Corpus
Christi, the incarnated love of God
After the Easter season, we have already celebrated
the Most Holy Trinity, which we celebrate our Christian God is a one God in three persons, the Father, the
Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the incarnated Son of God who have
lived in this world for a well, now he went back to Heaven. How other people,
such as us, to have a relationship with Jesus in our time? Through the Holy
Eucharist, we not only have a relationship with Jesus Christ, but also have his
life, his body and blood. This is what celebrate today, the Most Holy body and
blood of Christ.
The very beginning of feast was because an
Augustinian sister, Juliana, told their bishop about her vision for having a
feast of the holy body and blood of Christ.
1264, Pope Urbanus IV started this feast, and asked the famous
theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas wrote sequence for this feast.
1. God's incarnational love
In this feast of Corpus Christi we celebrate the
continuation of Jesus' incarnational love to all human beings and creatures. The
incarnation of Jesus' love does not stop at the Ascension, but continues
through the celebration of the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist and other celebrations
in the Church spreading all over the world. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is
the presence of God among human beings in a way of mystical and realistic. It is
something the disciples could see and experience; it is also beyond their understanding
of God's presence. Through Jesus Christ the disciples had a experience about
God which they said "we have heard, we have looked upon, we have seen with
our eyes and touched with our hands." Through the incarnation of Jesus
Christ, God chose to come among humans. God not just gave the privileged gift
of being with God to the first disciples of Jesus Christ, but also to every
generation of human beings through adoring the most holy body and blood of
Jesus Christ, we also live with him in our time. The body and blood of Jesus
Christ is the way which Jesus Christ presence in our time which we can touch,
we can taste and we can look upon. And
furthermore, through receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we have the
life of God. Through the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the salvation love not
only approaches to us in our time, but
also spreads to all creatures, from the bread and the wine to the wheat and
grape.
2. Meeting God in every corner of the world
Through receiving he body and blood of Jesus Christ,
we meet Jesus Christ here in our time, and we receive his life and participate
in the life of our Trinitarian God. There are three things we need pay
attention here.
First, a priest celebrates the holy Eucharist in the
person of Christ.
when a priest celebrates the holy Eucharist, he does
not celebrate it in his name or in the name of a community, he celebrate the
holy Eucharist in persona Christi, in
the name of Jesus Christ. This is the Catholic understanding of the holy Eucharist
which Jesus Christ celebrates every Mass in a priest. So, no matter how a
priest is, handsome or ordinary, good educated or just sufficient educated, it
is Jesus Christ who celebrates this Holy Eucharist. This is a reason that no
one can become a priest by himself or herself, no community can name a priest
by voting.
Second, this is the same celebration and same body
and blood of Jesus Christ in Jesus time and as well as in our time.
Through receiving the body and blood of Jesus
Christ, we participate in the same celebration of Jesus Christ in the history
and beyond history. This is a time of on earth as it is in Heaven. In the life
of Jesus Christ past, present and future all becomes here and now. This is a
Christian vision in which we have a connection with everybody and every
creature in Jesus Christ throughout the history in the world and in Heaven. All
creations are with God and in God in Jesus Christ; all things have a connection
with us.
Third, the bread and wine becomes the body and blood
of Jesus Christ.
Through our faith, we know what we receive is the
body and blood of Jesus Christ, but from our eyes and mouth, we see and taste
the bread and wine. Through the consecration, the bread and wine becomes the
body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. It is amazing and surprising that
bread and wine could become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. It is a
reality, just as God creates everything through words by saying "let there
be..." in the Genesis, Jesus chooses to make the bread and wine as his
body and blood. Through giving his body and blood to all human beings and
creatures, God invites us to have a life with God, in God and for God.
3. Becoming holy is the purpose of life
Through Jesus Christ and with him in his body and
blood, we recognize the holiness of everybody and every creature. Everybody and
every creature comes from God, and the purpose of all creation is becoming
holy. Through adoration and receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ, we
are sanctifying by God. Holiness is to
live a life of God, with God and in God in fulfilling our responsibilities in
our daily life. Receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ is the best
way to live a life of holiness.
The main stream of our culture is to live a better
life. This better life means having new and more material things to decorate
our life. The worse thing in our culture is we force the voice of faith to stay
at the corner of life. Without seeking holiness of life, without seeking God,
human beings will never be satisfied. Holiness is the purpose of human life. The
bread and wine can become the body and blood of Jesus Christ, so, everyone can
become holy in following Jesus Christ.
The incarnated Son Jesus Christ was in this world in
the history, he is here and now through his body and blood in the Sacrament of
holy Eucharist. May we choose to meet Jesus Christ through adoration and
participation of the Holy Eucharist. In Jesus Christ, we live a life of holiness
with God and in God.



