God the Father in heaven so loved us in the world
and hence He has sent His only begotten Son so that we may have eternal life
(John 3:16). And, He did this by incarnating Logos-Theos so that he serve Him by giving eternal life to us by
dwelling among us (John 1:1, 14), by impregnating Mary the Immaculate Virgin by
the power of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:18; Luke 1:35). Thus Mary, becoming the
Theotokos, gave birth to the Son of
God, in the human flesh of Jesus, in Bethlehem and placed him in the manger
upon his birth (Luke 1:26-38).
Why Bethlehem, not in Jerusalem, or not in Nazareth,
Capernaum, Cana, or Jericho or Caesarea, for the Son to be brought to us? Why
in the manger, not on the hey, for the Son to be placed upon his human birth?
It is no accident that the Son of God was born to us
in the human flesh of Jesus in Bethlehem because Bethlehem means the city of bread (Beth Lechem) in Hebrew, as well as, the city of meat eating (Beit Lahm) in Arabic. And, there is a reason for the Son to be
placed in the manger because He was born in the human flesh to serve as food.
The way that the Father has sent the Son to us out
of love, by making him be born in the human flesh of Jesus in Bethlehem,
placing him in the manger, is to make him to be eaten as lechem (bread) and lahm
(meat). And, by making Mary the Immaculate Conception, full of grace (Luke 1:28;
cf. Romans 6:14), to keep her free from any effect of the Original Sin, the
flesh of the Son in Jesus is not subject to sin, therefore, keeping him the
truly unblemished firstborn. This way, the Son in the unblemished human body of
Jesus is the perfect Korban Pesach (Passover
Sacrifice), which must be free from any defect, to be slaughtered for its meat
to be eaten roasted and its blood to be shed for protection (Exodus 12:1-14,
21-28; 1 Corinthians 5:7), in order to deliver us from the curse of the Law (Galatians
3:13), the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) to
take away sin of the world (John 1:29). So,
he died on the Cross, shedding his blood along with water (John 19:34), just
before the Passover beginning sundown (John 19:42).
For traditional Passover, unblemished a year-old
male lamb is slaughtered for Passover for its meat to be roasted and eaten and
for its blood to be sprinkled for protection. On the other hand, for the
ultimate Passover, for which Christ the Son, sacrificed himself, laying himself
down on the Cross as the Good Shepherd to save his beloved sheep, us (John
10:11), his body was offered up to be eaten as the bread of life for us to
believe in him and do the works that God requires us (John 6:25-59), as to
reflect God’s ordinance to eat unleavened bread for Feast of Unleavened Bread
(Exodus 12:15-20; cf. 1 Corinthians 5:8).Though the lamb’s meat to be roasted
for Passover has no life, as it is from slaughtered lamb’s body and its blood
separated, the Body of Christ (Corpus
Christi) , offered up to us as the ultimate Korban Pesach (Passover Sacrifice), is given to us as the living
bread of life (John 6:51). It is important to note that Christ as the living
bread of life is not just as bread, which has no life itself. Even manna was not a living bread, as it did
not lead the Israelites in Exodus to eternal life (John 6:58). To put it in the
Aristotelian metaphysical language, which St. Thomas Aquinas has adopted for
his Eucharistic Christology, Christ the Son, as the living bread of life, has
its species (form) of bread but its substance is the living flesh (sarx) of himself. That is why Christ
says that partaking in the living bread of life means partaking in his flesh,
living flesh (sarx), along with his
blood, for eternal life (John 6:51, 53-55). And, this is so because of Christ’s
resurrection. Christ did not offer us dead meant (kreas) but his living flesh (sarx)
, hidden in the species of bread, and his blood (heima), hidden in the species of wine, in the Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist, as reflected in St. Thomas Aquinas’ “Adoro te devote”.
The divine life is hidden in the species of bread
and wine of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, as Aquinas’ “Adoro te devote” sings, “latens deitas, quae sub his figuris vere
latitas”, reflecting the hypostatic presence of the divine life in the
Eucharist. Therefore, it is not like manna,
as the living flesh (sarx) of Christ
is not the dead meat (kreas). And, it
is all because of his resurrection by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans
8:11) as the firstfruits from the dead (Colossians 1:18).
Now we know that what makes the Corporis et Sanguinis Christi (Body and Blood of Christ) so special
and different from the traditional Passover sacrifice lamb’s slaughtered body
and drained blood is the presence of the life of God within. And, this divine
substance of life makes his flesh as sarx,
not kreas, as his living body is not
found in the hypostatic presence of ordinary bread, even it is from heaven as
in the case with manna, but only
hidden under the species of the living bread of life, which is brought by the
power of the Holy Spirit, through epiklesis
during Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, through transubstantiation, as St. Thomas
Aquinas explains.
St. Ephrem of Syria has put it so nicely:
In
your bread hides the Spirit who cannot he consumed; in your wine is the fire
that cannot he swallowed. The Spirit in your bread, fire in your wine: behold a
wonder heard from our lips.
