Eternal memorial of Calvary

This Sunday, this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, begins a multi-year mission called for by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops to reassure us of the living presence of Jesus Christ — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity — among us in the Eucharist. Our world is surely filled with troubles, frustrations, sins — but we are reassured that even among the very many real difficulties that weigh us down, the Living, Loving God is always among us, always lifting us closer to his Divine Majesty. This is very much in line with the Church’s traditions. In fact, it was to foster reverence for the Eucharist and revitalize Catholic belief in the Real Presence, that Pope Urban IV originally instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. Each year this feast affords us the privileged opportunity to revere and give thanks for the Eucharist, “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11).
 

Our second reading this Sunday, excerpted from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, is one of the most ancient and important statements of the early Church concerning the Eucharist. St. Paul begins “I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you . . .” (1 Cor. 11:23a). With this statement Paul emphasizes that the Eucharistic doctrine he espouses is not his own creation, but rather something he has authentically received from the Lord.
 

Tying the institution of the Eucharist to the Last Supper, Paul states that the event of which he speaks occurred on “the night [Jesus] was handed over” (1 Cor 11:23b). Taking the bread, Jesus said, “This is my body that is for you . . .” (1 Cor 11: 24b). After identifying the bread really and substantially with his body, Jesus reveals the purpose of this sacrifice — it is for us. Just like the cross, Jesus emphasizes that this eternal memorial of Calvary is dedicated to our good, to the redemption of all people.
 

Jesus then lays a commission upon his hearers, “Do this in remembrance of me” (1 Cor 11:24c). The Eucharistic sacrifice is always a remembrance of Jesus and his saving action in the world. These words speak in a particular way to those ordained to the priesthood, but are also delivered to all Christians who are called to bring their whole lives in conformity with the Lord every time they celebrate the Eucharist. Paul prophetically reminds all Jesus’ followers that they must actually practice the faith that they celebrate in their liturgy; the memory of Jesus should set aside all laxity, conflict, and division within the Christian community.
 

Taking the cup of wine, Jesus then continued, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor 11:25b). In this passage Jesus identifies the cup with his own blood that would be poured out for the world on Calvary. Just as the Hebrews had ritually entered into the Old Covenant by sprinkling themselves with the blood of holocausts which were offered again and again in sacrifice, so now the followers of Jesus unite themselves to the New and Eternal Covenant by partaking of the cup of the blood of Jesus, the sacrificial victim offered once and for all on the altar of the cross.
 

Finally, Paul exhorts his readers, “as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26). Paul’s words here tie together the past, the present, and the future in the ambient of the Eucharistic celebration. Each Eucharist is truly a remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, a remembrance in which we gain access once again to past events. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ’s Passover, and it is made present: the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains forever present” (para. 1364). The Eucharist is also oriented to the future; as the Catechism further teaches, “the Eucharist is also an anticipation of the heavenly glory . . . Participation in the Holy Sacrifice identifies us with [Jesus’] heart, sustains our strength along the pilgrimage of this life, makes us long for eternal life, and unites us even now to the Church in heaven, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and all the saints” (para. 1402, 1419).
 

The Eucharistic pledge of eternal glory is foreshadowed in this Sunday’s Gospel reading. In this text, St. Luke’s presentation of Jesus miraculously feeding the five thousand, we learn of the assembled masses that “all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets” (Lk 9:17). The point is that Jesus provides not simply sufficiently but in super-abundance, prefiguring the eternal banquet in heaven. God’s amazing, overabundant love for his people is the theme of our Eucharistic celebration every Sunday and particularly of our feast today.
 

Again, this special feast provides the opportunity to praise and thank Jesus Christ present in the Eucharist. May this special time of adoration make us more Christ-centered, so that, having witnessed faithfully to him in this life, we may one day share in the glory of his eternal banquet in heaven. Together with the church throughout the world, we pray that we may “so revere the sacred mysteries of [Christ’s] body and blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of [his] redemption.” (From the Collect, Mass of Corpus Christi).
 

Msgr. Fell is a Scripture scholar and director, diocesan Office for Priest Personnel