A Reflection for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of the Lord by Fr Louie Kitt.
“The fact that there is only one loaf means that, though there are many of us, we form a single body because we all have a share on this one loaf.” 1 Cor 10:16-17
Many of us feel isolated from one another during the pandemic. Most recently the topic of racial injustice and persecution has been put under a microscope, with scenes of anger, with sense of a broken world. We know admits this is a desire to build up unity through understanding, compassion and humility.
St. Paul in today’s Second Reading, is speaking to an early Christian community which is divided, with the rich Christians sitting at the front, in the best places, away from the poorer Christians at the back, during the Eucharist. St. Paul highlights the contradiction in celebrating the Eucharist as a divided community, where each is taught to see Christ in the other, especially in poorest.
As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we celebrate the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, where his unlimited love and mercy pour fourth at each Mass. It’s not a symbol of love, it’s real love made present for us. It’s his Real Body and Real Blood poured out for us all.
None of us can earn this love, it’s freely given. Jesus challenges us to accept this love only if we decide to love one another through forgiveness of enemies, through caring for the marginalised and oppressed.
The Eucharistic Jesus comes to Initiate the project of bringing all people back to the Father, through his unlimited act of loves in his life and death. As we receive his Body and Blood once public Mass is resumed, we remember the unlimited love we have received and the unlimited love we can pour back into the world, as members of Christ’s Body. We remember that Christ’s love wasn’t limited to simply the chosen people of Israel but extents to every human being, without limitation. As the saying goes, ‘you are what you eat’; when we have Christ flowing through our veins after Holy Communion, we remember we become part of him and therefore close to all of God’s children, we become more explicitly part of the Body of Christ.
Free flowing blood must become free flowing love.