The Eucharist: Sign Of His Continuous Incarnation!

(Homily for the Solemnity of the Corpus Christi Year C)

          Today the Holy Mother Church celebrates her most sublime Mystery: The Euchcarist, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Solemnity that recalls the Mystery of the real presence of Christ in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The aim of  this solemnity is three-fold: first, it serves an invitation for us to be always conscious of the greatness of this Gift; second, to make our faith always alife and convinced in It; third, to reawaken in us the sensibility always to render gratitude to Jesus who instituted It, “the very night he was to be betrayed”, as a sign of His extreme love for us. The Eucharist is the perpetuation of both his Love and his Presence. It is the Sacrament of Christ’s extreme love for humanity. It is a sign of his continuous Incarnation of Jesus in human history. In the words of Giovanni Vannucci, “man is the only creature that has God in his blood”, we have in us a divine chromosome, for Jesus dwells in us! This Sacrament reminds us of the Jewish religious tradition of Berakah, which has to do with blessing, thanksgiving and praise of God for the wonders he has wrought.

          Going through history lane, we remember that in the Old Jewish tradition, when the family gather for the Passover Meal, it was prescribed that the last born of the house, asks a question to the Father of the family, thus: What does this ritual mean? This was the question that someone (maybe John that was the youngest apostle) directed to Jesus, the evening they were at table for the Last Super. In response to the question Jesus might have explained to them how the whole celebration from the night of the Exodus on, with the killing of the lamb and the Passover Meal, were not but a figure and a prophecy of Him; the Lamb of God (cf. Gen. 22:7; Jn. 1:29), that has to be slaughtered in order to take away the sins of the world, and to be food and drink for his friends. “Christ loved us and handed himself over to us as an offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2).

          Likewise, the same question can situate us well into the context of our present gathering, therefore, let us ask ourselves: What is the meaning of this ritual? Not because we do not know what we are about to do or the essence of our celebration, but for the Lord to explain it to us again, through his word and through the church,  always for a more profound understanding. To that question the readings of today have much in stock for us.

          In the first reading (Gen. 14:18-20), we are presented with the figure of Melchizedek the priest of the Old Testament, and is like a torch light that points to the reality of Jesus. That is to say, that through Melchizedek we catch a glimpse already in the Old order of Jesus. Melchizedek is a priest of old and Jesus is the high priest of the New Testament. Our response to the psalm bears witness to it: “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek”. Melchizedek brought bread and wine, which is a prefiguration of the Eucharist that Jesus would offer in a personified manner. Melchizedek brought out bread and blessed Abraham. From the O.T. bread and wine is a sign of blessing (he blessed Abraham), a sign of gratitude (blessed be God who has delivered your enemies in your hands) because it calls to mind the wonders God has wrought. In the Exodus 16, the Israelites received manner and ate. Indeed, we can see a sort of progression in the bread and wine of the O.T. and the body and blood of Christ of the N.T., we can say that, Melchizedek brought the bread and wine, but Jesus did the real offering (of himself).

          In the Gospel passage (Lk. 9:11-17) Jesus performed a miracle of loaves, feeding five thousand men from only five loaves and two fish. This miracle in turn prefigures the greatest miracle of the New Testament: The Eucharist. The apostles adopted a hostile solution to the urgency of the hunger of this crowd. They went to Jesus and said: “send the crowd away”. But Jesus never sent anybody away. He helped the apostles to understand that the first step of this miracle is sharing and not multiplication, for Jesus retorted, “You give them something to eat”. The verb ‘to give’, is the action word that vehicled the miracle. In the Gospel the verb ‘to love’ is always translated with another concrete verb ‘to give’, for instance: “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son” (Jn. 3:15); “Greater love than this no man has…” (Jn. 15:13). The apostles had only five loaves, which means one loaf for one thousand men, and in human calculation it seemed impossible. However, in God’s calculation, the miracle of that night, was that the small piece of bread shared became sufficient for all.

          The second reading (1Cor. 11:23-26) describes the event of the last supper. This as we have it from St. Paul is the oldest account of the Last Supper. He says: “this is my body”, “this chalice is the new covenant in my Blood”. He did not say this represents my body or my blood. Little wonder, the Catholic doctrine teaches about Transubstantiation (that while maintain the appearance of bread and wine, the substances of bread and wine are transformed), inter alia.

          Again to our earlier question: What does this ritual mean? Our Lord responds to us, first of all, with the words of St. Paul: “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Cor. 11:26). And at the moment of the Institution of the Eucharist Jesus said to his apostles: “Do this in memory of me”. Indeed, it does appear the keyword for the understanding of the Eucharist is Memorial/Remembrance. But memorial of what? Of the death of the Lord, certainly, but not only of this, Jesus said: “In memory of me”, the Eucharist, therefore, remembers (brings to heart) Him, all his mystery; His prefiguration in the Old Testament and his actuation in the New Testament. The Eucharist is a Remembrance/Memorial of the Lord and the Salvation he wrought, that culminates in his Death and Resurrection. It is the memorial of the people of God. Every people that has a history, has also a memorial, which can be a day of feast or something that condenses the history.

          The Eucharist is equally a Banquet that unites. In the verses preceding the passage of the second reading Paul warns: “And so, when you assemble together as one, it is no longer in order to eat the Lord's Supper. For each one first takes his own supper to eat. And as a result, one person is hungry, while another is inebriated. Do you not have houses, in which to eat and drink? Or do you have such contempt for the Church of God that you would confound those who do not have such contempt? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I am not praising you in this” (11:20-22).

          Above all else, however, the people of God have their memorial, but it is a living memorial. Here stands the great difference, a living memorial, not the ashes of someone. The biblical remembrance is essentially different from the human, that makes one to relive the reality only intentionally in the memory. The biblical remembrance (zikkaron) rather makes one to relive the reality really; it is a remembrance and a presence at the same time!. The Death and Salvation of Christ, in the Eucharist, are not relived only in our memory, but they are relived really; there is a real presence on the alter: it is the presence of the Risen Lord who says: “Touch me, it is really I” (Lk. 24:39). We remember him, his death, that is, we become witnesses to his death. We have gathered round the alter like Maria and John around the Cross, but there is also the sad possiblity that we are here like the soldiers, like the enemies and like the passer-bys were round the Cross. From mystery to believe, to mystery to celebrate, from mystery to celebrate to mystery to live (In fraternity and oneness). May the Ever Present Emmanuel, the Eucharistic Jesus continue to nourish us physically and spiritually! May He make our presence before his Presence a transforming encounter. May we become more of Him and less of us. Amen!!!

Verbum caro factum est

Verbum panis factum est

Verbum caro factum est

Verbum panis factum est. 

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)