In celebrating the solemnity of the Body and the Blood of
Christ - Corpus Christi (Corpus et
Sanguis Christi), what is your image
of the Body of Christ?
Some of you may think of the Eucharist,
especially in the contexts of communion and the Eucharistic adoration. Perhaps,
some may think of the bloody body of Jesus on the Cross, as found in the
Crucifix. Maybe some envision an image of Jesus at the Last Supper, breaking
the bread upon thanking the Father, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body” (Matthew 26:26), juxtaposing to
Jesus’ self-identification, “I am the
living bread”(John 6:51).
As the Eucharistic celebration at Mass
is conducted in anamnesis of the Last Supper, we also think of
transubstantiation of bread and wine we offered to the alter upon consecration
by the presiding priest. The
transubstantiation for the Eucharist is a mystery as difficult to understand as
Trinity is incomprehensible for its ineffable nature. But, all of these mysteries are of divine
manifestation effects. The mysterious nature
in the transubstantiated Eucharist and Trinity are phenomenological reminders
of God’s providence, reflecting the immeasurable and persistent parakletos
nature of God, reflecting these words of Jesus: I am with you always until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20).
The intimate presence of Jesus, the Son,
does not always come with the human figure of Jesus, as it had been between his
birth in Bethlehem and his Ascension from the Mt. Olives. As the mystery of Trinity tells us, and as
Jesus’ words in John 14:16,26, 27; 15:5, 26-27;16:7 assure, we are always with God in Trinity. And the Eucharist is one
way that the presence of God in Jesus’ body and blood manifests in the context
of Trinity, even though God in the Son has been invisible and intangible ever
since Ascension until Parousia at the end of age.
The feast of Corpus et Sanguis Christi is actually not just about the Eucharist –
though this is what many Catholics seem to think. What seems to be less known
for this important feast is that it is also about the Ekklesia, the Church, which we, the faithful, make of.
It is Paul, who viewed a gathering of
the faithful as the Church (ekklesia) in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, as
manifestations of the many gifts of one Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 12:1-11),
characterized with love (1 Corinthians 13:1-13). Paul makes it clear that the
assembly of the faithful as one body with many inter-related parts, ekklesia, is indeed the Body of Christ,
with these words:
“Now you are the body of Christ, and
each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first
of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of
helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all
teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues
? Do all
interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts” (1 Corinthians 12:27-31).
We, the faithful, are, indeed, the Body
of Christ with many parts interdependent on each other, with various gifts of
the Holy Spirit manifesting. This is
also echoed in Romans 12:3-8. As Romans 12:5 indicates, one body of our
assembly, ekklesia, we make of, is in
Christ. In other words, the way we are in Christ is to form one body of many
parts and many manifesting gifts of the Holy Spirit, as one Body of Christ,
enlivened by one Holy Spirit, under God the Father’s care.
Upon Ascension, the physical presence of
Jesus no longer exist in the world. But, the absence of the physical presence
of the risen Christ does not mean that he is absent. Otherwise, the promise of
Jesus’ perpetual presence until the end of the age in Matthew 28:20 would be
contradictory.
The Holy Spirit (John 14:26) being the
invisible yet powerful envoy, who is consubstantial with the Father and the Son
in Trinity, of Jesus, the constant presence of the Eucharist, Corpus et Sanguis Christi, at Mass, are
two known ways to assure the validity of Jesus’ promise in Matthew 28:20. But,
Paul’s view in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, echoed in Romans 12:3-8, reminds us that
our physical presence in assembly, ekklesia,
constitutes one body of Christ, Corpus
Christi. And, given Romans 12:1-2,
indicating our presence as a living sacrifice, alludes to the sacrificial
character of the body of Christ we make of in our assembly. Thus, our own blood
may represent the blood of Christ, Sanguis
Christi.
Thus, the feast of Corpus et Sanguis Christi, following the feast of the Most Holy
Trinity, after Pentecost, is about both the Eucharist and the Church that
we are in our assembly, which is
sacrificial and manifested with many gifts of one Holy Spirit, sent by the
Father. This is one body of Christ,
brimming with powerful charism, reaching out to all nations on earth.
Given its outreaching charismatic
nature, this realization of Corpus et
Sanguis Christi as our gathering in faith, as one body of Christ, and in
Christ, also echoes how Pope Francis envisions the Church, as the Church of Mercy,
echoing the works of works on mercy by
St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II, his predecessors of extraordinary charism,
and taking them to the next level.
As Pope Francis put in his homily for
canonizing Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II on the Divine Mercy Sunday,
2014, for the Church to the Church of Mercy, we must view the wounds in the
body of Christ as a powerful source of inspiration to strive for the works of
mercy in light of Isaiah 58:7:
"Is it not to divide your bread with the
hungry And bring the homeless poor into the house; When you see the naked, to
cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh”.
Again, this message
of Pope Francis echoes Paul’s indication of the sacrificial nature of the Church
we make of in our assembly, written in Romans 12:1-2, in light of Christ’s body
being offered to save us as the ultimate manifestation of the mercy of the
Father. That is why the inerasable wounds
in Christ’s flesh always call us to become the sacrificial one body of Christ,
the Church of Mercy, characterized with the essence of 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
and Romans 12:1-2, 9-21.
Ekklesia composed of us in assembly in Christ’s name, is the Body
of Christ. And, the sacrificial nature of ekklesia
makes the Church as the Church of Mercy, corresponding to the sacrifice of the
body of Christ on the Cross for our salvation.
Upon Jesus’
Ascension, the absence of his physical absence, not only we are with Christ in
the Eucharist and the Holy Spirit but we, the Church, become a visible and
tangible manifestation of the Corpus et Sanguis Christi in the world. And, this is the sacramental nature of
our being.
It is also important to note that the
Greek word, ekklesia means “called to
go out to”(ek=out of, from + kaleo= to call).
Thus, in forming ekklesia, as Corpus et Sanguis Christi in Christ, in
light of Matthew 18:20, anywhere in the world, we are called to let this one
body we make in Christ and of Christ to be a manifold manifestation of mercy. This
is what Pope Francis images the Church of Mercy to be found wherever there is a
need, like a field hospital.
Thus, ekklesia, Corpus et Sanguis
Christi, we form as one body with many interrelated parts, in light of
Matthew 18:20, bears a character of parakletos,
which means “being called to be present beside a person in need” (para =
besides + kaleo= to call). Given that Jesus is Emmanuel (Matthew 1:23), which
means God with us, and thus considered as the first parakletos, while the Holy Spirit sent in his name upon his
Ascension is another (second) parakletos
(advocate)(John 14:16), the Corpus et
Sanguis Christi we form as ekklesia shall be of the parakletos nature.
Now, with this understanding of the
meaning of the feast of Corpus et Sanguis
Christi , focusing on our calling to be the sacrificial Corpus et Sanguis Christi and parakletos nature, reflecting on love as
agape, inspired to make it
manifestation of mercy in an image of a field hospital, we can appreciate the
below poem written by St. Teresa of Avila.
Christ Has No Body
Christ has no body
but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
Compassion on this world,
Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,
Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.
Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
Yours are the eyes, you are his body.
Christ has no body now but yours,
No hands, no feet on earth but yours,
Yours are the eyes with which he looks
compassion on this world.
Christ has no body now on earth but yours.
Upon his Ascension, Christ has no body in the world but
ours. It is because we are the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27).
The feast the solemnity of
the Body and the Blood of Christ is, indeed, to remind us of our ultimate call –
a call to make the Body of Christ, the Church of Mercy, in an image of field
hospital, willing to embrace and care wounds in the world.
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