Daily Gospel Reflection
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June 6, 2021
On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
when they sacrificed the Passover lamb,
Jesus’ disciples said to him,
“Where do you want us to go
and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
He sent two of his disciples and said to them,
“Go into the city and a man will meet you,
carrying a jar of water.
Follow him.
Wherever he enters, say to the master of the house,
‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room
where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”‘
Then he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready.
Make the preparations for us there.”
The disciples then went off, entered the city,
and found it just as he had told them;
and they prepared the Passover.
While they were eating,
he took bread, said the blessing,
broke it, gave it to them, and said,
“Take it; this is my body.”
Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them,
and they all drank from it.
He said to them,
“This is my blood of the covenant,
which will be shed for many.
Amen, I say to you,
I shall not drink again the fruit of the vine
until the day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
Then, after singing a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.
The early part of the coronavirus quarantine had a significant impact on my attendance at Mass and reception of the Eucharist. Before the pandemic, I had never missed Mass more than once or twice in a year. While my parish was not holding in-person liturgy, I watched Mass online, I prayed for spiritual communion, and I was very aware of the dispensation from attending Mass offered by the Church. But I certainly did “miss” Mass in so far as I longed for it. Not attending Mass during that time made me aware of something absent in my life, something missing. At the heart of this absence was the ability to receive Christ in the Eucharist.
The quarantine made me reflect on what spiritual communion really meant. It was very comforting to think that, even though I could not receive the sacrament, I could still receive Jesus spiritually. This made me realize that all sacramental reception is always both spiritual and physical.
Before the pandemic, I probably would have reflected on this reading by noting that Catholics have the courage to believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist based on his clear words at the Last Supper from today’s reading. This is both important and true. But after practicing spiritual communion for an extended period, I see that I was perhaps leaning too heavily on physical reception in the past. Since I could receive the sacrament and participate fully, I did not need to reflect on its spiritual effects. Effects such as deeper faith, stronger discipleship, renewed hope, and commitment to charity.
Fortunately, I am seeing the faithful come back to parish Masses more and more each week. When I receive the Eucharist today on the Feast of Corpus Christi, I will be profoundly grateful for the substantial presence of Christ in the sacrament and I will have a greater appreciation for the spiritual effects of the sacrament in my life.
Prayer
Jesus, you open wide your hands and heart and fill us with living food. You give us the bread of the Eucharist, the Word, the church community. You give us the bread of nature’s beauty, of friendship, of people who care for us when we are in need of help. You give us the food on our table, the roof over our heads, the clothing we wear. All the necessities of life come from you, and the extras as well. Blessed be you, Lord, God of all creation. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, is something like the joyous bookend to Holy Thursday.
At the end of Lent on Holy Thursday, we recalled the Last Supper, when Jesus instituted the Eucharist by promising us his presence in bread and wine. That meal foreshadowed his suffering and death. Anticipating his passion, he decided to give himself to his followers through this sacred meal.
Today’s feast comes after the fulfillment of the promise of Holy Thursday in the Easter season and Pentecost. We honored the Holy Trinity last week, and now we celebrate the gift of the Eucharist as the means by which the divine life of the Trinity saves us and makes us holy. In fact, the word eucharist literally means “thanksgiving.”
Our belief in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist begins with the words of Jesus himself. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus identifies himself as the bread of life and says that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.”
The word that Jesus uses when he says that whoever “eats” his flesh couldn’t get more literal. In the original Greek, that word means to “munch” or “gnaw” and refers to the physical process of chewing food.
If you pay attention to the Eucharistic Prayer at Mass you'll notice that the prayer is interrupted by a story. At the center of that prayer, the priest recounts the narrative of the Last Supper when Jesus took bread, broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, "This is my body, which will be given up for you... This is the chalice of my blood."
It is an important moment in the liturgy because in the recollection of Jesus' actions and words at the Last Supper, that same saving action becomes present at each and every Mass and the Lord himself becomes present to us in his body and blood under the appearances of bread and wine. This is the great gift that the Lord gave us--that he would forever be present to us in his body and blood when we gather to share his meal.
The priest always stands in the person of Christ, but especially at this moment in the liturgy, which is why the Eucharist is so central to their vocations. Today is a great day to thank a priest for his ministry in providing the Eucharist. When the Church receives the Eucharist, we become the Body of Christ sent into the world to continue Jesus' saving work and to offer the same kind of love he offered us.
Certainly Jesus’ real presence under the appearance of bread and wine is a mystery, but that is not to say that we cannot understand it at all. To say that it is a mystery means simply that we cannot come to the end of understanding it. Consecrated bread and wine still appear to be bread and wine to our physical senses. Scientific examination of the transformed bread and wine confirm that their physical properties remain the same—look at the consecrated host through a microscope and it looks just like an unconsecrated host. If we use the eyes of faith, however, we see that the essence of the bread and wine—what it is, really—has changed into the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The best way the Church has to describe how this change happens is "transubstantiation," which is a philosophical term. Understanding the philosophy, however, is not necessary for faith—it is just one way that our faith seeks to understand what we experience.
In the words of Vatican II, the Eucharist is the “source and summit” of Christian life, and it profoundly shapes life at Notre Dame. Each of the roughly 30 residence halls on campus contain a chapel, and Sunday Mass is celebrated in each of those chapels throughout the academic year, and regularly on week nights as well.
The engraving pictured above graces the door to the tabernacle in the chapel in Farley Hall, and the stained glass window comes from the chapel in the Eck Hall of Law. The reliquary chapel on campus contains pieces of the table that was used at the Last Supper.
On this feast of Corpus Christi, let us pray for a deeper appreciation and understanding of Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist!