Today is the feast of Corpus et Sanguis Christi (Body and Blood of Christ), commonly referred to as just Corpus Christi. Our Lord’s words in the Gospel today pretty much some up the centrality of the Church “”I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (Jn 6:51). Do we really believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist? At times we can tell our Lord “I do believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24), like the father whose son was possessed by a demon that our Lord ejected.
The word Eucharist is based on the Greek word “Eucharistia” which means “Thanksgiving”. And receiving Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass should be the highlight of our week or even day if we can get to Mass regularly. It is worthwhile (vale la pena) because as St. Josemaria EscrivĂ in point #534 in his book of meditation The Way said “Going to Communion every day for so many years! Anybody else would be a saint by now, you told me, and I… I’m always the same! Son, I replied, keep up your daily Communion, and think: what would I be if I had not gone?” Receiving our Lord in Communion should make a difference in our own interior life, because Jesus is sacramentally present in us and where He is, God the Father and the Holy Spirit are also present. And others should feel the impact because we are more in love with them. In fact, our desire to be united with Jesus should help us to cry out “Lord, may I see with your eyes, may I hear with your ears, may I speak with your mouth, may I love with your heart”.
Let’s ask Lord to help us daily be Eucharistic souls and reel people into Mass so that they too can be Eucharistic souls and thus be walking tabernacles!
