Corpus Christi
Today we celebrate the feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Christ. We celebrate the fact that we are the Body and Blood of Christ. We celebrate the fact that these three little vulnerable babies have been incorporated this day into the Body and Blood of Christ, here during the family meal of God's people. In these vulnerable babies Christ himself is at his most vulnerable. These children are utterly dependant for survival on community. We find a parallel situation in today's gospel. The disciples find themselves surrounded by hungry vulnerable people. They rush along to Jesus and advise him to send them all home. They are saying, 'Look, we have neither the resources nor the responsibility for looking after these.' Instead, they can go into the villages and farms in the neighbourhood and find themselves lodging and food.
The solution Jesus proposes is quite different: "Why not give them something to eat yourselves?" Even when the disciples protest, "We have nothing but...," He commands the crowd to be seated and to prepare for a meal.
With the blessing of Jesus, the five paltry loaves and two insignificant fish become more than enough to take care of the crowd's hunger. Luke seems to be reminding his community of their importance. As the community of Jesus, they're able to meet the needs of others in ways they could never realize if Jesus were not present among them. They are not merely a human community. They are now the Body of Christ, gifted with power and resources they had never suspected.
Our weekly gathering is intended to celebrate and reaffirm this fact. Not only do we share his body and blood, but we are also in communion with each other through him, by our sharing the common family meal of the Church. Through Holy Communion, the Christian community is made into a community. The unifying factor is Christ himself. By the body of Christ, we are made the body of Christ.
St. Augustine was very strong on this unifying quality of the Eucharist. In the Eucharist Christ gives the Church his body and blood and this is what he makes us ourselves into as well. By consuming the sacramental body of Christ, they are formed into the ecclesial body of Christ. When the faithful hear the words 'Body of Christ', and reply 'Amen', they are giving assent to what they are, personally adding their signature. Augustine urges, 'Be what you see and receive what you are.'
But Augustine was in the habit of attaching a warning or a condition at the end of his sermons on the Eucharist. 'Any who receive the sacrament of unity and do not hold the bond of peace, do not receive the sacrament to their benefit, but a testimony against themselves.' This unity is meant to endure beyond the doors of the Church. When the priest says the words of dismissal at the end of the Mass, he is reminding the congregation to go out and live what they have become. This is the manner in which Jesus is now present among us. It is the most intense expression of the Christian community.
The first example we have in the scriptures of Jesus being present to his followers in this new way is the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. According to that story, the two great pointers to God's abiding presence in our world are, firstly, the scriptures and secondly, 'the breaking of bread' or the Eucharist. Again, the purpose of the Eucharist is not to make God present in the world. It is to remind mankind that God is already present in the world, in our lives.
Vulnerable humanity has now become the Body and Blood of Christ. When we come to Church on Sundays, we are reminded of this fact. But this is not imparted as a piece of interesting information: it is thrown down the Christian community as a challenge: you must now treat everyone with the reverence and respect you would reserve for Christ. That is the real significance of the Feast we celebrate: the Body and Blood of Christ.