The Eucharist: Sign Of His Continuous Incarnation!

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

     Today the Holy Mother Church celebrates one of her most sublime Mysteries: the Eucharist, 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 alive 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 and endless love for us. The Eucharist is the perpetuation of both his Love and Presence. It is the Sacrament of Christ’s extreme love for humanity. It is a sign of his continuous Incarnation 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! The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word “eucharistia” which is a translation of the Hebrew word “berakah” and they all stand to signify thanksgiving or praise to God for his wonderful deeds. This Sacrament therefore, reminds us of the Jewish religious tradition of Berakah, which has to do with blessing, thanksgiving and praise to God for the wonders he has wrought, for this the first reading invites us to remember and not to forget his mighty deeds.

     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) could have directed to Jesus, the evening they were at table for the Last Super. And maybe in response, 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. 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 Sacrament,  always for a more profound understanding. No doubt, to that question the readings of today have much in stock for us.

     In the first reading (Dt. 8:2-3. 14-16) Moses spoke to the people of Israel and today he is speaking to us calling our attention to two imperatives: Remember and Do not forget, What? Moses admonished the people to have always fresh in their minds all that the Lord has done for them. Remember how he laid you in the wilderness, do not forget that he led you out from Egypt and how their fathers were nourished with manna. And to us as well, his words resound in our heart: remember and do not forget. The people of Israel were not to forget all the good deeds of the Lord, in order to render gratitude to God, and to remain faithful to him. The imperative call of Moses is also extended to us, for we have to remember and not to forget all the wonderful works the Lord has worked for our Salvation, starting from his Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection to the perpetuation of his presence in the Eucharist; the Ever Present Emmanuel! Here the people were nourished by manna which they did not know, but Jesus feeds us with what we know: Himself.

     In this passage, the sacred author affirmed that God “humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh” (v.3). This passage anticipates the real Bread (Eucharist), Jesus’ self-giving to humanity. In the words of Jesus: “This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever” (Jn. 6:58). The Eucharistic Jesus is not bread like the one eaten by the Jews in the desert, rather he is the real Bread that gives life, He is both Bread and Word of God. Jesus is the Word that became Flesh, not only Flesh but also Bread. It is indeed illuminating the word of God in John 6:63: “The words i have spoken to you are spirit and they are life”. Now, you can imagine, if the spoken words of Jesus give life, imagine Him the Word of God! Indeed, Jesus the Word and Bread of life gives life. For this, we are invited to live not on mere bread but on the Word that took Flesh, and later became Bread. In fact, we may well affirm that the Eucharist is the second and continuous Incarnation of Jesus on earth.

     In the Gospel (Jn. 6:51-59) St. John presents a wonderful teaching on the Eucharist, done by Jesus himself. Jesus says “I am the living bread”, “my body is true food and my blood real Drink”. What Jesus is offering is not just a mere sign, rather they are real food and real drink, yet more than that. Moreover, body and blood stand to indicate the totality of the person, therefore, He is giving us all Himself without reservation (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity). Indeed, Jesus gives himself under the appearance of Bread and Wine. He says: “the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” and his blood “will be poured for the remission of sins”, that is, he offers himself in his state of being a sacrificial victim, in obedience to the Father and for the remission of our sins. In the Incarnation the divinity of Christ is present in the fragility of a human body; in the Eucharist, the crucified, risen and glorified Christ is present in the fragility of bread and wine.

     During his great teaching on the Eucharist, Jesus makes an eschatological promise: “who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life”: therefore, receiving Jesus in the Eucharist we participate already in this world in the divine life of God and eternal life in the world to come. He further expressed “who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I will raise him up on the last day”, he who nourishes himself with Jesus in the Eucharist will participate as Jesus promised in his mortal body the glory of the Risen Christ in the Final Resurrection. On hearing this teaching, the Jews questioned him saying: “how can he give us his flesh to it?” Therefore, they intended very well the language of Jesus, it is not in metaphorical or symbolical sense that he invites them to eat his body, rather in the realistic sense, to eat and nourish themselves with his body. Jesus by no means minimized the intensity of his discourse, little wonder the disciples said “this language is strong, who will admit it?”. Some of the disciples stopped following him, and he turned and asked the apostles, “do you want to go away also?”.

     The reception of this Sacrament creates a wonderful intimacy and union between Jesus and the receiver, Jesus promised “who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I will live in him and him in me”, that is, through the Eucharist a profound union is established between Christ and the faithful. Through this intimacy, there comes a sort of a progressive transformation of the faithful, until he is Christified. It was the German philosopher Fuerback that said “we become what we eat”, this is true to some extent, that is why we are called to become WHAT or WHO we receive in the Eucharist. We are called to be christified and to become carriers of Jesus, living tabernacles: “Christophers”, Christ-bearers. In the words of St. Leo the great, one of the effects of the Eucharist is to make us become what or whom we eat. Thus, there are some existential implications, for Jesus in response to the argument of the Jews says “if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn. 6:53), again he says: “so whoever eats me will also draw life from me” (Jn. 6:57b). St. Paul understood this vividly well when he said “it is no longer I that live but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Are we ready to live for Him? Are we ready to make a space in our life for Jesus? In the book of Revelation He says: “I am standing at your door and knocking if someone hears my voice and open to me, I will come in and eat with him” (Rev. 3:20). There He does not come to dwell in us by force, rather he waits for us to open the door of our heart to him. Child of God open your heart, for the Eucharistic Jesus is knocking.

