Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi – The body of Christ which we also take as the institution of the Eucharist. The Gospel reading from John mentions the Jews disbelieving Jesus when he says “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
They said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Isn’t this what many Christians in the world doubt too? They refuse to believe that we are to partake of Jesus. And I thought many of them said they believe Sola Scriptura. I won’t be surprised to find many Catholics ourselves doubting whether this wafer is really Jesus.
So lest we forget, Jesus says “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Personally for myself, I get past the strangeness of the idea of cannibalism and I think of it as the consumption is a combining of both our spirits to be one. And our spiritual selves draw nourishment from Jesus who gives himself to us at every Eucharistic celebration of the mass.
This is why Catholics believe the mass is the source and summit of our faith.
But more than that, we who are nourished by Christ, are also called to be bread or light to others around us.
So let’s treasure this sacrament we have and continue to allow Jesus to nourish us each week at mass. Whether sacramentally or spiritually now with lockdowns in place. And don’t forget to also spend some time with the blessed sacrament.
Many churches have put up 24/7 live video feeds for our adoration.
Here’s the one from the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd in Singapore.
Peace be with you.
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