The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of the Lord
Dear brothers and sisters,
Moses directs us today to “remember how for forty years now the LORD, your God, has directed all your journeying in the desert” (Deuteronomy 8:2). Although we do not now live in a physical desert, we are not without various deserts of a metaphorical kind.
And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast.[1]
It is a great tragedy that so many people today live in one kind or desert or another, or even multiple deserts at the same time. What can we do to help lead them to water, to a place of refreshment?
So many today are thirsting even without realizing it. We must lead them to the source of true water. The Lord Jesus is, of course, the source of this water; he turns deserts into oases. Of him the Scriptures proclaimed, “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (Isaiah 44:3; 55:1; 58:11; John 7:38). Indeed, before Jesus’ body was taken down from the Cross, “one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water” (John 19:34).
The Fathers of the Church, including our own Saint Augustine, saw this blood and water as a foreshadowing and source of the Sacraments and of the Church. The Greek word we translate as pierced more literally means opened, which led our heavenly patron to say:
A suggestive word was made use of by the evangelist,
in not saying pierced, or wounded His side, or anything else, but opened;
that thereby, in a sense, the gate of life might be thrown open, from whence have
flowed forth the sacraments of the Church, without which there is no entrance
to the life which is the true life. That blood was shed for the remission of sins;
that water it is that makes up the health-giving cup, and supplies at once the
laver of baptism and water for drinking.[2]
Baptism is for us the gateway to eternal life and the Holy Eucharist nourishes this life within us until its final consummation.
At the end of the Holy Mass today we will take the Blessed Sacrament, the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus, into the streets because “the Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.”[3] We will follow the Eucharistic King out into the deserts of life inviting all people to know him; we will follow him back to this church where he nourishes us each day.
It is not enough only for us to be here; everyone in our communities should be with us here each Sunday! We must bring Jesus to them; we must bring them to Jesus! We must lead others out of the deserts of their lives to where they can be fed with the best of wheat and receive water from the heart of Christ that we will well up within them to eternal life (cf. Psalm 147:14; John 4:14). This is the very purpose and meaning of the Corpus Christi procession. It reminds us that Christ Jesus desires to be involved in every aspect of our lives, that no part of our lives is to be kept from him.
As we walk the streets with Christ Jesus, our presence may well spark the curiosity of those who see us. This is as it should be, for our presence with the Lord will ask with Saint John Chrysostom: “How many of you say: I should like to see his face, his garments, his shoes. You do see him, you touch him, you eat him. He gives himself to you, not only that you may see him, but also to be your food and nourishment.”
At the end of Mass, our procession will form after the processional crucifix and the candles that accompany. The Cross lifted high before us as a sort of standard, calling us to spiritual combat and inviting all who see it to join us before this banner of the King of heaven and earth (cf. John 12:32). The candles will not only light the way before us, but also honor the Cross of Our Lord, of him who is the “Light of the World” and who calls us to be light in a darkened world (John 8:12; cf. Matthew 5:14).
Incense will be carried after the Cross, not in the usual way but with the thurifer walking backwards, incensing the Blessed Sacrament as he does so. The incense will serve as a mark of honor of Christ the King as well as symbolizing our prayers being presented before him (cf. Malachi 1:11; Psalm 141:2; Revelation 5:8; 8:3-4).
A canopy will be held aloft above the Blessed Sacrament as we walk. From ancient times, the canopy was seen as a symbol of authority and royalty, both of which belong to the Lord Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of David. The canopy also serves to draw attention to where the Blessed Sacrament is and to protect it from anything that might drop upon it.
The Blessed Sacrament will be carried in a monstrance, the name of which comes from the Latin monstrare, meaning “to show.” The monstrance invites all people to look upon their Lord, to love him and worship him and adore him.
You will join the procession following after the Blessed Sacrament. We will become a great jumble of people, members of the one Body of Christ, some walking in an orderly way, some stumbling here and there as they attempt to sing and walk (cf. I Corinthians 10:17). This is as it should be. Jesus does not only come into perfect, neat, and tidy lives; he comes into all of our lives. He is not ashamed to walk among us; neither should we be ashamed to walk with him.
Having received the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ in a few moments, may we go forth from this Mass with joy, praising him who never leaves us and inviting those who are not yet with him to follow him out of the deserts of lives into eternal pastures and still waters (cf. Psalm 23:2). Amen.
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