing to eat, all of us with food would want to contribute. We would not allow the disparity of wealth that we have in our world today because it would be harmful to our one body.
Is it too far of a leap then to consider that if we take and eat, take and drink, we can come to be one body of humanity here on Earth. A place where we love one another and care about one another just as our own body.