Corpus Christi

Exod 24: 3-8 Heb 9:11-15 Mark 14: 12-16, 22-25.

1. The feast we celebrate today is traditionally known as Corpus Christi which is the Latin translation for “Body of Christ”. However there is such an abundance of blood in our readings, it should have been called “Sanguis Christi” (or Blood of Christ) in this year’s lectionary. From our catechism, we know that we receive the whole Christ when we receive either of the two species.

Today we celeb rate the very human body of Jesus Christ. He had a body just like our own. It developed through growth and puberty, it had a DNA structure like our own. It went through a terrible death but was raised from the dead. Our feast today is very “material” and it touches all our senses.

2. Eucharistic celebrations through the centuries had everything to do with the body.

• · For touch: there are long, solemn and devotional processions.
• · For the ears: there are songs accompanied by guitars and string instruments, litanies, prayers.
• · For the eyes: there are banners, garlands, brightly coloured vestments, altar children dressed in white and red.
• · For the sense of smell: there are flowers, incense.
• · For taste: we follow Christ’s command, “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you will not have life within you.”

• And so our feast of Corpus Christi is rich in symbolism and “sensual” delights.

3. In our first reading, Moses gathers the blood in basins and then sprinkles the blood; first he sprinkles the altar, the site of the covenant, then he sprinkles the people of the covenant. Blood was symbolic of life. The blood on the altar sealed the covenant between God and humankind. It was a ritual which20was easy for the people to understand because the same ritual was used for covenants between rulers and chieftains in the time of Moses. Breaking the covenant had dire consequences. The sprinkling of blood, the symbol of life is an acknowledgement that all life comes from God. God has given us this gift.

4. Every gift involves a double giving. We see that as we ourselves give gifts to one another. The receiver on reception of the gift says, “Oh, you should not have taken the trouble.” The giver says, “I know, but I wanted to give it anyway.” There is a giving, a returning, a refusal of the return, the re-acceptance of the gift.

• · God gives us life.
• · We say we are not worthy, and offer20it back to God
• · God does not take the gift back but offers it back to us
• · (I know you are not worthy, but I want you to have it anyway.)
• · Now we accept the gift without a sense of guilt (I do not deserve this)

• Unfortunately in our present secular world, we do not have this ritual of gift giving. The double giving is not known. People demand gifts, “what did you bring for me? What will you give me in return? It implies, I deserve it, I am worthy of it. People do not realise that a gift can never be demanded.

5. The letter to the Hebrews tells us of the gift of Jesus Christ himself. It will not be the blood of animals, but the Blood of Christ to seal the promise of God. A promise was given by God to the People of Israel and through them to us. It is a promise that will never be revoked. It reminds us of the sacrifice/gift, God asks of Abraham. God had given a promise that the progeny of Abraham would be as many as the sands on the shore. This promise was to be sealed with the blood of Isaac. Abraham trusts in the Lord’s promise and is ready to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham knew that “God will provide.” God did. God spared the knife from Isaac and replaced it with a lamb caught in the nearby bushes.

However, when it comes to Jesus Christ, God will not be so sparing. The blood WILL be shed on the cross. There will be two signs, given at this time: blood and water both signified life. Both were spilled on the cross as it sealed the new covenant made by God with humankind.

In the case of Noah, God promised that never again would the earth be destroyed. Now in spite of the fact, that we constantly break the covenant, God will never allow us to suffer the dire consequences of broken covenants. There will be no more blood that will flow, - either of animals or of humans. Jesus would be the last. The veil of the temple would be torn from top to bottom. There would be no need for the High Priest to go into the holy of holies to make atonement for his sins and ours. Jesus did that once for all. Jesus would be the very last High Priest.

6. At Mass, the priest says, “This is the cup of my blood, the Blood of the New and everlasting covenant, which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins. The priest is simply repeating what we hear in Mark’s Gospel. Jesus does not use the phrase “New Covenant”. The Newness comes from the fact that this covenant comes because of Obedience. The old covenant was constantly broken by disobedience (beginning with Adam) by our selfishness, by our attachment to false gods and false promises. This covenant is sealed with the Blood of Christ who was obedient even till death on the Cross.

What a sense of relief, of hope, of peace and joy. There will be no more blood to be collected in basins as Moses did. As a people redeemed and saved, we do not have to move around like the Ancient Mariner with the dead albatross of our sins hanging around our neck. We march in Corpus Christi processions, just like David did before the ark of the old covenant. We remember, we celebrate, we believe.