Corpus Christi

 The Feast of Corpus Christi

Flannery O’Connor, a renowned Catholic author, tells the story of a Protestant friend who started to go to Mass with her. After doing this for several months, her friend decided to become Catholic herself. When asked why, she replied, “Well, the sermons were so horrible, I knew there had to be something else that made those people want to come to Mass.” 

That “something else” is the Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith, the real, true, substantial presence of Jesus Christ in the Sacrament. This is what we are celebrating today, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. This feast began with an idea of St. Thomas Aquinas. In the thirteenth century, he suggested to Pope Urban the fourth that the Church should have a solemnity honoring the Eucharist. Of course, at every Mass, we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ, because in each Mass  the substances of bread and wine are changed, by the words of the priest and by the power of the Holy Spirit, into the ”body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ.” But St. Thomas felt that the Church needed a unique Feast focused on this mystery.

Pope Urban agreed with St. Thomas, and established this Solemnity, and extended it for the whole Roman Church. It was originally set for the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, which was last Thursday, but in many places, the feast was transferred to the following Sunday, and over the centuries, it came to be celebrated on the Sunday after Trinity Sunday around the world. 

On a different Thursday of the year, Holy Thursday, we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist at Mass. However, on that day, we also celebrate the institution of the Priesthood, and we celebrate Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. And we also celebrate the beginning of the Passion of Christ with the agony in the garden of Gethsemane. Pope Urban felt it would be a good devotion to have a solemnity dedicated to the Most Holy Eucharist all by itself each year.

Now, when we look at our readings for today, it may seem like an odd selection for the celebration of the Body and Blood of Christ, that is, except for our second reading, which is taken from the first letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians. St. Paul recounts to the community in Corinth the institution of the Eucharist. We have to remember that St. Paul was not present at the Last Supper. St. Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus came quite some time after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. This means that he was not there in the upper room to experience the institution of the Eucharist. 

But the Mass, the celebration of the Eucharist, was already taking place in the little Christian communities. Very early on, we read in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, it says that those who believed in Jesus “devoted themselves to four things: to the teaching of the Apostles, to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread, and to the prayers.” This means that the celebration of the Eucharist, called then “the breaking of the bread,” was already a standard practice beginning after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

So, as St. Paul began to form new communities of believers, he would instruct them about this “breaking of the bread,” he would instruct them about the Mass. This explains his instruction to the people in our second reading today. He says to believers in Corinth, “Brothers and sisters: I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, This is my body that is for you.” He continues, “in the same way also the cup.” St. Paul is explaining to this community the celebration and meaning of the ceremony they called “the breaking of the bread,” in other words, St. Paul is explaining the Mass to them. We will find it interesting that the Church gives us this exact same reading from St. Paul to the Corinthians for the Mass on Holy Thursday.

But, as I said, it may seem odd that we have the other readings. In our first reading, which is taken from the book of Genesis, Abraham meets the King of Salem, a priest named Melchizedek. I would like to talk about Melchizedek a little bit, because he is different from all other Old Testament priests. First of all, he is of unknown origin. Secondly, he is not a Levitical priest. However, he is called “Priest of God most High,” the same God most High who is the God of creation, who is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

Abraham met Melchizedek in this way: some warrior kings had stolen all the goods and all the food from the city of Sodom. They had also taken as a captive Abraham’s nephew, Lot. Abraham went after these warrior kings and defeated them, and when he returned with his nephew Lot, he also brought back all the goods and food that they had taken.

When Melchizedek met Abraham on his return, he gave Abraham the blessing of the God most High. Abraham, in acknowledgement of Melchizedek’s priestly office and of his blessing, he gave Melchizedek one tenth of all the wealth that he returned with. 

It is the priesthood of Melchizedek that is interesting, because he is called a “priest forever” which is a prefigurement of Jesus, the eternal High Priest. And Melchizedek’s gifts of bread and wine are prefigurements of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Jesus, which is what we are celebrating today. In another place in Scripture, in the letter to the Hebrews, it says that Melchizedek was made to resemble the Son of God, and he was made a ”priest forever.” 

We also hear this in our psalm for today, which is psalm 110, where we hear the name of Melchizedek again. Psalm 110 is a psalm that we pray every Sunday evening in the Liturgy of the Hours. This Psalm is a messianic psalm, which means that it points to Jesus Christ, and in this Psalm it says, in a prophecy of the Anointed Messiah, who is Jesus Christ, “you are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” 

Then, when we look at our Gospel, it also seems disconnected, which is about the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. However, this story is actually another prefigurement of the Eucharist. In this miracle, Jesus takes the bread and fish, and looks up to heaven, gives thanks to God the Father, and by a miracle of his words, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the food is multiplied, and Jesus gives nourishment to the multitudes.

So our collection of readings, which seem so disjointed, are all part of the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist. These readings are all part of the teaching on the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus, which is given by Christ himself, through the words of the priest and by the power of the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine become this heavenly food, which is given to the multitudes for our spiritual nourishment. Jesus, our great High Priest, who is of unknown origins, is called a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

Every priest offers sacrifice to God for the people. And, at every Mass, the sacrifice of Calvary is “made present” to us in an unbloody manner. At Mass, we “enter into,” in a mystical way, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross at Calvary. And at Mass, the promise of Jesus Christ “to be with us always until the end of the ages,” is fulfilled by His presence among us, body and blood, soul and divinity, under the appearances of bread and wine! Praise God Almighty for this!

As we continue our celebration today, we have much to meditate on, and we have much to be grateful for. We can meditate on the Church’s teaching on this marvelous, miraculous gift of Jesus himself, given to all the world, so that we might live forever with him, and give thanks for that. We can meditate on how Jesus gives himself to us for our salvation, and give thanks for that. And we can be grateful that each time we go to Mass, we will honor his commandment at the Last Supper, “Do this in memory of me.” Amen.