Today we celebrate another mystery of our faith: The Paschal Mystery, the great gift of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. St. Thomas Aquinas posed this question hundreds of years ago: Why did Jesus give us his Body? We hear Jesus promise that whoever eats his flesh and drinks his blood “remains in me and I in him.” So: you are what you eat!
As human beings we rely on the physical presence of loved ones to save us from loneliness and isolation—solitary confinement is one of the worst possible punishments! (And we know that no man is an island…) The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Body and Blood overcomes the “real absences” that besiege us. He is the nourishment that satisfies our hunger and thirst for goodness, mercy and righteousness.
As human beings, everything we know comes to us through our bodily senses. Without the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, we might be tempted to reduce Jesus to an abstract, intellectual or impersonal concept or idea. Our body is our “gateway” to knowledge. In the Eucharist we know the divine person of Jesus. We eat and drink and we are saved because when we truly carry Jesus within us, we will be as living tabernacles in this world.
The bread from heaven imparts to us “eternal life.” When we partake of this bread, we have God within us and we begin to live forever. All present are fed, all are sustained and nourished. This is a miracle and a mystery; this is our grace and redemption. Lord, You satisfy our hungry hearts!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
As human beings we rely on the physical presence of loved ones to save us from loneliness and isolation—solitary confinement is one of the worst possible punishments! (And we know that no man is an island…) The Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Body and Blood overcomes the “real absences” that besiege us. He is the nourishment that satisfies our hunger and thirst for goodness, mercy and righteousness.
As human beings, everything we know comes to us through our bodily senses. Without the Eucharist, the Body of Christ, we might be tempted to reduce Jesus to an abstract, intellectual or impersonal concept or idea. Our body is our “gateway” to knowledge. In the Eucharist we know the divine person of Jesus. We eat and drink and we are saved because when we truly carry Jesus within us, we will be as living tabernacles in this world.
The bread from heaven imparts to us “eternal life.” When we partake of this bread, we have God within us and we begin to live forever. All present are fed, all are sustained and nourished. This is a miracle and a mystery; this is our grace and redemption. Lord, You satisfy our hungry hearts!
Keep singing!
Elizabeth Dyc
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