Many of the prayers made by the people of the Old Testament are centered on reminding God, in case his divine memory is slipping, of the promises he made to save them. When the chosen people face new trials, their insurance against disaster is the promise of God to see them through their time of pain. They hold fast to that word of promise. Every new experience of want or suffering serves to keep alive the memory of God’s promises. Thus their prayers of intercession are made to jolt God’s memory, to play back his promise, to hold him to his word.
But what happens when the people come into plenty? Do they remain faithful to their promises to God in the midst of prosperity? In today’s first reading Moses reminds his own people of the need to remember God: he notices that as the people get richer, their memories get poorer. In the midst of comfort God appears as unnecessary as a fire brigade at a picnic.
If the people do not want God to forget them in their affliction, God does not want the people to forget him in their affluence. So, he reminds the people that when they are safely installed in their new homes with security devices to keep out the uninvited, with their two car garage, excellent income, fringe benefits, and enlightened retirement plan, they should still remember who it was who hauled them through the wilderness when they had no baggage but the memory of slavery, and nowhere to go but away from Egypt. If that memory is not kept alive, then it will be as if God no longer existed because people are not disposed to remember how he adopted them and cared for them in their need. Prosperity has made them a thankless people.
In the desert the people learned that they could not continue their journey without being sustained by the word of God. This experience was to teach them that they could not live on bread alone: when the bread ran out and the water dried up, their very survival depended on the word of God making new life possible for them. It was the creative word of God which brought them the manner - their daily bread - referred to as “the grain of heaven” and “the bread of the mighty” (Psalm 78:24f). The people collected as much as they needed for the day; they were forbidden to hoard any of it. The next day the arrival of the bread was seen as a new sign of God’s continuing favour.
In today’s Gospel John picks up the theme of the manna and contrasts the bread the Jewish ancestors ate in the desert with the new bread of life given by Jesus. In the person of Jesus there is a new Word of God and a new bread from heaven. Now the word of God has become flesh, and the bread of heaven is the very life of Jesus himself. To eat this bread is to have a share in the life of God himself; it is to participate in the eternal life.
It is at the Last Supper that Jesus gives himself away as food and drink to his followers: “This is my body which will be given up for you. This is my blood which will be shed for you. Do this memory of me.” During the last meal of his earthly life Jesus charges his disciples to keep his memory alive by gathering together to break bread. Whatever else they do, his followers must remember to eat in his name.
In celebrating the Eucharist we celebrate a dangerous memory: the memory of suffering, passion and death. We recall Jesus’ radical values that put him in opposition to so many of his own people: his talk about God and the kingdom; his insistence on forgiveness; his opposition to religious sham; his commitment to peace; his willingness to die to overcome sin. In receiving the body and blood of Christ we become his body in our world.
On this feast of Corpus Christi, we celebrate the ultimate gift of the Eucharist. Jesus does not merely give us a symbol; he gives us his actual and true presence, his life, and his love. When you receive the Eucharist, we participate in the profound mystery of transformation.
St. Augustine challenged believers to “behold what you are, and become what you receive.” This means that Holy Communion is not just a personal moment between us and Jesus. It is a communal call to action. By consuming the body of Christ, we are structurally knit together as the living body of Christ in the world today.
Our patroness, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton possessed a deep, burning devotion to the real presence in the Eucharist. It was a love for Christ in the Blessed Sacrament that fueled her tireless service to the poor, the sick, and the uneducated. She understood that the grace received at the altar must be poured out into the community.
As we celebrate Corpus Christi, let us renew our reverence for this great Sacrament. Let our “Amen” at communion be a total commitment to serve others. May our lives reflect the love, mercy, and sacrifice of Jesus to everyone we meet this week.
God is good, all the time!
Fr. Williams Abba
“The only thing that counts is faith working through love” – Galatians 5:6
