“The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” (1 Cor 11:23-24 RSV-CE)
On June 12th, 2023, the Feast of Corpus Christi, the body of Christ, we entered the next phase of the Eucharistic Revival in the U.S. As Catholics we believe that the consecrated host is the body and blood, soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when the priest holds up that host or when you look at the sacred host in the monstrance at adoration, what do you see?
I’ll tell you what I see. I see our blessed Lord, his risen and glorified body. In my mind’s eye I have the image of Jesus in the upper room, the doors locked for fear of the Jews and the Apostles and disciples gathered together. This time Thomas is there. Jesus shows Thomas his sacred wounds and tells him to put his fingers in the holes and his hand in his side (Jn 20:26-27, RSV-CE). Like Thomas I am in awe, and on my knees, I say, “My Lord and my God!” I have encountered Jesus.
“Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Pope Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est
Every celebration of the Eucharist, every adoration event, indeed every mass is an encounter with the risen Christ. If we don’t see that and know that, then we need to be reeducated. We need to reread Chapter 6 of St. John’s Gospel. One of our goals is to become little Christs. One Protestant scholar criticized Catholics by saying that by believing the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, when we eat it, we would become Christ. While trying to deny Catholicism he was actually affirming it. This is exactly what Jesus intended. Jesus in his last supper discourse said exactly this, “that they may all be one, even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they may also be in us, … that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me …” (Jn 17:21-23, RSV-CE).
C.S. Lewis also refers to this in Mere Christianity, “the church exists for nothing else but to draw man into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy missions, sermons, even the Bible itself are simply a waste of time.” We are engaged in Eucharistic revival which plans to “help enkindle, rekindle, and deepen a living relationship with Jesus in the Eucharist.”
As He graphically showed the two disciples on their way to Emmaus, Jesus walks with us (Lk 24:13-35, RSV-CE). And he is with us always, in the breaking of the bread.
We are called to build a living, loving relationship with Jesus. He is our friend, the embodiment of love, our brother, as well as our savior. We need to recognize that we can do nothing without Jesus; we are helpless without him. So ask yourself, why do you continually think you can live without Him? Why do we continually turn away from Him and let our children and fellow parishioners turn away from Him? He calls us to abide in Him and He will abide in us (Jn 15:5). We do this by following His word as he told the Pharisee lawyer that the greatest commandment was love God completely and love your neighbor as yourself (Mt 22:37). One of the ways we do this is to spend time with Jesus, at mass and at adoration (actually an extension of the mass), because “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8, RSV-CE).
This is the way to JOY! Jesus, then Others, then Yourself!
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