SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

1st Reading           Exodus 24: 3-8

Psalm                      116: 12-13. 15 and 16bc. 17-18 (R. 13)

2nd Reading         Hebrews 9:11-15

Gospel                    Mark 14: 12-16, 22- 26. 

PREPARE TO RECEIVE THE TRANSFORMING FOOD OF REDEMPTION 

Today, we celebrate another pivotal mystery of the Christian faith — the Holy Eucharist. This mystery has many implications and lessons to help us reflect in the course of our journey towards Heaven. We must emphasize the centrality of this mystery by stating that without the Eucharist, the Church is not, for the Eucharist is Christ's real presence with and in the Church. Bread and wine are transformed through the action of the priest, into the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ. For us Catholics, it is the real Body and Blood of Christ, not 'like' it. 

Today is also the first Sunday in the sixth month of the year; June. We begin to notice that we have covered half of the year and, coupled with the arrival on the first Sunday, we need to thank God for his providence. As future-oriented Christians, we ask the Lord to prepare us and lead us through this "barren land" by feeding us with bread from Heaven.

Now, let us observe a few details from the Scriptural passages of the day to help us get some lessons and implications for a Eucharist-centered life. 

Let's start from the Gospel (Mark 14: 12-16, 22-26). It opens by saying, "On the first day of Unleavened Bread" (Mk. 14: 12). Which day and time is this? Let us go back to Exodus 12: 18, where Israelites were commanded to eat unleavened bread in the evening of the fourteenth day in the first month. The first month is ABIB. 14th Abib is when Unleavened Bread is to be eaten. Additionally, they are to eat it for a duration of seven days, thus a week. Therefore, from 14th - 21st Abib, Unleavened Bread is to be eaten (Exod. 12: 15, 18). In fact, that 14th Abib is proclaimed to be the Lord's Passover (Lev. 23: 5). It only makes it true that within the celebration of the feast of Unleavened Bread, there is the celebration of Passover. Clearly put, from the evening of 14th Abib to the evening of 21st Abib is the feast of Unleavened Bread and on 15th Abib, the next day, the Passover is celebrated. 

Now, the author of the Gospel according to Mark adds that on that first day of Unleavened Bread (14th Abib) "When they sacrificed the Passover lamb" (14: 12). The author is very crafty and shows his understanding of Jewish sacrificial and festive traditions. The lambs for the Passover feast were sacrificed in the afternoon of the 14th of Abib (or Nisan, called after the Exile), and the meal itself will take place in the evening. Note that evenings mark the beginning of new days for the Jews. Passover meal will be on the 15th of Abib (or Nisan), but the preparations for the Passover meal with the slaughtering of lambs will take place in the afternoon on the 14th of Abib (or Nisan). What the author draws our attention to is that the two disciples asked Jesus the question in the afternoon; "where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?" (Mk. 14: 12). As everyone is preparing to eat the Passover in the evening and killing lambs in the afternoon, the two disciples, whose names are not told, ask Jesus where he would have them prepare to eat the Passover in the evening. They found an UPPER ROOM. Afternoon is, so to say, the end of a day, since evening will begin another day. This brings on the element of END. 

The first implication, I believe, Mark wants to tell us is that the END of everything requires preparation. Actually, the narrative we are reading draws on nearness to Jesus' death. At the end of our own lives, we need preparation. But one thing will assure us to closeness to neighbour and closeness to God. That one thing is the PASSOVER, the Eucharist. To eat this Passover with God in Heaven, we need to prepare adequately. In fact, the Eucharist becomes the pledge of immortality. On earth, the Eucharist prepares us to be joined to Christ whom we receive in the form of bread and wine. 

The second detail is that it seems that the theme of preparation is seen throughout Mark 14. Mark 14 unfolds within the dynamics of "preparation". Four groups prepare in Mark 14. First, the chief priests and scribes (representatives of the religious establishment) sought to arrest Jesus (14: 1). They prepare. Second, Judas, one of the Twelve, prepares to hand Jesus over, so he goes to sell Jesus to the chief priests (Mk. 14: 10-11). Third, between these two hostile preparations to end Jesus' life, an unnamed woman lovingly prepares Jesus for his burial by anointing Jesus' head. Jesus himself interpreted her action as an anticipation of the anointing of his body (Mk. 14: 8). Finally, the two disciples also sought to prepare a place for the Passover meal to be eaten, and that's the first section of the Gospel today (14: 12-16). 

The implication is clear. It is simply that there can be hostile preparations both on the outside (priests and scribes) and inside (Judas), but God prepares a loving and better way even from the outside (unnamed woman) and and inside (the 2 unnamed disciples). When all odds prepare to end us, from the same source, God grants us help. From the very source of our weakness and destruction, God fashions our redemption. How does this factor into the Solemnity of Corpus Christi? 

Remember that for the sake of food, Adam and Eve sinned (Gen. 2: 16-17; 3: 1-19), thus "you are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat it you shall die". From the same source of food — bread and wine, most basic food — is our union with God fashioned. Jesus reestablished what Adam and Eve lost by instituting a new covenant, a new communion with God. He also reestablished the New Covenant and replaced it with the Old Covenant at Sinai. Bread and Wine, transformed by the action of the priest, become our saving food. This Solemnity helps us to understand and believe that when all others prepare to end us in a hostile manner, God works with the same tools of hostility to become our gain and salvation. 

Finally, what should be our disposition towards the Passover of the Lord, the Eucharist? Of course, we need to prepare. However, what kind of preparation? I want to propose a detail from the first reading (Exod. 24: 3-8). This passage talks about the ratification of the Covenant. The people responded to what Moses told them about the words  (the Law) and ordinances (Exod. 20-23). We can take this as the Service of the Word (Liturgy of the Word). Everybody listened to the Word of God. However, it is interesting to know that when it got to the Service of the Sacrifice, Moses "sent young men of Israelites to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice young bulls as communion offerings to the Lord" (Exod. 24: 5). 

In general, young people, including children and youth, were not typically involved in offering burnt offerings. The responsibility of offering sacrifices was usually entrusted to adults, particularly the priests and Levites, who were trained and authorized to perform these duties. 

But it appears that young men sometimes were deputized priests (Exod. 33: 11; Judg. 17:7-13; 1 Sam. 1: 24, 2-3). Regardless of the situation here, understand that there is a assumed progression from youth to servant to minister. To partake of the Passover (the Eucharist) we need the disposition of a young man  who serves, and by serving, becomes a minister of what he receives. Whenever we approach the Eucharist, let us be mindful of the fact that we are always ministers of what we receive, for which our Eucharistic celebrations end by exhorting us to "go and announce the Gospel of the Lord" or "Go in Peace, glorifying the Lord by your life"

May our reception and reverence of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ prepare us for life everlasting, enable us to also prepare, transform what causes our destruction into what could be beneficial to us, and may be always approach the Eucharist with a disposition to serve others. 

Pax et Bonum