Solemnity of the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)
Deacon Tom Vert
Preached: June 2, 2024
It’s in you to give!
You may remember this slogan from Canadian Blood Services that was used to encourage blood donors.
Blood is true a life-giving donation, with platelets and red blood cells and everything needed to save the life of another person.
Blood as a giver of life has been in cultures for thousands of years, like a blood oath, blood brothers, and as a bond to seal covenants.
Blood truly gives life, and we see it in all four readings today!
Moses sprinkles blood on the altar and on the people, as a perpetual seal of the covenant of the ten commandments between God and the Israelite nation.
In the psalm, we hear of the cup of salvation poured out for us, and we can picture the same pouring of the blood on the altar by the chief priest and then the foreshadowing of Christ pouring out his blood and water from his side on the cross for us.
The 2nd reading then reinforces this saying “not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.”
Christ’s sacrifice was once and for all, he entered the heavenly sanctuary and opened the gates of heaven for us, despite our unworthiness!
And finally in the gospel, we see the gift of the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ, given to us on the night of the Last Supper.
These two phrases “”Take it; this is my body,” and “This is my blood of the covenant,” have been spoken and celebrated in the house churches, cathedrals, and parishes for over 2000 years and our priest will proclaim them again at today’s celebration.
This is the new covenant we celebrate today!
The old covenant was based on the law written in the book, in the people keeping the law, and God as the judge of whether they did.
But the new covenant is based on sacrificial love of Christ, with God looking at what his Son did for his “brothers and sisters” and not on our scorecard of religious performance.
Christ shows us how much God loves us and wants to be in relationship with us, by offering himself up for each of us, in spite of the fact that if we relied on our own efforts, we could never deserve it.
This loving relationship takes on its full meaning when we receive the Eucharist in our hands, and we consume it, as we truly have Christ in us.
And, if Christ is in us, and we have been told like the apostles, as Christians, to “go out”, then truly the Eucharist is in us to give!
The Christian journey has never been one in which we hoard the gift for ourselves!
If we look at the shrine to St. Catherine of Siena on the way out of the church, we see this message so clearly.
On the left, the first image is of St. Catherine in prayer, while the two images on the right on her helping the poor and the sick.
Her prayer life, her reception of the Eucharist gave her the strength and the grace to go forward and witness in the world! She gave of what she had, and what she had was God’s strength and the power of the Holy Spirit in her!
We are so blessed to be able to receive the Eucharist every day if we want to, as it is not a prize to be won by perfect performance, but it is food for the journey and medicine for the sick!
It is the life-giving covenant of the Body and Blood of our Lord, and this is what we celebrate in this feast day today!
We have the same Holy Spirit, the same Eucharist as St. Catherine did, and so we are to go out into the world and change it little by little as the Body of Christ.
We go forward in the little acts of kindness and love each day in the place that God has planted us!
So today, after you receive the Eucharist, and you go back to your pew, maybe say a small prayer “God, where do you want to send me today, for you truly are in me to give!”
