THE BODY AND BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST

SOLELMNITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

 Exod 24:3-8; Ps 116:12-13,15-18; Heb 9:11-15; Mk 14:12-16,22-26

The Blood of New and Everlasting Covenant

Today’s celebration of the solemnity of Corpus Christi brings us to the core of the worship and activity of the Church and unveils her nature. There are two parts to the Church that this Sacrament symbolises. The first is the divine part, which consists of the Eternal Word consecrated to the Father from all eternity. In this divine aspect, there are different expressions of the Sacrament: the Eternal Word who is always the Sacrament of the Father; the Son of Man who is the Sacrament of the Eternal Word, and subsequently, of the Father; the bread and the wine which is offered to the Father as the Sacrament of the Son of Man, as Sacrament of the Eternal Word, and as the Sacrament of the Father. All these are significations of the divine reality in the salvation of man. The divine part of the Sacrament is not visible to us because it rests solely on the will of the Father. The Son is consecrated to the will of the Father, the Son of Man is hypostatically united to the Eternal Word or the Son, and the bread and wine become what the Son of Man wills, which is the will of the Son of God, who is one with God the Father. This is the meaning of holiness or consecration or Sacrifice. 

The second part is geared towards human nature or what concerns human worship of God and human sanctification. This aspect is mostly visible to us because we live by our senses. This second part or aspect has to do with what represents our intention to do the will of God which is the most important act of worship. Hence, there are two parts to the worship of God: what is revealed as the will of the Father, and our attempt to unite our will to worship God with the revealed will of God. These two aspects are made visible to us in the sacramental form. What is visible to us is what is given to us in the gospel. “And as they were eating he 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.” The divine part is signified in his taking the bread and the wine, and consecrating them through the words: ‘this is my body,’ and ‘this is my blood.’ In this first and divine part, we have no contribution to make, they are the realities of the divine will. But the second part is constituted partly by the divine will and partly by the human will. It is divine in that it expresses the divine will ordering our worship of God. This invitation is issued in his words: “the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many.”

The fact of it being a covenant means that our human wills are involved in bringing about the divine worship thus instituted. These are also plainly expressed in the Old Testament prefiguration of the Sacrament. Moses after writing all the commands and ordinances of the Lord down, offered holocausts and immolated bullocks to the Lord as communion sacrifice. “Half of the blood Moses took up and put into basins, the other half he cast on the alter. And taking the Book of the Covenant he read it to the listening people, and they said, ‘We will observe all that the Lord has decreed; we will obey.’ Then Moses took the blood and cast it towards the people.” The blood is cast partly on the altar and partly on the people who are willing to obey the divine will. By their willingness, the people are made into one with the heavenly worship or sacrifice signified by the blood cast on the altar. Thus, the Body and Blood of Christ is the Sacrament of our communion with the heavenly worship or sacrifice of the Eternal Word to the Father.  

This is what the second reading from Hebrews expresses clearly. “The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God.” The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ is the Sacrament of the will of the Father. No one can worthily receive this Sacrament without a willingness to do the Father’s will as revealed by Jesus Christ. This is why it is also the Sacrament of the Church of God. The Church is the Body of Christ consecrated to doing the will of the Father. Hence, only those baptised in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit are regarded as the members of the Church. By baptism, we are immersed into the mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is what the Sacrament means and what it flourishes in our lives.

Let us pray: O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption.