June 3: The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

My Own Flesh and Blood

Ex 24:3-8; Ps 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18; Heb 9:11-15; Mk 14:12-16, 22-26

This proverbial expression “my own flesh and blood” affirms in the most vivid terms that someone belongs to me, is part of my own family. To emphasize the depth of human love, we might say, foster parents love their adopted child, “as if she were their own blood.” Or, perversely, how could someone be so cruel to a member of their own family when they are part of “their own flesh and blood.”  

This Sunday the church celebrates the beautiful feast of “the most holy body and blood of Christ” — popularly known as Corpus Christi (the body of Christ). Here again is a reference to “flesh and blood.”  

Long ago, St. Augustine reminded us that when we say “amen” as we receive Communion, we are not only affirming the reality of the Body and Blood of Christ in the sacrament of the Eucharist but also affirming that we, the gathered followers of Jesus, are the “body of Christ.” 

This, of course, was one of the powerful descriptions of the church stated by Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians: “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it” (1 Cor 12:27). For Paul this was not just a simile or metaphor. He believed that we belonged to Christ so intensely and so truly that we were as Christ’s “flesh and blood.” That description of the church has been a mainstay of Catholic theology through the centuries. 

But being the “body of Christ” does not mean belonging to some generic notion of the “body.” The Gospel selection for today is from the Last Supper scene in the Gospel of Mark and it defines the “body of Christ” in a compelling way. Jesus and his disciples are gathered to celebrate the Passover meal on the eve of his arrest. Passover is a key Jewish festival that recalls God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.  

The spirit of the feast was — and is — that Jews gather in gratitude to remember their freedom from slavery but also to trust that God continues to deliver them from harm and gather them together in God’s future. During this poignant Passover meal, Jesus takes bread, breaks it and gives it to his disciples, declaring “this is my body.” Similarly, Jesus takes a cup of wine, offers it to his disciples and declares, “this is my blood.”  

The setting of the Passover meal and Jesus’ gestures of breaking the bread and pouring the wine signal that this is Jesus foretelling the meaning of his death. His death — his body broken, his blood poured out — will be an unimpeachable act of love, giving his life for the sake of his friends.

This is the reason why this sacrament, which repeats in a dynamic way this life-giving action of Jesus, is called the “Eucharist” — a thanksgiving. Not a casual thanksgiving but the kind of profound gratitude that would overwhelm anyone who, through the exceptional love of another, has been given the gift of life.

This brings us back to being “the body of Christ,” to being, in effect, one with the “flesh and blood” of the Crucified and Risen Christ. To bear this name Corpus Christi we, too, must be willing to give our lives for the sake of others. Not always in dramatic ways but parents sacrificing for the sake of their children; adult children caring for now ailing parents; someone sacrificing their own precious time to reach out to a friend in trouble; those who work in an unheralded way to give sustenance to the poor and vulnerable; those in the healing professions pouring out their energy and knowledge to restore life to others; those who put their own lives on the line to protect others. The list can go on. 

Receiving the “body of Christ” and being part of the “body of Christ” means striving to live a life of sacrificial love in the manner of Jesus himself.