The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Some of you may or may not know that I spent 28 years in the wholesale bakery business.  We made many different kinds and types of bread - French bread, rye bread, whole grains, hamburger and hot dog buns, and English muffins.  Yes, children, we even made donuts and they were my favorite, too!   

Every day we would take the flour, crushed from tiny grains of wheat and add some water, sugar, shortening, a touch of salt, and finally, a bit of yeast to leaven the dough.

Then the pieces of dough would go to the hot oven and when the rising and baking process was done, that raw piece of dough was changed; changed to a fresh, tasty, and life giving loaf of bread.  The next day, we would have to do the same thing all over again - day in and day out. 

We did that every day because we knew that as soon as that loaf of bread came out of the oven, it began to become stale and in twenty four hours it would lose much of its freshness, taste and nutritional qualities.  People used to say that our business was so Eucharistic.

Well, not really.  The Eucharist is a gift of a different type of bread than that made for physical wellbeing.  It is the gift of Jesus Himself in the Eucharist. It is the very Bread of True Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation.  Ordinary bread goes stale and wine eventually turns to vinegar, but the Bread of Life lives on forever and never goes stale.  The wine in the Cup of Salvation is sweet and eternally warms human hearts.

Now the temptation might be to start describing how ordinary bread and wine are changed into the life giving Body and Blood of Christ in theological, philosophical, and scholarly words.  However, if I did that, I suspect that there would be a few blank looks out there.

So let’s try to sum up the “source and summit” of our faith in a not so simple, but short sentence:  What was, no longer is. What was, no longer, is.  Even though, after the Consecration, bread and wine appear to be unchanged, they are no longer bread and wine. They have become for us something holy, something life giving, something eternal: The Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord Jesus.  Ordinary bread and wine now become a sacred meal, a personal encounter with Jesus, a true communion with Him.     

What was, no longer is. What was, no longer, is.

However, there is something else that we need to sincerely believe. Something that in many ways is just as profound and it doesn’t have as much to do with God as it has to do with us. You see, the very thing we believe about the bread and wine that is brought to the altar, we must also believe about ourselves.

As we return to our seats, as we leave the church and head back to our daily lives, “What was, no longer is” does not simply refer to bread and wine. It also refers to us.

In the words of Pius XII, “if you have received worthily, you are what you have received.”  Now to believe that we, too, can be transformed into something new through this sacred meal does take an act of faith.   In some ways, it’s harder for us to believe we can change than it is to believe that the bread and wine can change.  Think about that for a second.  Most of us can accept at some level that a miracle will soon take place on this altar, but are we reluctant to believe that a similar miracle can take place within each of us and in the community as a whole? Do we sometimes approach this altar as if we’re doing something for God when in reality it is God who wants to do something for, in, and through us.

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ and we certainly gather this day with grateful hearts, thankful for all that the Lord has done for us and continues to do for us, especially the gift he provides for us in this holy Sacrament. But as you know, all gifts from our God are given with a responsibility to be shared. The gift of the Eucharist is more than consuming his Body and Blood.  It also means opening our hearts, minds, and souls to the fact that we are changed.  If we truly believe that we are what we received, then we are Christ and we must share His love in the world outside the doors of this church.

Over twenty five years ago, my wife, Karen, and I made our first trip to Italy. And on this very Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we were having lunch at an outside café.  All at once there was this commotion of the smell of incense, the sounds of music playing, singing, and church bells ringing.  Well, the commotion turned out to be a procession of the Blessed Sacrament throughout the whole village ending up in the main piazza.

The image of that procession has stuck with me all this time and although I did not realize the reality behind the image, at the time, those people were bringing Jesus out of their own private adoration, out of the church, into the world for all to see.

Now, as we approach the table of the Lord, let us truly say, about the bread and wine, “What was, no longer is.” When we leave this church, as we process out, let us also truly say about ourselves and each other. “What was, no longer is.”    

Deacon Larry McDonald