Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
A grandmother was talking to me about her grandchildren whom she loves very dearly and lavishes them with gifts. She would do anything for them. She has only one regret. Some of her young grandchildren who now have jobs, own homes and live with their girl-friends say to her, “Why do ask us to go to church and pray grandma? We have everything we need. It was not God who gave them to us. We have worked hard for it. We do not need God.” I know these young people. They were baptized. They made their first communion in this very church. They made their confirmation too.
If they could talk to you, what would you say to them?
When Moses in today’s first reading says to the people of Israel, "Do not forget the LORD, your God,” he was referring the human capacity to forget God. When I was a child, I often heard my parents repeat Proverbs 30:9, “Give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need; lest, being full, I deny you, saying, “Who is the LORD?” Or, being in want, I steal, and profane the name of my God.”
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. The operative word for this feast is, ‘memory.’ Today’s first reading begins with the word, ‘remember.’ "Remember” Moses said, “How for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert….” At the very first Passover, as the people left Egypt for the Promised Land, God instructed the people to establish the Passover as a perpetual institution. God said, “This day will be a day of ‘remembrance’ for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the LORD” (Ex 12: 14). At the Last Supper at which Jesus celebrated the Passover, Jesus took bread and wine, give it to his disciples to eat and drink, saying to them, “Do this in memory of me.” Today’s feast is a feast of ‘remembrance.’
I want to raise three questions about ‘remembrance.’ What do we remember? How do we remember? With whom do we remember?
What do we remember? We remember God and all that God has done for us. Even though today’s feast is a very Christ-centered celebration, the focus is on all that God has done. For example, today, after this mass, we will process outside the church with the Blessed Sacrament. However, we would not able to do that if it was not for God who in God’s great love, mercy and compassion reached out to set the people of Israel free. We would not be able to participate in the Body and Blood of Christ without the first Passover. We would not be able to participate in the life of Christ without the Holy Spirit. Most of all, we would not able to stand face to face with God, if Jesus had not become flesh, dwelt among us, given us himself, died for us and rose from the dead. Today, as we celebrate the Body and Blood of Christ, we remember God and all that God has done for us.
How do we remember? In Biblical and Catholic theology, ‘remembrance’ has a very unique meaning. Memory for Catholics does not merely mean recalling to mind but rather, it is a ‘memory by doing.’ It is very similar to remembering a foreign language. I speak four Indian languages. Since I have moved to America, I do not get the chance to speak these languages. Each time I go back to India, I realize that I am forgetting some of these languages. It is also like remembering our loved ones who have died by doing what they did. I know many families who at family gatherings, such as Thanksgiving or Christmas, make the dishes grandma made. It is not only about the food, but through that dish it is as if grandma is present with the family. This is the meaning of ‘memory by doing.’ Similarly, the Eucharist is a ‘memory by doing.’ By doing what Jesus did, we remember the love, the compassion, the mercy, the faithfulness, the self-sacrifice of God. It is not merely a recalling to mind but rather a reliving of what God has done for us. In this ‘remembrance by doing’ Christ becomes present to us in a real way.
With whom do we remember? In Biblical and Catholic theology, “memory is a community affair.” The first Passover saved the entire people of God. The Last supper was for the community of apostles, including the betrayer. In today’s second reading, Paul captures the communitarian dimension of ‘memory’ when he says, “Because the loaf of bread is one, we, though many, are one body….” In the Corinthian community, there were divisions based on wealth and status. In contemporary Catholic Church, class, political ideologies, race, ethnicity, crass individualism are serious threats to the body of Christ. The point that Paul is trying to make is that to celebrate the Eucharist as a divided community or merely as an expression of our personal relationship with Christ is counter intuitive. It would be like preparing a great big thanksgiving meal and having it all by myself either because I do not like the people I would share it with or because I think that the best way to enjoy a thanksgiving meal is by myself. God instituted the first Passover and Jesus instituted the Eucharist as the “memory” of a faith community. Just as it takes many parts to make a body whole, similarly it takes all of us to complete the Body of Christ. We “remember” what God has asked us to remember not as individuals but as a family of faith, a community. We must never forget that.
As we bring this bread and wine to the altar, let us not forget what God has done for us. Let us also become aware of how marvelous it is to be able to remember what Jesus did by doing what he did. For he said, “Do this in ‘memory of me.” Amen.
- Fr. Satish Joseph