We celebrate this coming Sunday the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. That means that we honor Jesus’ gift of Himself to us in the Eucharist.

 

In thinking about the Eucharist, in a manner that demonstrates the limitations of our earthly eyes, senses and science itself, we find ourselves before the very presence of God. We need, therefore, to unleash our faith. 

 

At every Mass, the priest makes Jesus present again. By God’s graciousness, Christ works in and through every priest, especially at the moment when he takes the bread and repeats the words of Jesus. “This is my body.” And when he takes the wine, Christ through him again says, “This is the cup of my blood”, and so it is.

 

This, then, is a first reaction of faith to this mystery. It is the recognition that God is truly present among us in the Eucharist.

 

Pope Paul VI reminded us that in speaking of Jesus in the Eucharist, we refer to the real presence of Christ. But he helpfully instructed us that, “This presence is called ‘real’ — by which it is not intended to exclude all other types of presence as if they could not be ‘real’ too, but because it is presence in the fullest sense. … And so it would be wrong for anyone to try to explain this manner of presence by dreaming up a so-called ‘pneumatic’ nature of the glorious body of Christ that would be present everywhere; or for anyone to limit it to symbolism, as if this most sacred sacrament were to consist in nothing more than an efficacious sign ‘of the spiritual presence of Christ and of His intimate union with the faithful, the members of His Mystical Body.’ ” (Mysterium Fidei, 39).

 

In short, this means that in a manner that is beyond our earthly comprehension but not beyond our faith, we recognize that in the Eucharist God is present among us, sacramentally but also in the physical form and confines of bread and wine. 

 

Even more, the Eucharist, given to us on Holy Thursday night, is one with the sacrifice of the cross. 

The Eucharist does not simply recall Good Friday for us. Rather, in a manner willed by Christ, it “re-presents,” that is makes present once more, the once-for-all offering by Jesus of His Body and Blood to the Father for our sins and our salvation.

 

The gift of the Eucharist is also a fulfillment of the promise of Jesus to His followers. 

 

His last words, recorded in the Gospel of Matthew are, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt. 28: 20).

 

It is no secret that contemporary appreciation of the real presence and of the meaning of the Eucharist is waning. That is a part of the explanation for the diminishing attendance at Sunday Mass. 

 

Also, the casual reception of Holy Communion that is all too common, along with the failure to make spiritual preparations including regular confession testify to a weakness in faith in the real presence.

 

Still, we are reminded of the words of Moses to the people of Israel. As they wandered in the desert he recounted God’s goodness to them. 

 

He told them that others would marvel saying, “ … what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon Him?” (Dt 4, 7).

 

Corpus Christi reminds us of the greatness of our calling. In the Eucharist, how close God is to us, whenever we attend Mass or pray before the Blessed Sacrament. 

 

How much Christ loves us to be with us always in the Eucharist!