The Feast of Corpus Christi provides an opportunity to ponder the gift of the Body and Blood of Christ given to us in the Eucharist. Today’s three Scripture readings each highlight an aspect of the Eucharist which is good to keep in mind.
In Deuteronomy Moses speaks to the people in the desert exhorting them to remember that as God led them through the desert the Lord provided them with manna from heaven that nourished them on their journey.
Jesus too will remind his listeners of God’s gift of manna and then go on to tell them that he is the Bread of Life and, as God nourished those in the desert, he too will feed those who hunger and thirst with his own Body and Blood. The Eucharist then is food for our journey.
In 1 Corninthians, Paul explains that when we share in the Body and Blood of Christ through the Eucharist, we are united with the Lord. Through the Eucharist, we are brought into communion with him.
We also are brought into communion with one another as we share in the Body and Blood of Christ. We are one with Jesus and one with each other in the Church, which is the body of Christ. The Eucharist provides us with communion with the Lord and with one another.
In John 6, Jesus tells the crowds who have followed him that the Eucharist is the source of eternal life. He gives his flesh and his blood for the life of the world and if we do not eat and drink his Body and Blood we will not have life within us. The Eucharist is a share in eternal life and a pledge that we will never die, but will live forever.
Nourishment for our journey, communion with the Lord and with one another, and eternal life are all ours through the Body and Blood of Christ. As today’s collect reminds us, the mystery of this wonderful Sacrament is a memorial of the Lord’s Passion which we revere for through this Sacrament we experience the fruits of our redemption.
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