June 14, 2020 - Corpus Christi
(Dt 8:2-3, 14b-16a; 1 Cor 10:16–17; Jn 6:51–58)
When we receive Holy Communion, we hear the words “The Body of Christ”, to which we reply “Amen.” Each time we attend Mass, we celebrate the fact that our God loves us so much that He nourishes us with Himself. It is both the greatest gift – and the greatest mystery – of our faith.
The Church usually pairs the first Old Testament reading with the Gospel so that we can see that Jesus is the fullness of revelation and the completion of the divine plan. When Christ says of His own Body and Blood, “This is the Bread that came down from Heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this Bread will live forever,” He is making a clear association between the manna of the Exodus and Himself, the new manna from Heaven. Just as the Exodus manna was real food, so too is the new Bread that he will give: “For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.” This sharing of His Body and Blood is the true communion Paul speaks of in the second reading: “We, though many, are one body because we all partake of the one loaf.” The Eucharist is the sacrament that binds the Church together into Christ’s Body.
But this week’s Gospel also shows us how Jesus’s statements “This is My Body” and “This is My Blood” were received by those who first heard them. Jesus asking them to eat his flesh and drink his blood sounds like cannibalism, and that is how people reacted to it when they first heard this teaching. It drove many away from Him, even some of His own disciples.