Search
06/02/2024 - Corpus Christi
-
THE GIFT OF THE HOLY EUCHARISTThe ancient world had a keen eye for the obvious: lifesustaining substances are carried in blood. The loss of blood is the biological equivalent of death for an animal. The sacrificial offering of animal blood in the ancient world represents gratitude to God for the gift of life. The Old Testament records many pacts that God made, with human beings. At Mount Sinai, Moses performs a covenantal act by sprinkling the blood of young bulls on the people after having poured some of it on the Altar representing the invisible God. At the Last Supper, Jesus consciously builds on the covenant at Sinai when he takes the cup filled with wine and says, "This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his" (Exodus 24:8). Everyone at the table would have understood the significance of the blood sprinkling. Both the human and divine aspects of life are shared in this covenant of promised ties between the people and their God.
Traditionally, everyone drank from their own cups, but at the Last Supper (the First Eucharist) the disciples share the one cup as Jesus says, “This is My blood of the covenant which will be shed for many.” In so doing, Jesus associates His approaching death with the Sinai covenant. Instead of the blood of bulls, His own blood will renew and culminate the relationship between God and the People of God. Moreover, Jesus’ followers will participate in that covenant shalom by sharing in the cup of His self-offering.
This is the reason that the Catholic Church teaches that the bread and wine actually transubstantiate into Jesus’ Body and Blood. Jesus is present on the altar with His body, soul and divinity. At the holy communion we receive Jesus, with His body, blood and divinity. It’s unfathomable, really, to think that a transcendent God would become a man, and then that man would command His friends to eat His flesh and drink His blood, and that that would give them eternal life. This is NOT NORMAL! Our rational minds are on the verge of doubting. And so, it is admittedly very difficult to believe. So, it is of no surprise that some Catholics do not believe in the “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.
Priests, too, sometimes struggle to believe. Once upon a time, 1263 A.D., to be exact, there was this priest, Father Peter of Prague. He was on a pilgrimage to Rome from his home, presumably in Prague, and along the way he stopped in a little Italian town called Bolsena. This priest had been struggling in his belief in the Eucharist. He, too, found it hard to believe that the bread and the wine actually changed into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Still, the priest was faithful to his duties, and went to the chapel to celebrate Mass. And while he was celebrating Mass, an amazing thing happened. As he elevated the host after the Consecration, the host began to bleed. The blood dripped from the host onto the corporal (the square white cloth that lays on the altar). Father Peter, terrified at this point, stopped the Mass and asked to be taken to see the Pope, who just happened to be staying in Orvieto, just a couple of miles away.
The Pope, Urban IV, sent his delegates to investigate this extraordinary occurrence. The miracle was quickly confirmed, and the host and corporal were brought to the Pope in Orvieto, where he enshrined the stained corporal in the Cathedral for all to look upon and believe. That corporal is still hanging above the altar in the Orvieto Cathedral to this day. But the story doesn’t end there. Pope Urban, so moved by this Eucharistic miracle, set aside a very special day on which the Church would always commemorate the miracle that is the Eucharist—the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. That day is today, the solemnity of Corpus Christi.
Pope Urban asked Thomas Aquinas to compose a hymn and he wrote the words to Pange Lingua Gloriosi. The last two verses are familiar to us as we sing them at every Adoration service. Tantum ergo sacramentum/ veneremur cernui/ et antiquum documentum/ novo cedat ritui/ praestet fides supplementum/ sensuum defectui. These last five words mean: faith supplies (evidence) where the senses fail. On that day in 1263 in Bolsena, Father Peter had evidence of the True Presence. He held it in his hands. When we receive the Eucharist, sure, it looks like bread and wine, tastes like bread and wine. But faith supplies what is lacking in the senses.
With our faith, we realize more clearly that the physical body and blood of Jesus Christ are as truly present as they are in heaven, or as they were when He labored in His workshop in Nazareth. While that realization is dominant, every genuflection will be a conscious act of adoration of the Incarnate God; the Consecration will always absorb our attention; we will never want to hurry out of church as soon as Mass is over or fail to come to Church for a Eucharistic Celebration.
Jesus comes to us physically because of His great love for us. Anyone who loves wants to be physically close to the one who is loved, but it is sometimes impossible. It is not impossible for God. Divine power changes bread and wine into the real body and blood of Christ, and He dwells physically on earth in every tabernacle, and comes physically into us in Holy Communion. Fr Tom Kunnel, C.O.