Take: this is my body, this is my blood

Here is the text of the reflection I shared this weekend: some thoughts about simple gifts transformed into sublime realities.

A last but lasting gift

Today, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.  The gospel that we have just heard is the same one that was read during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the liturgy that we celebrated on the night of Holy Thursday.  In this way, we see that the feast we celebrate today must be understood in connection with the self-giving love of Jesus that was made known to the disciples in the Upper Room.

 While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it, he broke it, gave it to them and said: ‘Take, this is my body’ (Mk 14:22).  The disciples were understandably perplexed by this unexpected act.  Surely, they must have been bewildered by his words.  All Jewish people know the ritual that surrounds the Sabbath meal, so it would not have been a surprise that at the end of the meal, Jesus took a cup – Elijah’s cup – and gave thanks.  In this case, the surprise would only have dawned when he went beyond the prescribed liturgy to add the words: This is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many (Mk 14:24). 

Bewilderment is at the heart of the mystery we celebrate today.  There is a child-like wonder that we should always preserve when we sit with Jesus at the table of the Eucharist, when we approach the altar to receive these gifts.  Have you ever stopped to consider the fact that right here, in our midst, today, Jesus is present, Jesus is performing a miracle?  When the gifts are brought forward and offered on behalf of all those who are gathered, it is ordinary bread that we bring.  Wine, the fruit of a vine, the same wine that we might use at our dinner tables is offered too, but these gifts are transformed as they are blessed.  When the priest holds his hands out over them and asks the Lord: make holy therefore these gifts we pray by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dewfall … (Eucharistic Prayer II), simple gifts are transformed into sublime realities.  We still see bread and wine, but they have been transformed into the body and the blood of Jesus.

The Book of Exodus recounts today the actions of Moses as he consecrated the first altar by dashing the blood of sacrificed oxen upon it (cf Ex 24:6).  Blood stains, and such stains are not easy to remove.  If something has been stained with blood, it is permanently marked.  This was what God had in mind when he gave Moses the Commandments.  As it had been when he created humanity and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, God chose the Isrealite people and wanted to convince them that he would always be faithful, that his promise was permanent.  History has proven that the human heart is fickle.  In fact, if the relationship between God and us were based solely on our efforts, we would have been doomed long ago.  Fortunately for us, God never gives up on us.  When human beings reneged on the covenant that had been made in the Garden of Eden, God imposed a punishment, but he gave us another chance.  When they were enslaved by the Egyptians, God led the Israelite people out of slavery into the promised land, and through his faithful servant Moses, provided the Commandments: he gave us another chance, and the people responded: All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient (Ex 24:7), but that wasn’t the end of the story.  Our track record with covenants has been spotty at best, but thankfully, God is forever faithful.

When Christ came … he entered once for all into the Holy Place … with his own blood which he shed out of love for us, and thus obtained for us the gift of eternal redemption (cf Heb 9:11-12).  God never gives up on his people, and Jesus has shown us how much God loves us – even to the point of sacrificing his body for us and shedding his blood.  Inspired by all the martyrs who throughout the history of the Church have been asked to sacrifice their lives for their faithfulness to Christ, let us approach the altar with child-like trust, constantly bewildered by the extent to which God is willing to go in order to convince us of his love for us, and receive the gifts that are offered so that we in turn can tell others about the great love that we have discovered.