According to St. Ephrem, the living bread of life,
which is the living body of Christ with living flesh to be eaten, and his blood
to be drunk for eternal life (John 6:51, 53-55) in the species of the
Eucharistic bread and wine, upon consecration through epiklesis, are fully loaded with the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy
Spirit is the giver of life (John 6:63), as reflected in the Nicene Creed, the
living bread of life breathes the Holy Spirit, the essence of life, as breath
of life (nishmat chayyim) (Genesis
2:7; cf. John 20:22).
Christ, the Son, himself is the life, as well as the
resurrection (John 11:25; cf. John 1:4). And he offers himself, his living
fresh (sarx) and blood (heima) altogether through the living
bread of life (John 6:51, 53-55), to share himself, the life, with us to be in
us and for us to be in him (John 6:56; cf. John 14:20). In other words, Christ
offers his whole living body with his blood to be in full communion with us, to
be one with us. This way, we shall become the living one Body of Christ, the
living Church, by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13; cf. Romans 12:5) and by
partaking the one living bread of life (1 Corinthians 10:17) along with one cup
of blessing, filled with the blood of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16).
Out of His love, the Father in heaven has sent His
only begotten Son in the human flesh, born to Mary, in Bethlehem, being placed in
the manger, to feed us to make us one with Christ, in full communion with him
(John 6:56), as he is so with the Father (John 14:20; 17:21 cf. 10:30, 38), by
becoming one Body of the living Christ, the Church, as we partake the one
living bread of life, living flesh of the Son of God from one Body of Christ,
fully loaded with the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 10:17; 12:13) . At the same
time, the one Body of Christ is given to us as food on our Exodus journey from
the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13) into the freedom to approach the Father
(Ephesians 3:12), namely, seeing Him with the Son at His throne in the Kingdom
(Revelation 22:3-4). For this, the Son has become the ultimate Korban Pesach, shedding his blood, to
set us free (Galatians 5:1; John 8:36) and also has become the food for our
Exodus journey of freedom to face the Father with the Son in the throne. So,
St. Thomas Aquinas called the Body of Christ, the living bread of life in the
Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist as Esca
Viatrum (food for travelers, food for the journey). And, this food leads us
to eternal life.
O esca viatorum,
O food of wayfarers,
O panis angelorum,
O bread of angels,
O manna caelitum,
O heavenly manna.
Essurientes ciba,
Feed the hungry,
Dulcedine non priva
Do not withhold your sweetness
Corda quaerentium.
from the hearts of those who seek
you.
O lympha, fons amoris, O spring of love, streaming
Qui puro Salvatoris and pure
Salvation
E corde profluis from the heart of the Savior
Te sitientes pota I
drink to quench thirst
Haec sola nostra vota, This only wish
His una sufficis. is satisfied.
O Jesu tuum vultum,
O Jesus, whom we adore
Quem colimus occultum
veiled
Sub panis specie,
under the form (species) of
bread,
Fac, ut remoto velo,
Grant, that when the veil
Post libera in caelo
has been removed in heaven
Cernamus facie.
we may behold your face
Amen
Sanctissimi
Corporis et Sanguinis Christi (Solemnity of the Most
Holy Body and Blood of Christ) to conclude the trifecta of Sunday feasts, moving
from Paschaltide into Ordinary Time, following Pentecost Sunday and Trinity
Sunday, is to celebrate and to remember how the love of God not only has delivered
us into freedom to journey to see Him but also has provided the necessary food
and drink on our journey: the living bread of life, angelic bread from heaven,
in the living Body of Christ, the fountain, from which our drink, the Blood of
Christ, along with water, flows to quench our thirst. And, this is also the
Divine Mercy.
O
Blood and Water, which gushes forth from the Heart of Jesus as a fountain of
mercy for us, I trust in You (Diary of St. Maria
Faustina, 84).
And, Christ has told St. Faustina:
The
two rays denote Blood and Water. The pale ray stands for the Water which makes
souls righteous. The red ray stands for the Blood which is the life of souls.
These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when My
agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross
(Diary of St. Maria Faustina, 299).
St. Faustina has said to Christ:
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O fountain of life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty yourself out upon us (Diary of St. Maria Faustina, 1319).
Eternal
Father, I offer you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your dearly
beloved Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ, in atonement of our sins and those of the
whole world
(Diary of St. Maria Faustina, 476).
Yes, Sanctissimi
Corporis et Sanguinis Christi (Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of
Christ) is to remember that the Father has sent us the Divine Mercy, as His
only begotten Son’s Body has become the fountain of mercy, to save us and atone
us with Him, while this living Body of Christ is our esca viatorum (food on the journey) until we see the Father,
together with the Son, in heaven.
Let us not forget how God, who is love (1 John 4:8,
16), always loves us, as we partake Corporis
et Sanguinis Christi, the gift of Divinae
Misericordiae.
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