Corpus Christi—First Impressions

The following was written by Father Jude Siciliano, O.P., in “First Impressions”, a service of the Southern Dominican Province:

After preaching in parishes during Lent and the post-Easter weeks, I have noticed a continuation of the eucharistic devotion I remember from my childhood. On this feast (”Corpus Christi”), in my boyhood parish in Brooklyn, we had a procession with the host carried in a gold monstrance around the church building and then taken to the altar, where it was reverenced in silent adoration and then with benediction and Latin hymns. Several parishes I visited in recent months still have similar silent adoration for some period during the week.

One parish had “perpetual adoration” in a side chapel open 24 hours to the public. Worshipers signed up to be present in shifts throughout the day and night. A benefit of this eucharistic adoration in those busy city parishes was the opportunity for the faithful to drop in and spend some precious moments of silence with the Lord, away from the hustle and bustle of their lives. Such eucharistic piety goes back way beyond my childhood to over 1000 years ago when there was an intense increase in eucharistic devotion – specifically focused on Christ’s presence in the Eucharist.

Since Vatican II, we have broadened our awareness to emphasize Christ’s true presence in the gathered assembly. (At a dinner table in one parish recently one priest said he thought people found it harder to accept Christ’s presence in the baptized than in the bread in the monstrance, or the cup of wine and bread on the altar.)

Today’s feast isn’t a way of returning to a former day of only silent reverence and genuflections before the consecrated host. Rather, this feast invites us to broaden our faith vision to include a deeper awareness of our common priesthood; especially in the diverse ministries included in and derived from our eucharistic celebration: the proclamation of the Word; the role of Eucharistic ministers and those sent to take communion to the sick; the music ministry etc. The laity also have a larger role now in the planning of our liturgies. While we want to reclaim our sense of reverence and contemplative silence for the sacred species, we also are graced with current practices that celebrate Christ’s presence in our ministerial and worshiping community.

We also recall today Christ’s true presence in the world--a presence that began with his human body, real flesh and blood like ours. He was subject to human emotions of joy, love, yearning, and pain-- just as we are. We also celebrate our own human bodies – the sign, beginning at our baptism, of God’s presence in the world. Because of Jesus, our physical presence in the world is also a sign of God’s saving love and power present through us, who are nourished today by the Body and Blood of Christ. Our bodies reflect God’s love for others and God’s compassionate presence to those whose bodies and spirits are used, afflicted, abused, distraught, etc.

Today, our presider will invoke the Holy Spirit and say over the bread, “This is my body which will be given up for you...,” and over the wine, “This is the cup of my blood....” These words are also said over us, for we are the body of Christ “given” and the “blood” offered to the world. Jesus gave his entire life, body and blood, for us and our communion with him enables us to give our lives in sacrificial love for the world as he did. Our lives, like that of Jesus, are given by God to be instruments of God’s reconciliation, love and justice for the world

In the gospel today, Jesus sees the hungers of those around him. He directs his disciples, “Give them some food yourselves.” They claim their inadequacy to address the challenge he gave them. “Five loaves and two fish are all we have....” They are right, the hungers of the world are too much to address on our own. But we are not on our own. The miracle of the multiplication symbolizes what we celebrate at our Eucharist: Jesus gave himself to feed the hungers of the world. We celebrate today that Jesus is giving himself to us and calling us to imitate his love whenever we encounter the many hungers around us. “Give them some food yourselves.” Today we are concretely reminded in the bread and wine, the Body and Blood of Christ, that we can feed the world’s hungers because we have been fed by the Lord in whatever deserted place we have found ourselves.