Solemnity of Corpus Christi, Cycle B

During the time when Christians were violently persecuted for their faith, a 12-year-old altar server, by the name of St. Tarcisius was, with many Christians, forced to go underground in, what are known as catacombs, to celebrate Mass. As the story goes, there was no deacon that day and so St. Tarcisius, was sent carrying the “Holy Mysteries” to those in prison. 

On his way, however, boys his own age, who were not Christians, asked him to join in their games. He declined their offer but they had noticed that he was carrying something. They became curious about what he was carrying, but St. Tarcisius would not let them see, so they beat him up severely until a fellow Christian rescued him and brought him back to the catacombs. On his way, he died and was buried in the cemetery of St. Callistus. Thus is the power of belief in the Most Holy Eucharist.

Today we celebrate Corpus Christi, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, the day when we focus on that which is the very source and summit, the very essence of our faith.

For, while statistically it is stated that between 30-70% of Catholics no longer believe in the Real Presence of Christ, whether webelieve it or not, what we have before us is God made present and, in a little while, this same God will dwell within us, because, what begins this celebration as mere bread and wine becomes the very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Himself.

This is what makes the Eucharist so important, this is what countless people have fought for, lived for and, indeed, like St. Tarcisius, even died for.

For, the Eucharist is so much more than bread and wine, because if that bread and wine remained just bread and wine, then there is absolutely no reason for us to be here today, there is absolutely no reason to fall down in adoration before that tabernacle or before a monstrance, in short, there is absolutely no reason to have a Church.

In fact, if that bread and wine remained just bread and wine, we would be, as many have accused us of being, idolaters and the great sacrifices of all the holy men and women and of all the saints throughout the world would be pointless and in vain.

That is why every single Mass culminates in communion, because at that moment, there is, indeed, no longer bread and wine, but the Most Eucharist itself, and, at that moment, it is not just something we know, something we pray before, Jesus, God Himself literally becomes a part of us, and we become living tabernacles, true temples of the Holy Spirit, in short, we become vessels of God Himself. 

And, His Body and His Blood is not just something we receive, but something that changes who we are, because, in truth, we cannot receive God and not be changed, we cannot receive such power, such grace and such humility, without, literally, becoming a new creation in Christ.

In fact, while I may have shared this before, in spite of all of my surgeries and ongoing heart conditions, nothing in this world compares to the consolation that I get from knowing that Jesus’ Precious Blood courses and flows through my very veins into my very heart, so that the same blood that flows from His Sacred Heart flows into mine. 

And, it does not just something that happens to me, but something that happens to every single one of us when we receive the Most Holy Eucharist; Christ Himself enters our hearts, fills our veins and, literally, transforms our soul.

Mere bread and wine, no matter how much of it we eat or drink, could ever do that, it can never become the living sacrifice, the same sacrifice of Calvary, the same sacrifice in Heaven, because it is only by the words of consecration, it is only at the Mass itself where this can occur, and does occur throughout the world each and every moment of each and every day.

The statistic of 30-70% is, unfortunately, a growing number, which is why the Eucharist must always be the center of our lives and the very foundation upon which our faith is built. For, when we look upon that white host, while, physically, we may or may not see much, spiritually in the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: “What our senses fail to fathom let us grasp through faith’s consent.”

That is why we approach this place with reverence and adoration, and genuflect before a, seemingly, gold box, because the Eucharist is here and nowhere else can it be found.

Let us then never take advantage of such a great gift or take lightly this very identity of our Catholicism, knowing, in the end, that our faith is not centered on mere bread and wine, but the living and true, the very Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, He who, momentarily, will be present upon that altar for all of us to see, He who will make a home today in all of our souls.