Today we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi and the presence of our Lord in the Body and Blood of Christ.
The belief that Christ is really and truly present in the Eucharist has been a long-standing tradition for Catholics. It is a belief which originated with the Israelites at the time of Moses and was carried into the land of Israel during the conquest of the Promised Land. It was later brought to fulfillment for Christians by Jesus.
In today’s First Reading from Deuteronomy (Deut. 8:2-3, 14b-16a), Moses reminds the people about the way in which God provided for them in the desert, “Remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God has directed all your journeying…and fed you in the desert with manna, a food unknown to your fathers.” (Deut. 8:2a, 16a).
In this passage Moses is referring to the time after the Exodus from Egypt when the people grumbled with hunger in the desert. God sent them manna, a frost-like substance, which fell on the camp and covered the ground every morning. After the dew evaporated, it appeared like fine, round flakes which could be baked into cakes.
God instructed the Israelites to place some of the manna in the Ark of the Covenant, which also contained the Ten Commandments, to represent their everlasting covenant. They carried the Ark with the manna everywhere they went as a sign of God’s presence with them for forty years in the wilderness.
When the Israelites conquered the Promised Land, they continued to carry the Ark of the Covenant with them. A few centuries later, King David brought the Ark to Jerusalem and his son, Solomon, placed it in the Holy of Holies in the magnificent Temple he had built.
In the tabernacle sanctuary outside of the Holy of Holies was a golden table set with twelve cakes, or loaves of bread, one for each tribe of Israel. This “Showbread,” or Bread of the Presence, was cared for and consumed by the priests. This Bread of the Presence, like the manna, served as a reminder of God’s presence with the chosen people of Israel.
In the Gospel for today (John 6:51-58), Jesus references the manna, the bread that God miraculously sent from heaven saying, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this bread will live forever.” (John 6:51, 58).
The bread which the people of Israel ate provided them physical nourishment, but after the course of their natural lives, they died like all humans. Jesus, however, says the bread that he provides offers spiritual subsistence which gives eternal life.
The people in the crowd that day were shocked at what Jesus told them. They could not understand what he meant when he instructed them to eat his flesh (John 6:54). So scandalous was this that later in the passage we are told, “Many of his disciples who were listening said, ‘This saying is hard; who can accept it?’ As a result of this, many returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” (John 6:60, 66).
However, when Jesus asks his closest twelve if they wish to leave him too, Simon Peter responds, “Master to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68).
Jesus will reiterate these words of eternal life to the disciples once again on the night before his death at the Last Supper. He takes the bread, blesses and breaks, and gives it to them saying, “This is my body, which will be given for you; do this in memory of me.” (Luke 22:19).
This is exactly what the disciples did after the Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus. They attended their Jewish worship at the Temple or synagogue and returned to their homes to celebrate the Eucharist as commanded by Jesus. With this celebration they could still detect the presence of Jesus and remember his life-giving sacrifice on the cross. St. Paul calls it “a participation in the body of Christ.” (1Cor. 10:16b).
Today when Catholics celebrate Mass, we carry on the tradition given to the disciples by Jesus during the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The priest raises his eyes to heaven and prays the Eucharistic prayer: “Take this all of you and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you.” He then lifts the host for all to see and when this happens, we believe a process called transubstantiation occurs. This is a big word which simply means that, although the bread, or host remains physically the same in appearance, something of its “substance” has changed so that it becomes the actual Body of Christ.
When we approach the communion rail, the priest or Eucharistic minister says, “The Body of Christ,” and we bow and respond “amen,” which is derived from a Hebrew word meaning, “It is so,” or “I believe.” As Catholics, we believe that God is and always has been really and truly present with God’s people. God was present with the Israelites in the wilderness with the provision of the manna. God was there in the tabernacle in Jerusalem in the form of the Bread of the Presence. And now God is present with us through Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit in the bread of the Eucharist.
This is why we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi.