The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Today's Mass Readings

“I will raise up the cup of salvation.” Ps. 116. 13

To eat and drink with Jesus, our Lord, our Savior and our God, is to realize that we are not in our own world anymore. We walk and wine and dine where “angels have longed to tread.” I took a class recently on St. Paul the Apostle and his tradition. I learned a great deal about the culture, times, and the person of St. Paul. One thing that stood out to me was the professor’s statement about the Eucharist. This professor, a Catholic, denied the belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and argued that the real miracle of the blessing of bread and wine in Paul’s time was that people of different cultures, classes, and genders could all receive the bread that was blessed together without distinction. I disagree with the professor totally on his rejection of the Real Presence. When you read the Gospel of John, chapter six, and 1st Corinthians 11, you will find that the Christ’s living presence in the Eucharist is the most supported Christian belief in Scripture.

Here now we see the beauty of our faith. In the Mass, all divisions are removed. When we come before the altar to receive the Eucharist and celebrate Mass, we are one people of God. The professor was right in believing that unity is made by this Eucharistic gift. Both realities are true, the reality of Jesus fully alive in this sacrament, and the reality of different individuals coming together as the people of God in the Church. Some would argue that symbols are powerful on their own. True as this is, a symbol is only one thing that represents another. The symbols of bread and wine are brought together to be changed in substance to become Christ Himself, the Eucharist. Changing of substance, Transubstantiation, becomes the way that the reality is changed from one nature to God’s divine nature.

The dictum of St. Gregory Nazianzen is true. Christians take part in the Eucharist not to consume Christ but to be consumed by Him! When you take the Eucharist yourself, you are changed. You can become united to Christ in substance, provided you remain in grace.

Reflection by Br. Matthew Marie, OSB