Solemnity
of Corpus Christi (2014)
Fr. Philip Neri
Powell, OP
Our
Lady of the Rosary, NOLA
Audio File
All
across the world, Dominican friars begin morning and evening prayer
before the Blessed Sacrament: O
sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur.
. .” In our English translation, we pray: “O Sacred Banquet, in
which Christ becomes our food. . .” Christ/becomes/our/ food. Our
meat and daily bread, our salt and saving drink. For those of us who
follow Christ, his body and blood is our daily nourishment, our
minimum daily requirement w/o which we cannot survive on the path to
holiness much less thrive as forgiven sinners. To take into our
bodies his body and blood, to take him in worthily and whole, is to
participate not only in his mission and ministry but to become part
of/to share in his
body and blood. Paul asks the Corinthians, “The cup of blessing
that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?”
Yes, it is. “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in
the body of Christ?” Yes, it is. To take into our bodies his body
and blood, to take him in worthily and whole, is to
become Christ. Our
Lord teaches us, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.
. .” He lives among us, with us, and in us. And we are made
Christs, sent into the world.
It may sound odd to say that “we are made Christs,” but that is
exactly what happens when we step behind him to follow him on his
Way. We are made into the image of Christ and sent out to be Christs
for the world. Around 350
A.D., St. Cyril
of Jerusalem*, teaching on the anointing of the Holy Spirit that
follows baptism, notes that “having therefore become partakers
of Christ
you are properly called Christs. . . because you are images of
Christ.” We are partakers of Christ in baptism, confirmation and,
most especially, in the Eucharist. When we partake worthily of Christ
in these sacraments, we are re-formed into the image of Christ. Now,
what is an image? We might think of a snapshot or a painting, or even
a statue. But the word “image” here is something more like “an
imitation” or “a miniature.” Imitation could imply a fake, like
an imitation Rolex watch, so let's go with miniature. When we partake
worthily of Christ in the sacraments, we are re-formed into
miniatures of Christ, little
Christs
– woefully imperfect for now but on the way to perfection in him.
Cyril teaches us that we are therefore “properly called Christs.”
All together, gathered as we are now, we constitute the Body of
Christ, the Church. Millions of little Christs all over the world
forming one body, Corpus
Christi.
So
far, we've covered two of the three Scriptural referents for the
phrase “body of Christ.” Body of Christ in the Eucharist. Body of
Christ as the Church. We also use “body of Christ” to refer to
the historical, physical flesh and blood body of the incarnate Son –
the body of the Christ Child born to Mary, the body of Jesus who hung
on the cross. What's the connection among and between these three
referents? What do they have to do with Christ's commandment to love
and his commission to go out and preach the Gospel? Turn your
attention to the crucifix above the altar. That is an image of the
body of Christ, Jesus' body scourged and nailed to a cross. Is that
an inspiring image? A depressing image? Does it prompt you toward joy
or despair? Think for a moment: knowing that his torture and death
leads to your freedom from sin and the offer of eternal life, are you
moved to go out and tell others about the Father's mercy? How does
that body, hanging on a cross, gives rise to the Body of the Church
and the Body of the Eucharist? Can that body up there come down here
and push us out those doors into a world that desperately needs a
sign of hope?
It
can and it does. The corpus
Christi on the cross
becomes the corpus
Christi of the
Eucharist and we – eating his body and drinking his blood –
become the corpus
Christi, the
Church sent into
the world to love, to forgive, to show mercy, and to preach and teach
all that he preached and taught. Our eternal lives are at stake.
Piety is necessary but not sufficient. Good works are necessary but
not sufficient. Knowledge of Scripture, doctrine, the lives of the
saints are all necessary, but they are not nearly sufficient. Jesus
says, “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 within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. . .” We
can do nothing w/o him and the only way to be with him, to partake in
his life, mission, and ministry is to eat his body and drink his
blood. The only way is for us – each one of us – to become Christ
in the living flesh. To make it our daily, hourly mission in life to
be Corpus Christi
wherever God has placed us. You may be teaching a class, or tending a
family, or working 9-5 in an office, or haunting a library for a
school project, wherever God has placed you, your mission is to be
Corpus Christi
right where you are.
Dominicans
all over the world pray twice a day, O
sacrum convivium! in quo Christus sumitur.
. .” In our English translation, we pray: “O Sacred Banquet, in
which Christ becomes our food. . .” Christ becomes our food. His
body and blood are our meat and daily bread, our salt and saving
drink. Without this feast, we cannot partake/share in his life. We
cannot move beyond the words of his teachings and reach the deeds of
his hands. We cannot begin to grow in holiness, or even hope for
mercy. In this feast, the memory of his Passion is made new, our
hearts and minds are filled with his gifts, and we receive his
promise of eternal life. Taken worthily, the body of Christ gives us
all that need to live and thrive along his way to perfection. “My
flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . .whoever eats
this bread will live forever.”
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