Christ’s Real Presence

Dear Friend,

In the great feast we celebrate this weekend, Corpus Christi - the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ – we behold the wonder that our Lord is present to us in the breaking of the bread. In the Gospel of Luke, the Lord journeys with his disciples unrecognized during those confusing first hours and days after his death (Lk. 24:13ff.). He opens their eyes to the reality of his resurrected life.

In the readings presented to us for this weekend, we see the roots of our Sunday gathering laid out in scripture passages from Exodus and the Gospel of Mark. These texts point us toward the Passover meal of liberation and the “blood of the covenant”. In Mark’s Gospel it is again two disciples sent on a mission of preparation. They receive direction to the “upper room” that will already be made ready for them. As the meal is celebrated Jesus offers them his own body in the bread and then a cup from which they all drink – a new covenant in his blood, “which will be shed for many”.

Our own life journeys – especially in their confusion and lack of clarity – become the place where this covenant is lived out through us. We gather each week to celebrate the gift we receive as a community, the renewal of that covenant in Christ’s real presence with us.  It is his love that gathers us, his Spirit that transforms us. In the words of writer and editor Mary Strommes, “With Christ we allow ourselves to be broken so that suffering and death will be no more…so that the lowly will be lifted up, the oppressed set free, the hungry fed, and the stranger be protected.” 

Gratefully,

Fr. Dan, Pastor