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. Learn more about transubstantiation here and here.
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. Throughout Notre Dame’s history, Eucharistic processions have traced the quads like the one pictured here.

The stained glass window of the Eucharist above comes from the chapel in the Eck Hall of Law, and the engraving graces the door to the tabernacle in the chapel in Farley Hall. 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!