The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Today’s celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ originated in the Diocese of Liege in 1246 as the Feast of Corpus Christi. In the reforms of the second Vatican Council, Corpus Christi was joined with the Feast of the Precious Blood of Christ to become the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord. We celebrate today Christ’s gift of the Eucharist – the source and summit of our life together as the Church.

The council of Trent (1545-1563) stated that “The Catholic Church teaches that in the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of the God-Man are really, truly, substantially and abidingly present together with His Soul and Divinity by reason of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. This takes place in the unbloody sacrifice of the Mass.”

The foundation of our Catholic faith in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist is found in Saint John’s Gospel, chapter six. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven, whoever eats this bread will live forever; the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51). Again Jesus said, “Amen, Amen, I say to you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood, you do not have life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:53-54)

Eucharistic theologians explain the real presence by a process called Transubstantiation: the entire substance of bread and wine is changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, while they retain their characteristics of color, taste, shape. In every Mass, when the bread and wine is changed into the Body and Blood of Christ, the sacrifice of Calvary is made present on our altars. This is God’s way of creating a new covenant with mankind. This is God’s way of reminding us of His infinite love for us. The Mass is our worship. It’s not a new sacrifice but the sacrifice of Calvary offered again under the appearances of bread and wine.

The second Vatican Council stated that as a sacrifice “the holy Eucharist is the center and culmination of Christian life.” Why? Because it makes the sacrifice of Calvary present to us, and we share in its fruits in our lives. The sacrifice of the Mass is the perfect way to worship God. We come together as one family to offer ourselves in union with Christ, each Sunday, and by this offering we strengthen our ties with each other and with God. As the memorial of Christ’s Death and Resurrection, we are reminded of our obligation to make sacrifices for others as Christ gave his life totally for us on the cross and in the Mass. What we do in the Mass is what the early Christians did – they gathered to celebrate the memory of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection. They did this as we do in response to the words of Jesus: “Do this in memory of me.” Every time we go to Holy Communion we are reminded that when we say “Amen” to the host and the precious blood, we are saying “Amen” to all our brothers and sisters. We are all part of the Body of Christ; we belong to each other.

Today we give thanks to God for his great generosity in giving us - His Son – to be our Sacrifice and our Sacrament in every Mass. Every time we have Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and Adoration – we need to remind ourselves that the real presence of the Lord in the Eucharist is made available to us through the Mass. The gift of Christ’s presence in the Eucharist is the result of Christ’s Death and Resurrection – renewed in every Mass. For this great gift and all its blessings we give glory, praise and thanks to our Heavenly Father.