     This great mystery is to be considered from two different aspects: of sacrifice and banquet. First, as a sacrifice, in the celebration of the Eucharist, Christ is present in the state of a victim for the expiation of our sins: in the bread it is his flesh that is given, his slain body, in the wine, his shed blood. In the Eucharist Jesus renders present, actualizes in a sacramental, unbloody but real manner, his sacrifice. As such, every eucharistic celebration represents and renders actual in all its redemptive efficacy the sacrifice of Calvary, unsurprisingly, we call it the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Second, as a banquet, in the Eucharist Jesus makes himself present not only to represent or actualize his sacrifice of expiation, of propitiation and glorification of the Father, but also to become our food, our spiritual nourishment. We cannot but underline the insistence with which Jesus uses the words: eat and drink. During the moment of the Institution, at the event of the Last Supper, Jesus will say: “take and eat”, “drink all of you” (cf. Lk. 22:19-20; Mk. 14:22-25; Mt. 26: 26-29). The Eucharist is the divine banquet that every soul is invited to participate in order to be nourished of Christ.

     Interestingly, in his Gospel narrative, John does not include the institution of the Eucharist in his account, rather, he narrated the event of the washing of the apostles’ feet by Jesus. Corollarily, the humble service of Jesus, demonstrates to us how the Eucharist should transform our lives from acts of self-centredness to acts of love, humble service of others. And again, before this unprecedented gesture of Jesus, one may ask: why does Jesus offer himself as our food and nourishment in the Eucharist? Extrapolating from the affirmations and promises of Jesus in this passage, we are urged to make threefold considerations: ●Jesus gives us himself in the Eucharist to unite us with him, to communicate to us his divine life and to transform us in him. ●To deposit in us seed of immortality, in his words: “who eats my flesh will live forever”. ● To make us one people, his Church, so that we will live in communion among us (cf. 1Cor.10:17).

     The second reading (1Cor. 10:16-17) delineates what should be the fruits of the Eucharist in us and its existential implications. St. Paul tells us clearly how the Eucharist puts us in union with Christ and with each other. The Chalice of blessing and the Bread will break are signs of communion with Christ. And this communion should not only be with Christ but among men, partakers in the one Cup and one Bread. The participation in one Bread bestows on us the grace of becoming one body even though many. In chapter 11 St. Paul admonishes us to receive the body of Christ worthily, if not the person eats and drinks his condemnation. The reception of the Eucharist is not to be seen as a daily routine. We are all invited to nourish ourselves with Christ, but worthily, it does not exclude anyone, except if one excludes himself by sin.

     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 remembrance of me” (1Cor. 11:24). 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 mysteries; His prefiguration in the Old Testament and his actualization 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. Drawing the issue further, here remembrance entails something more than mere recollection. In the context of the Passover, it is God and not just the people who remembers. And as such, He makes present the great acts of redemption. Similarly, at each Eucharist, we do not just look back in remembrance of the Last Supper; instead the Last Supper is made present to us in order that we might experience the saving power of Jesus. In the Eucharist we both remember and relive what Jesus has done for us and this great gift of Himself in the Eucharist. It is worthy of note that in the biblical language, ‘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 even though in an unbloody manner; there is a real presence on the altar.

    Above all else, however, from what has been said it is clear that the participation in the Eucharist does not end with the final blessing, it is to be lived, it must permeate and influence all our actions. And here we want to consider a Eucharistic experience from three different but interconnected perspectives: before, during and after the celebration. In the ‘before’ of the celebration, there are numerous elements that predispose us to an ever more lively celebration of the sacrament. Before the celebration, the believer is invited to consider the gratuitousness of the gift that he goes to celebrate and to recognize himself as a sinner. The ‘during’ is the time of celebration, the space in which the encounters between one believer and another, the human and the divine take place. It is a moment of a very strong involvement, of feeling welcomed by God and the brethren. So, it is also a time of fraternity. It is a time to let ourselves be given the therapy by the Word of God. It is a time of confrontation with oneself and the Word, and this attitude holds the secret for constant growth in Christian maturity. Lastly, the ‘after’ of this encounter with God and with the brothers and sisters should instill in us a life of communion already anticipated during the celebration, as an element coming from the encounter with Jesus. What we celebrate must have moral and social values in our life or in our experience. After the example of self-donation, sharing and love given to us by Jesus, the ‘after’ celebration must therefore be a time of extension of the Eucharistic experience in our everyday life. And I would like to conclude with these profound and piercing words of Don Tonino Bello: “Unfortunately, flashy opulence makes us easily see the body of Christ in the Eucharist of our altars. But it prevents us from seeing the body of Christ in the uncomfortable tabernacles of misery, need, suffering, loneliness. (...) I believe that the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ demands our conversion. Not the altitude of our words. Nor the empty pomp of our liturgies.” Truly, Jesus in the Eucharist continues to demand for our conversion. 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)