The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ: June 14, 2020
Dt 8: 2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Cor 10: 16-17; Jn 6: 51-58
It is a beautiful day to think of the most loving mystery of our faith: the Lord becoming our nourishment! God feeds his people and moreover, God feeds the people with God’s own self! What a mystery and how loving to think of it!
One of the most beautiful and meaningful tabernacles that I have seen, I picture it so well in my mind, has a metal carving of a pelican mother, pecking her breast to tear her flesh open and feed her young ones with her own blood dripping from her body. Such a beautiful image to refer to Sacrament contained in that sanctum sanctorum. It is from the famous Christian legend that made the early Christians adapt that symbol for Christ himself.
Jesus’ act of giving his body and blood to the believer is in keeping with the identity of the God whom the people of Israel always believed in and experienced. The God of their faith was signified in that act and that is why, when he declared, ‘I am the bread from heaven, and those who eat of me shall not die’, the people were shocked; some were enraged, many others deserted him! It was indeed a hard teaching for them. But it was a fact: Jesus did give himself, his body and his blood for the everlasting life of the whole world (cf. Jn 6:51). In this act of giving his body and blood, Jesus reveals to us three profound dimensions of God.
The first is, God as a parent: God as Father and Mother, is a fabulous revelation that Jesus has made of God. It was not entirely a new dimension; the people of Israel did experience it in an intense manner. Moses reminds them of that in the first reading… he reminds them of how God walked them through the desert and provided them with the food and drink that they needed. The provident God was actually a father, a mother, a loving parent, though the people preferred to look at him only as an awesome God and an almighty God. Jesus introduced God as “Abba”, “Father”, a loving parent, a lover par excellence. In giving his body and blood as food, Jesus highlights this element of God, the element of nourishment of the children, the element of feeding and the element of fending for the needs of the children.
Every time we come to the Eucharist, shouldn’t we imagine it as a child coming to the Mother asking for food! Just imagine that scene and the love that is involved in the mother giving the food and the trust with which the child asks for it. That is Eucharist. In this particular time that we find ourselves unable to approach the Lord in this Sacrament, is it not this longing that we need to nurture and treasure within us? Sad it would be if some find nothing lacking, during this experience! Loving it would be, if we long for it and every time we make a spiritual communion express our willingness to stay with the Lord and stay with the Eucharistic love always!
The second dimension is, God as a friend: There is no love greater than a person laying down one’s life for one’s friend (Jn 15:13). Jesus taught this model and lived it to the letter. As he shared that last supper with his friends he made it very clear to them, that it was a prefigurement of what has to happen on the Cross very shortly. The bread to become his body and the wine to become his blood… we do it in memory of him right until today, in memory of that friend-God who came down to live among us, be like us and give of himself to us.
Every time we break the bread, we are challenged to be friends of God, to imitate his sacrifice, to burn with the same love for our brothers and sisters. The second reading elaborates this. Every time we raise that cup, we are reminded of that last drop of blood that came from his side, reminded us that we are called to live not merely for ourselves, but for others, for those who are in need of love and meaning in life. It is easy to ask the Lord who is my friend…as that person asked Jesus, “who is my neighbour”…but Jesus would never answer that. Jesus would only tell me, to whom I need to be a friend, that is, to whom I need to reach out, to whom I need to give, to whom I need to extend my loving arms! What an eucharistic message that is…to constantly reach out in love!
The third dimension is, God as part of us: The most difficult-to-digest dimension is this: God as part of us, God as dwelling in us! If you eat of this body, you will remain in me and I in you, says Jesus. God wants to remain in us, to dwell in us, to form part of us! God becoming part of us!?! Isn’t that kind of scandalous? But that is the truth. What a difference it will make if only we realise and believe in that truth! We will come to you and make our home with you (cf Jn14:23), abide in me as I abide in you (Jn 15:4), you will abide in me and I will abide in you (cf. Jn 6:56)… we find these repeated teachings where Jesus reveals a unique dimension of a God who wishes, longs and seeks to abide, not just with us, but IN us. If we truly understand its implications and effects, we would have attained the eternal life that Jesus promises.
Fr Antony Christy is a Salesian Priest from 2005, who has a Masters in Philosophy (specialisation in Religion) and a Masters in Theology (Specialisation in Catechetics). He is currently pursuing his doctoral research in Theology at Salesian Pontifical University, Rome. Walking with the Young towards a World of Peace and Dialogue is the passion that fires him.