In today’s great Feast of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we celebrate the special way that Jesus Christ is present to us in the bread and wine that are transformed into his risen body and blood at every Eucharist – at every Mass. What a blessing and what a challenge this gift truly is!
The gift of the body and blood of Jesus Christ is truly a special blessing for us. As Catholics, we believe that at every Eucharist, at every Mass, the bread and wine that are offered by the priest and the people, gathered in Christ’s name, are transformed by the power of God’s Spirit into the very body and blood of the Risen Christ. Jesus Christ feeds us with his body and blood so as to deepen our intimacy with him and strengthen our discipleship in him. There is thus both an interior and an exterior dimension to our reception of the body and blood of Christ. When we receive the body and blood of Jesus at every Mass, it should be our explicit desire to deepen our relationship to Jesus Christ – to join our lives more closely to his. This is the interior dimension of the reception of the body and blood of Christ.
If we truly are deepening our intimacy with Christ through our faithful reception of his body and blood, then our lives should be an ever more faithful reflection of his life. Others should see in us the incarnation of his values in our world. This is the exterior dimension of our reception of the body and blood of Christ. If we receive his body and blood only out of a desire to feel closer to Jesus, but with no desire to bear witness to Jesus and his values in our world, then we are not being true to what the Lord desired in giving us this sacrament. The Lord wanted us to know a greater intimacy with him so that we could be him in our world. Others should see in us his compassion, his mercy, his spirit of inclusion, and his concern for the poor.
Never forget to thank Jesus for the blessing of his body and blood, and never forget to ask Jesus for the grace to accept the challenge of his body and blood – to be Christ for our world.