"Take it; this is my body." (Mark 14:22)
So how do we enter more deeply into the life of the Holy Trinity? Last week I promised you that I would tell you, and today’s feast should serve as a very big clue. We celebrate the presence of the Lord in his Body and Blood on this feast of Corpus Christi, and we rejoice because Jesus has given us through this precious sacrament a glimpse of what awaits us in heaven. Through the reception of the Eucharist, Jesus draws is into the life of the Trinity, in Divinity itself. You want to get deep with God? Go to Communion…frequently. He is right here waiting for us. Mass may at times seem routine or repetitive, but there is so much going on here, but may we never take this divine reality for granted.
Something else we may take for granted: as a community, we often sing our worship songs out of habit or routine and sometimes forget or don’t realize the powerful meaning of the words we sing. Case in point: “Breathe.” Our choir sings this song so beautifully. Have you ever stopped and contemplated the power behind those words? “This is the air I breathe…you holy presence living in me.” That is Communion. That is why we are here. So that Christ may live in us and that we might live in Him and in that community of love that is the Trinity. The chorus of the song is our cry to the Lord: “And I’m desperate for you. And I’m lost without you.” Desperate. Lost. That is what we are without Christ living in us. When Christ is not living in us we fall into the allurements of the world. Christ leaves us his holy presence because he knew we needed spiritual reinforcement and his constant presence to overcome temptation. This is what we contemplate today. Christ is living within us through this sacrament. Without him we become desperate and lost.
And then we hear those words at consecration that were read in the gospel today: “this is my body.” Such powerful words! When spoken by the priest acting in the person of Christ, the bread we offer becomes the body of Christ. Jesus is there in body, soul, and divinity longing to be part of our lives, longing to enter into communion with us. Yes, our God longs for us! He is waiting in the tabernacle for a visit from you or in our Perpetual Adoration Chapel where you can behold him exposed in the monstrance. St. Jose Maria Escriva once said, “Each time you approach the Blessed Sacrament remember that Jesus has been waiting for you for twenty centuries for this personal visit from you.” Let me add another quote from Mother Teresa to take us home: “Every Holy Hour we make so pleases the Heart of Jesus that it is recorded in Heaven and retold for all eternity!” In the presence of our Lord and Savior who awaits us in our chapel and churches, in every tabernacle around the world, it is there that we listen to him, adore him, and become like him. “This is my body.” Not just words spoken 2000 years ago or spoken by a priest at Mass. These are words that each of us can say when we receive Holy Communion. We are drawn into the Divine. We become Jesus if only for the few moments of Communion and are called to enter more deeply into this relationship that we have established with him. But you need to make the first move. He is waiting for you. On this Solemnity of Corpus Christi, may we hunger for Jesus as much as he hungers for us.
Breathe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oad8ov10AjY
