On Sunday we celebrated the Feast of Corpus Christi, The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.  Today I would like to take a few moments to reflect on that great feast.  Pondering on it as we continue to wind our way through the COVID-19 Pandemic and look for ways to remove Racism from our society.

Jesus gave us the gift of the Eucharist, so we remember Him to walk guided by the Holy Spirit.  Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist because He wants to be with us, intimately as we journey in this life.  As our pandemic restrictions easy and we begin to gather once again at the Eucharistic Table.  Bring your sorrows, your joys, your hopes, your fears, your disappointments and your triumphs --- and give them to God!  The story about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus is a reminder that Jesus is near, let’s look for Him.  The gift of the Eucharist brings Jesus close to us, so He can nourish us.

   

One of my favorite insights into the meaning of the Eucharist comes from Robert Bly, he wrote, George Docsi’s grew up in Hungary and as a boy growing, he loved dinner… big plates, the maids serving soup; he loved going into the dining room.  One evening he went downstairs and found the dining room in an uproar. 

Another pogrom was taking place in Russia, and his grandfather went to the railway station and brought home some Jews.  Men were in skull caps in the living room, mothers nursing babies in the dining room; he threw a fit and yelled, “I want my supper! I want my supper!  

One of the maids saw this and gave him a piece of bread.  He threw it on the floor and screamed, “I want my supper!”  His Grandfather entered the dining room at that moment - bent down, picked up the bread, kissed it and gave it to George.”  He ate it.  George Docsi said, “… I think there’s a little of my grandfather in me now.”   

(Robert Bly in, The Little Book on the Human Shadow p. 41)

The silent kiss reminds us that Jesus embraces each of us in the Eucharist; the Eucharist that He kisses at the Consecration, changing the wine and the bread into His Body and His Blood.   

The Eucharist is a gift that is beyond us, while being readily available to us.  It is a gift to be loved and adored; to be appreciated and received.  Allow the Eucharist – the Lord God – to form you, to mold you, to feed you, and to lead you.  Spend a few minutes reflecting on the profound gift of the Eucharist.

May God Be Praised!