Fr. Frank Majka, SJ – The Bridge

Corpus Christi 2015

These few weeks at the end of the Easter season and the beginning of Ordinary time are full of significant feasts: the Ascension, Pentecost, the Trinity and, this coming Sunday, the feast of Corpus Christi, which focuses our attention on the Body and Blood of Christ.

We Catholics hear the phrases “the Body of Christ” and “the Blood of Christ” every time the Bread and Cup are presented to us at Mass; our response “Amen” is our declaration that we believe that we are truly receiving the Body and Blood of the Lord, given sacramentally to heal, strengthen, and sanctify us.

But when we receive the Body and Blood of Christ we are also asking that we ourselves may become the Body and Blood of Christ in the world. For, as St. Augustine wrote, though almost everything we eat is changed into our bodies, in the case of the Eucharist, we are changed into Christ’s.

Moreover, Jesus described his body and blood as being handed over for us, so if we become his body and blood in this world through our communion with him, we should orient our lives and actions to the welfare of others, as Christ’s were. Otherwise our receiving of his Body and Blood risks being an empty action.

So, at the feast of Corpus Christi, we are encouraged to appreciate the gift of Christ’s Body and Blood and to live as Christ did, who offered himself for us and for everyone. “Amen!” indeed.