While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them saying, “This is my blood of the covenant.” The Church celebrates today the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). It is a feast that celebrates the sacrament of the Eucharist as THE sacrament of the Church. It is a feast whose significance in the life of the Church cannot be emphasized enough, for although Christ continues to be present to the Church in various modalities, his presence in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist is unlike any other. In the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, Christ seeks to be united to the members of his body by offering himself to them as food. By doing so, Christ, the head, enters into a personal and unique relationship with his body, the Church. Moreover, since one becomes what one has received/eaten, in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, a disciple of Jesus seeks to become like his master.
Today’s Gospel reading concerns the institution of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. That Jesus Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist on the night of the Last Supper is not a mere coincidence. Jesus had gathered together with his twelve apostles to celebrate perhaps the greatest feast in the Jewish religious calendar, the Passover. The Passover celebration was held to remember the great salvific event in the history of the community, the liberation from slavery in Egypt. It was a feast that was mandated by God to be held on an annual basis to celebrate and recognize God’s continued presence to the community. It is this continued presence of God to the community that Jesus also had in mind when he instituted the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Jesus wanted to continue being present to the community he had gathered around himself as well as to the community that would form around his disciples. The sacrament of the Holy Eucharist that would soon occupy a central position in the life of his followers was the best way to achieve this. It became a means by which Jesus united himself to his followers in his redemptive passion, death and resurrection.
Whereas the redemptive self-offering of Jesus Christ which was pre-figured in the events that took place during the Last Supper did not in any way lessen the great event of the Passover, Jesus did see in them God making a new covenant with the world. Jesus body which was soon to be broken on the wood of the cross was the seal of a new covenant established between God and a new creation. Just like the Passover celebration, the Eucharist becomes a memorial feast celebrating God creating a new community, albeit one that has been freed from condemnation and death. When members of the Christian community partake in a Eucharistic meal, they unite themselves to Christ and participate in the fullness of life that Christ has made possible for those who believe in him.
In addition to uniting Christ to the members of his body, the Holy Eucharist also unites the members of the body of Christ one to another. One cannot be united to Christ and at the same time stay separated from the other members of Christ’s body. For not only has Christ incorporated the members of his body into himself in the incarnation; he continues to incorporate them to himself in the Eucharist. Christ, the head, is never separated from the members of his body: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person” (cf. John 6:56). As such, when a member of the body of Christ seeks to become one with Christ, he/she ends up becoming one with the other members of Christ’s body. It is for this reason that the Holy Eucharist is referred to as the sacrament of unity.