Reading: Exo. 24:3-8; Ps. 116; Heb. 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16.22-26
Rev.
Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia
THIS
IS MY BODY, THIS IS MY BLOOD SHADE FOR YOU
Today
we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ also
called the Corpus Christi celebration. This event occurs every Thursday or
Sunday after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. It is a solemn celebration
where we reaffirm with great joy our faith in the Eucharistic Mystery of
Christ’s love for humanity. Reminding us of God’s infinite gift of love for
humanity which was made present in the Person of Christ Jesus under the
appearance of Bread and Wine.
The
mystery of the solemnity of Corpus Christi constitutes a very important aspect
of our Christian faith, which is rooted in the historical and cultural context
of the Jewish people's experience with God, of which Jesus is the fullest of
this experience and revelation. Hence, on the occasion of our Gospel passage
today, we heard how Jesus sent his disciples to go and prepare a place for
their Passover celebration, which they did.
So, as
they were eating Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he
broke it and gave it to them. ‘Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he
took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank
from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant,
which is to be poured out for many. I tell you solemnly, I shall not drink any
more wine until the day I drink the new wine in the kingdom of God.’
With
this statement, Jesus instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist and gave
his Apostles power and authority to do this in memory of him. This is a very
important mission, which the Apostles had faithfully carried out and has passed
on to all of their successors, the bishops and the priests of the Church, who
have been ordained and have received the same power and authority from the Lord
to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.
So, at
the Last Supper, Jesus presented the Bread and Wine as his Body and Blood which
he offered on the cross as a sacrificial love for humanity and asked his
disciples to do the same in memory of him. This very mandate of Christ is what
the Church is doing at every celebration of the Holy sacrifice of the Mass,
where Christ through the priest who acts ‘in persona Christi’ by the power of
consecration, transubstantiate the Bread and Wine into his Real Body and Blood
and offer it to God His Father as an unbloodied sacrificial love for humanity.
This
means that the substance and essence of the bread and wine the priest blessed
and offered to God at the celebration of the Holy Mass, have truly become the
very Body and Blood of Christ Himself, under the appearance of bread and wine
through the mystery of Transubstantiation. Thus, the word ‘transubstantiation’
from the two words ‘Trans’ which means ‘change’ and ‘Substantiate’ meaning
‘substance or essence’, we can explain the mystery of the Real Presence of
Christ in the Eucharist, as the change of the whole substance and essence of
bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ through the prayer of
consecration by Christ through the priest in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore,
at every Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, through the power of the Holy Spirit the
substance of bread and wine become the real and most precious Body and Blood of
Christ Jesus, just in the same way he spoke at the Last Supper saying ‘This is
My Body, which shall be given up for you’, ‘This is the Chalice of My Blood,
the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant, which shall be poured out for you
and for many for the forgiveness of sins’ of which he fulfilled at the Cross in
Calvary, where he offered himself Body, Soul and Divinity for the salvation of
humanity. Hence, we share in this grace of salvation when we participate fully
in this sacrificial offering of God’s love for humanity.
Little
wonder in our second reading we heard that: Christ has come, as the high priest
of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the
more perfect tent, which is better than the one made by men’s hands because it
is not of this created order; and he has entered the sanctuary once and for
all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, as we heard in our
first reading how Moses took the blood and cast it towards the people saying:
This is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you, containing
all his rules you are to observe. But here, Jesus offers his blood, having won
an eternal redemption for us, to purify our inner self from dead actions so
that we can offer our service to the living God.
The
fact remains that in the Eucharist, we are physically and spiritually fed much
more than the Israelites in the wilderness, who were fed with manna as we have
it in Deut. 8:2-3,14-16, they were given the manna to survive in the
wilderness, but Christ gave us the Eucharist not just for us to survive in the
wilderness of this passing world but for us to gain eternal life and come to
share in his love, for the Eucharist is the real presence of Christ love for
humanity.
Dear
friends, today we are called to embrace the love of God present in the Holy
Eucharist, the power of God’s mercy for sinful humanity. We are called to
deepen our understanding of this rich mystery of our faith in the Eucharist and
come to change the way we relate with Jesus in the Eucharist. We are called to
strive to worthily receive the Holy Eucharist. We are called to be grateful for
this Sacrificial love of Christ in the Holy Eucharist and form the habit of
adoring Christ our Lord present in the Holy Eucharist, as we let the love of
his presence to transform our souls into that purest love that will renew our
families, societies and the world at large.
LET US
PRAY: Heavenly Father, through the sacrificial love of your Son Jesus Christ in
the Holy Eucharist, grant us the grace to constantly experience your presence
within us, especially amid doubt, ignorance, persecution, trials and
uncertainties of life. May the Eucharistic Power of love fill our hearts once
again and so renew the hatred, greed and corruption in the hearts of sinful
humanity. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Sunday to you all.
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