Corpus Cristie: The Body of Christ
I have felt called to be a priest for as long as I can remember. For years, I considered changing Christian denominations. Many Christian Churches allow women to be ordained. However, prayerful discernment led me away from that option. The one thing that always stopped me from stepping away from the Catholic Church was the Body and Blood of Christ. Eucharist tethered me to the Catholic Church. It has taken me many years to release my resentment and be peace-filled, to trust that God called me to serve as He wills, not as I desire. As I age, I pray God will grant me the priesthood of Spirit and heart, even though I am forbidden from the sacramental priesthood of the Church.
Every Sunday, we extend our hands to receive the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist is not just a gift but a profound manifestation of Jesus’ absolute love placed in our hands. When we receive Eucharist, we are cradling the purest form of love in our human hands. We are holding Jesus in His entirety-Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. This is not a mere act but a sacred encounter with the Divine, a moment of awe and reverence.
Think about your hands. Your hands, like mine, have touched every part of life. Remember what you have done with your hands, and you will, no doubt, be as awed as I am that God finds a home in them.
Our hands have been steeped in the very stuff of life. They have caressed a newborn, placed a ring on the finger of a beloved, dug in a garden’s dirt, changed a diaper, cooked a meal, cleaned up a mess, made a bed, and tended one we love who was dying. That list could go on and on. That is only a partial picture. Our hands have also pulled away from someone in need. They have refused to help when asked and remained stubbornly by our side instead of embracing someone in pain. Our hands have gestured or written words in anger and frustration and refused to embrace with forgiveness when another begged our forgiveness.
Simply put, our hands have repeatedly blessed and sinned against God, others, and ourselves. Yet, God still deems our hands worthy to hold the fullness of pure love, to hold Him, the Body of Christ.
We are sanctified when we receive the Eucharist. We take Eucharist into our body as nourishment. When we receive Eucharist, we become Eucharist. We become the body, blood, soul, and divinity of God. The Eucharist has no meaning if we do not become what we consume. We can never let ourselves off the hook. Every time we are blessed to receive Eucharist, we must ask ourselves, “What good is it if the bread and wine become the body and blood of Christ if I don’t?”
Incredibly, our God deems us sinful, striving, weak, and wanting humans to be one with Him in the Eucharist. The power of that is daunting. The outrageous love in that is humbling beyond measure.
We receive Eucharist that we might be Christ incarnate for our wounded and suffering brothers and sisters. We become Eucharist to be visible, love, hope, and promise for the brokenhearted and hurting in our world. Receiving Eucharist is not a passive act but a call to action, a responsibility, and a privilege.
We must always keep Eucharist from becoming rote. It is the most intimate moment we have with God. Eucharist is God becoming incarnate in us. God becomes incarnate in us just as He did in Jesus.
We stand in amazement on this feast of Corpus Christi, the Body of Christ; the great gift of God himself is placed in our hands. Let us pray for hearts, minds, and souls open enough to receive the Eucharistic gift, recognize its power, and allow it to change us.
When God comes to us in Eucharist, we say Amen. Amen, I believe. Amen, so be it. Amen, I will ever so humbly be Eucharist, too.
In God’s Unending love,
Gwen
