LAST Sunday was the solemn feast day of Corpus Christi. Corpus Christi are the Latin words for the Body and Blood of Christ. The feast is otherwise known as the feast of the Holy Eucharist or the Mass. Many Catholic schools ran by Catholic priests or lay Catholics are named Corpus Christi in remembrance of this Mystery in the Life of Christ.
The Holy Eucharist or the Mass is central in the life of a Catholic Christian for it is a celebration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ which is central in the proclamation of the Good News or the Gospel. The following article offers the writer’s own understanding based on the teachings of the Catholic Church on the meaning of this feast.
In creating the world and us God has also made himself to be in this world. God therefore is not only in heaven but God is very much in this world. He is here in his spirit. And while he is present here in his spirit he is also present in his body because in a very real sense he embodies himself in every physical reality that he creates. What he has created bears and manifests him and his godly attributes especially in man.
In a very real sense we can speak of the physical reality of the world as his body. He embodies presence in the world giving all bodily things their existence and their nature, most especially in man whom he has created in his image and likeness.
The world was created by God for the purpose of serving man and sustaining his existence in every way needed by him. These come to us not only as food for our body and also as food for our soul because every physical reality that God creates also signify or point to some meaning that nourish to our spiritual life.
When a family sits down at table to partake of the food that comes from the work of the human hands of the father and mother, their children are nourished not only physically but also spiritually. They are nourished spiritually by the spirit of love that brought this food at the table.
The food at the table of a family also signifies the union of the members of the family with one another. What they eat is the product of the labor of love of the couple for each other and for their children. The eating together of this food is a uniting factor for the family.
The food that the children eat during a family meal therefore is in very real sense a part of what the Church calls as the Sacramental sign that gives grace. It is also part of the grace of the Sacrament of Matrimony that inspires or gives grace to the parents to love and serve their children.
Furthermore and most especially so it is also part of the grace that comes from the celebration of the Sacrament of the Mass that nourishes the faithful physically and spiritually because of the Spirit of the love of Christ that nurtures the community life of the Church. Because of this celebration no disciple of Christ are wanting in spiritual and bodily need as can be gleaned in Acts of the Apostles Chapter 4:31-35.
At the Offertory of the Mass or the Offering of the bread and wine the priest prays, “Blessed are you Lord God of all creation through your goodness we have this bread to offer, fruit of the earth and work of human hands, may it become our spiritual food.” Then, “Blessed are you Lord God of all creation through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands, may it become our spiritual drink.”
During a family meal the food shared by the family are in very real sense the fruit of the earth and the result of the work of the parents. As such they have the added value or meaning of being signs of the life giving love of the parents for their children. This food might have been obtained through the blood, sweat and tears of the father and mother that children often not take for granted and are not grateful for.
Because of this sacrifice the children are nourished not only by the food that was bought from the market and cooked by the mother at home. The children are also getting nourishment in their spiritual life because of the love and devotion of the parents who have worked hard to put the food on the table.
A family may be poor as not to be able to obtain the food that has all the desired ingredients and flavoring but if great love is behind whatever little that the parents bring home for their children that are a honestly obtained by their sacrifice it can be said that the children get greater nourishment from them. In this situation the children are eating not only “by bread” but from every the “word that comes from the mouth of God” that the parents live by in a very real way.
The celebration of the Mass is like that and infinitely much more. It always includes and or incorporates the above mentioned sacrifice and love of the parents for their children not to mention the good farmers and others in the community that produced the food.
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