If you were to ask former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman how seriously Catholics take this day, I am sure that he would point you to an incident in his own service in that office. Attack submarines are named after American cities and one was to be commissioned Corpus Christ after that seaport city in Texas. Catholics went, pardon the pun, ballistic. They were not going to tolerate a machine of destruction named after the most precious sacrament in the Catholic Church. John Lehman had no intention of backing down nor being told what to do by the Catholics and there was a standoff. It was then president Reagan who had to settle the dispute and the submarine was commissioned “City of Corpus Christi” SSN 705 which is her name to this day. It is homeported in Hawaii.
The Eucharist is the center of our sacramental life and it is this day that we honor not only the sacrament but its reality for us. We are a group of Christians who believe that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. However, those words need to be understood in their context, otherwise we miss the deeper meaning.
We know that the Eucharist was instituted at the Last Supper. However, Jesus describes this sacrifice as the sign of the New Covenant. Up until that point, the Jews sacrificed lambs to God in the temple and this continued until the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. It was the only place authorized and, therefore, the Jews no longer sacrifice lambs. The new sacrifice is the Lamb of God who is Jesus Christ and so the mass is where this new sacrifice takes place. So the Eucharist is the reality of the Lamb of God sacrificed to the Father.
It does not stop there. There is a precedent in the Eucharist as well. The Jews sacrificed lambs, I think it can be safe to say, without the full co-operative will of the lambs. Other cultures even to this day will sacrifice humans, again without the full co-operative will of the humans. We can see this in those cultures that imprison people for political reasons, execute them as well, and of course abortion is a form of human sacrifice. Holocausts and genocide are forms of human sacrifice all done with the belief that the lot of the living is improved by the sacrifice of others for the sake of those who are living. In the words of Stalin: “To make an omelette you have to break a few eggs.”
However, the Eucharist also is Jesus sacrificing himself for others, namely us. It is also a reminder that if we are going to follow Him as the way, the truth and the life, then we too must be expected to sacrifice not others, but ourselves for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
This becomes the key to the Eucharist. When I distribute communion, I am quite conscious of how powerful an act that is. You may notice for example that if anyone goes to reach out for the host, I will pull back. For we do not take Jesus, we receive Him in the full sacrifice that He does for us. Yet, we also have to see the call for each of us to live the sacrifice as well. As Christ does for us, some are called to do for others as a witness to He who is the Way, the Truth and the Life.
As Catholics, we need to see the Eucharist not only as Christ giving Himself to us, but as we are called to give ourselves to others in the manner of sacrifice to which our state of life calls us. This manner of giving ourselves to others may at time be difficult, but it is an essential element to whom we are as Catholics.
Let us take an example: There is a Catholic word that has fallen out of use. That word is vocation. Many times we describe vocation in terms of priesthood or religious life. However, vocation is a responding to a call coming from the Latin Vocare. We no longer talk about vocation, but of career. However, what we do in life is called to be a vocation. When we live the role of vocation, we see our career not as strictly a benefit to ourselves financially, but a benefit to others on various levels, including and especially, spiritually. The police officer, the teacher, the janitor, the doctor, lawyer, the manager, the shopkeeper, the nurse, the housewife on and on are all potential vocations where the focus on doing work for the benefit of others in a way that glorifies God. Each of these done in this way can be a sacrifice if done well. As with all vocations they should all be started daily with prayer to He who is the ultimate sacrifice for us. This is how the Catholic is called to life his or her life in response to a vocation following Jesus in the Eucharist as example.
Our receiving the Eucharist is therefore a powerful act. In some countries, even today, one can lose their job receiving the Eucharist in a Catholic mass. When you come forward to receive the Eucharist you are doing more than receiving and consuming the Host, you are recognize the Christ in the Eucharist for what He is and choosing to allow Him to transform you to what He wants you to be. It is a radical act. This is why the Eucharist should not be received lightly.
Many are calling the Church to restrict certain politicians from receiving the Eucharist because of their stand on abortion. However, the real issue is to each of us receiving the Eucharist is: are you ready to be transformed by Christ to what He calls you to be, if not you may not be ready to receive the Eucharist and there is no shame in that. There is hypocrisy in receiving the Eucharist and not being willing to be transformed by Christ by embracing His teachings in the Gospel and in His Church. That is the deeper issue.
Today is a powerful day where we celebrate the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. Let us embrace the Eucharist for all it is Christ sacrificing Himself for us and calling us to sacrificing ourselves for others.
God Bless you,
Fr. Robert J Carr
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