The feast of Corpus Christi, the celebration of the sacred Body and Blood of Christ, makes me joyfully exuberant and tremble with fear. It fills my heart with unexplainable gladness because Jesus, the Word of the Father, through us his sinful priests (myself included), is still becoming flesh and dwelling among us (see John 1,14). He is still filling with his splendour and majesty our tabernacles, churches, halls, and especially our hearts. His amazing grace and truth unravels his splendid character. Receiving and adoring Him is the apex of human existence. Nevertheless, that little, apparently insignificant host, is essentially “the glory … of the only Son from the Father” (John 1, 14). Around it entire invisible choirs of angles adore wholeheartedly their Master and Creator!
The Father reasons completely different from the way we, erring human beings, do. Instead of showing his treasures to the smartest, the Father chooses the little ones to adore Him, through his beloved Son, “in spirit and truth” (John 4, 23-24). The little ones are the true worshippers of the Father in the Son. It was Jesus who declared this: “I thank thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes; yea, Father, for such was thy gracious will” (Matt 11, 25-26).
The babes, or the little ones, are those who completely trust in the Lord. They put into his caring hands their life problems. They entrust their very being to the Father.
Since Jesus declared that no one comes to the Father, save through Him (see John 14, 6), an eloquent way of totally embracing Jesus’ ongoing mediation is by partaking in his Body and Blood. Jesus promised that “[s/he] who eats [his] flesh and drinks [his] blood has eternal life, and [He] will raise him/[her] up at the last day” (John 6, 54). Jesus’ sacramental presence in the consecrated bread and wine assures eternal life. But what does this mean? In ‘God is Near Us’, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger explains: “Eternal life is a new quality of existence, in which everything flows together into the ‘now’ of love, into that new quality of being that is freed from the fragmentation of existence in the accelerating flight of moments”.
The Eucharist is the epicentre of “whatever is true, … honourable, … just, … pure, … lovely, … [and] gracious” (Phil 4, 8). The Eucharistic Jesus is both the dispenser and magnet of authentic love that is always available for those who open their hearts to it. The Eucharist is the fountain of many graces. Participating and adoring it is indispensable. Saint John Bosco said: “Do you want our Lord to give you many graces? Visit him often. Do you want him to give you few graces? Visit him seldom. Visits to the Blessed Sacrament are powerful and indispensable means of overcoming the attacks of the devil. Make frequent visit to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament and the devil will be powerless against you.”
The Eucharist is also an inspiring school that teaches us how to serve our needy brothers and sisters. The Body and Blood of Christ oozes from it, that overpowering energy of disinterested service which, like the “spring of water, well[s] up to eternal life” (John 4, 14). A famous little one of Jesus, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, said: “In each of our lives Jesus comes as the Bread of Life − to be eaten, to be consumed by us. This is how He loves us. Then Jesus comes in our human life as the hungry one, the other, hoping to be fed with the Bread of our life, our hearts by loving, and our hands by serving. In loving and serving, we prove that we have been created in the likeness of God, for God is Love and when we love we are like God. This is what Jesus meant when He said, ‘Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect’.”
Are we little enough to receive this sacrament regularly and boldly let it shape our lives?
Mario Attard OFM Cap
SAN GWANN