Today is the Feast of the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Feast of Corpus Christi: this is the Church’s celebration of Christ’s enduring presence in our world. It seems that he’s gone. He ascended into heaven; he and his Father have sent their Spirit to be with the Church. With the Father high on his throne, and with Christ departed from this world, it would appear that all we have left is some vague sense of God’s presence. This is a tempting thought: but it’s actually quite un-Catholic. Now it’s true, Christ’s presence in this world is no longer physical, but it’s every bit as Real. This is the Truth that this Feast gives us. And this is why it’s so critical to our Faith: this truth that after the prayer of consecration at Mass, bread and wine are gone, and the body and blood of Christ are present. Truly, really present. This means, Christ is not really gone from us. He’s with us, his body, his blood, his soul, and his divinity. The Era of God the Son has not ended: it did not come to an end when he ascended to His Father. Because he remains with us still.
Part of the mystery of the Eucharist is that Christ’s Sacred Body and Blood still appear to us as human food, because they are still food, but spiritual food, food for the soul. If this were still bread and wine, we would consume it, our body would break it down and it would be transformed and integrated into part of ourself. But with the Holy Eucharist: the process is reversed: we consume it, but instead of transforming the Eucharist into part of ourself, the Eucharist transforms us into itself, into Himself. Transforms us from the inside. If, in that tabernacle, is not a bowl with little pieces of bread in it, but the Sacred Body of our God, then everything is different. If that’s real, then nothing could be more important. The Eucharist is the greatest gift that we’ve been given: because it’s the gift of God himself, given to us out of love. And it’s the source of hope for ourselves as well. The Lord uses a tiny little wafer that looks and tastes like bread to satisfy our deepest needs, the needs of every one of us in this church today, the needs of the entire Church throughout the world. Our most profound need isn’t for calories to keep our body running. It’s not for oxygen. It’s not for water. Our most profound needs are for peace, for joy, for meaning and purpose in our lives, for Christ. It’s been said that we all have a God-sized hole in our heart, an empty space which only God himself can fill. It’s true. And he does. He does satisfy our need for himself; and nothing else will do. If you have nothing else in your life, but you have the Eucharist, you have everything.
The fact that God can transform these really simple things into His own Body and Blood: that’s significant. If he can turn something as common and unimpressive as bread into Himself, think what could he do with you: a rational, thinking, loving being already made in his image and likeness. The Eucharist is proof that you can be transformed into Christ too. And it’s not just the proof: it’s the method. His own Sacred Body, His own Precious Blood, given to us out of love. If that’s real, then everything in life is different; nothing is more important. If you have nothing else in your life, but you have the Eucharist, you have everything. Let us give him thanks for this unimaginable gift. Let us worship Him in this Great Mystery. Therefore we, before him bending, this great Sacrament revere; types and shadows have their ending, for the newer rite is here; faith, our outward sense befriending, makes our inward vision clear.