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+ He Broke It and Gave It to
Them — Corpus Christi 2009
As is true of much of St
Mark’s gospel, today’s reading has a starkness about it. The disciples prepare
for the Passover meal and the next moment we are told that "while they were
eating, Jesus took bread, "said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and
said, "Take it; this is my body. Then he took the cup .. this is my blood of the
covenant which will be shed." The whole of Jewish history was summed up in the
Passover meal and here Jesus, almost abruptly, brings this history to its
fullest meaning or fulfillment. A people’s freedom from slavery, their receiving
a covenant with God, culminates in Jesus giving us his very Body and Blood under
the appearance of bread and wine. Then immediately he goes out to the Mount of
Olives where he will enter into his passion and death.
The Eucharist symbolizes or embraces the whole of human life and history. It
gives them their ultimate meaning. God has entered into a special relationship
with us, has revealed all the commandments by which we are to live and be saved.
But this covenant of the word needed to be ratified by sacrifice, by an exchange
of life blood. We are told that Moses "took half of the blood and put it in
large bowls; the other half he splashed on the altar" which generally symbolized
at the time the presence of the deity. Moses then took the blood he had put into
the bowls and "sprinkled it on the people saying, ‘This is the blood of the
covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of
his.’" The divine revelation of word finds its fullest expression and meaning in
the exchange of life blood. God’s word is truly heard, allowed to have its full
effect when it is incarnated in the very life we live.
This Solemnity of the most Holy Body and Blood of Christ or as many of us know
it, Corpus Christi, is here to remind us of the depth of God’s covenant
relationship with us in Jesus. The mystery of the incarnation is to continue in
us, the paschal mystery celebrated in every aspect of our lives. With St Paul,
each one of us is being called to where "it is no longer I who live but Christ
who lives in me." Each of us is to live into the words of Jesus as related in
John’s gospel where he says "the one who abides in me and I in him/her, he it is
that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." Our lives realize
their true destiny, only in so far as they abide in him and bear fruit that
comes out of this communion with him. Honoring the wonderful gift we have in the
Eucharist, practicing adoration for forty hours, spending time before the
Eucharist whenever we have the opportunity, is a way of opening ourselves to and
confirming the intimacy Christ deeply desires to have with us. There are other
ways of deepening this intimacy such as serving Christ in the poor, visiting the
sick or elderly, being faithful to our daily responsibilities in family or
community. But these will only have their desired result if they are grounded in
an abiding sense of God’s initiative toward us, an abiding sense of how it is
God who has first loved us. For here it is that we are empowered to live the
whole of our Christian lives.
The Eucharist stirs into flames the smoldering embers of the love that makes us
children of God and fellow heirs with Christ. It is the constant reminder of the
immense dignity we all have, where the dividing wall between us and God has been
broken down. As often as we share in it we are given to know who we are at the
core of our being by reason of our baptism. A share in Christ’s own life is
being given us moment by moment as we live by faith in the Son of God. When the
priest says at this altar, in the person of Christ, "this is my Body, this is my
Blood" not only are the elements of bread and wine being consecrated but we
ourselves are being made into a new creation. Through our faith we become
Christ’s living members for the life of the world in which we live. To kneel or
sit in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament is to recognize both who we are as
children of God and the life we are to continually share with our community or
families. To experience the depth of God’s love for us in Christ, is to become a
living witness of this love to all around.
It is said that when St Augustine gave Communion to those who had gathered
around him at the Eucharist, he would say: "The Body of Christ which you are!"
To receive Communion is no momentary expression of participation but an
involvement with Christ in the whole of our lives. What we receive with our hand
or tongue, or drink with our mouths is to become the source of everything we do,
the transformation of who we are into God’s own people, who live no longer for
themselves but for Him. May the Eucharist then that we celebrate, the hours of
adoration we are about to have, be a time filled with gratitude for all the God
is sharing with us in Christ Jesus, a life that is truly the Life of the world.
Michael Casagram, OCSO
Exodus 24;3-8, Hebrews 9:11-15, Mark 14;12-16, 22-26.
Gethsemani, 14th June 2009
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