THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, historically known by its Latin name, “Corpus Christi.” This feast day highlights the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. On the night before he died, Jesus shared one last meal with his Apostles. Through the Apostles’ successors, the Catholic Church has been following Jesus’ command to “do this in memory of me”. “In order to leave them a pledge of (his) love, in order never to depart from his own and to make them sharers in his Passover, (Jesus) instituted the Eucharist as the memorial of his death and resurrection, and commanded his Apostles to celebrate it until his return; ‘thereby he constituted them priests of the New Testament.'” (CCC, no. 1337) Taking him at his word when he said, “This is my body,” and “This is my blood,” the Church teaches that the bread and wine become the body and blood of Jesus at every Mass. St. John Chrysostom declared: “‘It is not man that causes the things offered to become the body and blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God’s. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered.'” (CCC, no. 1375) Though Christ is present in many ways in his Church, his presence in the Eucharist is unique. He “makes himself wholly and entirely present” under the appearance of bread and wine. Therefore, the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life.” (CCC no. 1324)           Father Maria Joseph Kodiganti