Gen. 14:18-20; 1 Cor. 11:23-26; Lk. 9:11b-17
Today, we are celebrating the Feast of the Body and
Blood of Christ. This special Feast is celebrated in remembrance of Jesus who
gave His life for our salvation. It is a Feast in remembrance of Jesus' command
to us to celebrate the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.
“You are what you eat” is a
very old saying. In essence, what is put into the body is what the body
will use in the construction and replacement of its cells, hormones and
neurotransmitters. Quite literally then the human body is composed of the very
food that he consumes. And consider that most cells in the body will be
completely replaced within 7-10 years; This means that each and every one of
our cells will have been renewed and exchanged for another one that our body
has produced.
There are books, magazines, television shows, even
professions, which focus solely on the food we eat: how to cook it, where to
get it, and how to dress it. Less fat, non-fat, white or whole-grain. Even our
cereal boxes tell the story of how the human relationship to food and cooking
has evolved. Culture once defined food. Food now defines culture.
There is a
study made about the evolution of Darwin’s Finches. These birds, actually members of the tanager family
and not the finch family, arrived to the islands as a single species from the
mainland sometime around two million years ago. Remote islands are an excellent
‘testing ground’ for evolution. The remoteness provides the requisite isolation
as well as the availability of new niches for the incoming species to exploit.
As the ancestral bird spread throughout the islands, it found a wide variety of
potential food sources that it could exploit. Those individuals with a beak
shape suited for the new food source out-competed the others and so gradually
different species began to diverge based on beak size and shape, eventually
diversifying into 15 different species.
When you believe in the
truism of the statement, you are what you eat, this is even more true in the
spiritual sense as Jesus tells us when speaking about the Eucharist. With
normal food. It is more a fact that the food becomes us, and has its place in
our body. But with the Eucharist, the Lord does not become us, rather, we
become Him. In his Easter Sermon St. Augustine exhorted,”If we receive the
Eucharist Worthily, we become what we receive.” And in receiving Christ, we
become one body in Him, one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. Through
receiving the Eucharist, we enter into a unique and personal relationship
with the Trinity and with one another, the Body of Christ. This is why Jesus
came to us in the Incarnation, to raise man to God. Today Jesus comes to us in
the Eucharist to raise us up to Him body and soul. When we receive Him do
so with reverence and love for it God who dwells in you. Then with St.
Paul we can say “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in
me.” (Gal 2:20)
A four-year-old was in church when the wine and
communion were passed out. He was very interested in this, and started to
get up. His mother leaned over and told him that he was not old enough to
partake in the Communion. He was very much disappointed.
Later, when the collection plate came by, he
ignored it. His mother again leaned over and tried to coax the nickel out of
him. He steadfastly refused, stating, “If I can’t eat, I’m not paying.”
Receiving Holy Communion is a sacred, powerful act.
Holy Communion is the New Testament Passover. The Last Supper (Mt 26; Mk 14; Lk 22; 1 Cor
11) was a
Passover meal. Passover celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from the
Egyptians. The last of the 10 plagues was the killing of all first-born sons in
Egypt. God told the Jews that if they would place the blood of a lamb on their
doorposts, then when the angel of death came by, he would “Passover” their
home–sparing them from the judgement.
Receiving the Eucharist is
one of the most important things we can do. Holy Communion is the most
important of all the sacraments. It completes the Sacraments of Initiation. The
bread and wine we receive at communion is the body and blood of Jesus. It
becomes the bread and body of Jesus through Transubstantiation. We participate
in the sacrament of communion to commemorate all that Jesus did for us and
getting nailed to a cross so we can be free from sin and have eternal life in
heaven. The Lord gave us the sacrament of communion on Holy Thursday at the
Last Supper. After first washing the feet of the disciples, he then did the
breaking of the bread. Jesus said “Take, eat, this is my body” after Jesus said
this he did the same for the wine saying “Drink from it, all of you, for this
is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins” (1 Cor 11:23-25). The sacrament of Communion is the only one of the seven sacraments that
we are actually receiving Jesus. So the soul must be in the
state of sanctifying grace when we receive Holy Communion. Physical food cannot
benefit a dead body, and the Holy Eucharist cannot benefit a dead soul.
May Jesus who comes to us make us like Him.
Satish