{"id":780,"date":"2019-06-19T08:30:41","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T08:30:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=780"},"modified":"2019-06-19T08:33:55","modified_gmt":"2019-06-19T08:33:55","slug":"23-june-2019-the-body-and-blood-of-christ-corpus-christi-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=780","title":{"rendered":"23 June 2019 The Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) (C)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. <\/strong>The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/strong>: The Message of the Eucharist Today<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in\nLife and Liturgy (Sunday Readings<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

First Reading\n(<\/em>Genesis 14:18-20). The priest Melchizedek brought out bread and\nwine<\/em>.  The original setting of this\nbrief text in a lengthy chapter in the book of Genesis  speaks of the invasion of  kings from the East who made war with kings\nthe Western Dead Sea area, took spoils and then departed, also taking Lot,\nAbraham\u2019s brother and his goods. Abraham is uncharacteristically presented not\nas a quiet semi-nomad but as a military hero. With chosen men he pursues the\nEastern kings, brought back the goods, together with Lot\nand his property. On reaching Salem (probably Jerusalem is intended)\nMelchizedek, priest of the Canaanite God Most High, a god Abraham identifies by\nthe God he himself served (14:22) brought out bread and wine. Abraham (the\nbiblical text simply says \u201che\u201d) gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.\nMelchizedek  in this original context is\na mysterious figure. His person will later in the Bible be interpreted as referring\nto the Messiah (Ps 109[110]:4) read as today\u2019s responsorial psalm, and at\nlength of Christ in Hebrews 7:1-17). He himself will be a figure of Christ the\ngreat High Priest and his gifts of bread and wine figures of the Eucharist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm<\/em> (Psalm 109[110]). Your are a\npriest for ever, a priest like Melchizedek of old,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading<\/em> (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming\nthe Lord\u2019s death.<\/em> The Last Supper, with the institution of the Eucharist,\ntook place in 30 or 33 AD. Brief, even semi-creedal, accounts of the institution\nappear to have been put together at an early age. Paul, writing about 57 AD,\npossibly at Passover,  gives us one of\nthese which he says he himself has learned as going back to Christ himself\n(\u201creceived from the Lord\u201d) and is just passing on to his readers. He got this\ntradition possibly from the Church in Jerusalem\nat his first visit there (possibly 36 AD), or later (49 AD) at Antioch. It is the oldest written account of\nthe institution we have, older than that of Mark, the earliest Gospel, written\nabout 70 AD. It contains the same elements as the other Gospel accounts (but is\nnearest that of Luke). The bread, which is his body, is \u201cfor you\u201d, for those\nwho receive his Body in the Eucharist for all time. It is the body crucified\nfor salvation on Calvary. Reception of his\nbody is to be a \u201cmemorial\u201d, an event or rite that will call to mind (to\nparticipants, believers, possibly even to God the Father) the saving\nsignificance of his death, The \u201ccup\u201d is called the cup of the New Testament in\nChrist\u2019s blood. The old covenant at Sinai was also confirmed with blood (Exodus\n24:8). Each celebration of the Eucharist proclaims the Lord\u2019s death (and its\nmanifold significance) until the end of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gospel <\/em>(Luke\n9:11-17). They all ate as much as they\nwanted.<\/em> Since this year the institution narrative is given in the second\nreading (one close in part to Luke\u2019s account), the lectionary has chosen a\nrelated text for its Gospel reading. The Last Supper was but the last of many\nmeals which Jesus has with his own, with the marginalized and with others. All\nthese remained significant. A central hope in Judaism was the fulfilment of a\nprophecy of Isaiah (Isaiah 25:6-8) of a divine banquet in the days to come \u201con\nthis mountain\u201d. The setting of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves the\naccount of the crowds thronging to Jesus, who makes them welcome, talked to them\nabout the kingdom\n of God and cured those in\nneed of healing. Interest then shifts to the material: how feed this crowd of\nfive thousand. The apostles bring the question to Jesus\u2019 attention, and suggest\nsending the crowd home. For Jesus, feeding the hungry is also part of the\nmessage of the kingdom\n of God. He works this\nwell-know miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. Luke sees\nmore in this that just a mere miracle. For him it leads to a further\nrecognition by the Apostles of Jesus special mission as Messiah of God (Luke\n9:18-22). By a skilful use of words and imagery Luke suggests a close link\nbetween the multiplication and the institution of the Eucharist. He has Jesus\nuse the same actions and words over the loaves and fish to be multiplied. Jesus\nraised his eyes to heaven, said the blessing over them and handed them to the\ndisciple for distribution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                After each consecration we are asked to proclaim the\nmystery of faith, the significance of the Eucharist. Christ has himself  has asked us to celebrate the Eucharist as a\nmemorial of himself, a reminder of what his Body and Blood  in the Eucharist, stand for. The Eucharist\nproclaims Jesus\u2019 concern for the crowds, for the hungry, the marginalized and\nmany other things besides,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

B. The Bible in Dialogue with Questions of the Day: <\/strong>The Message of the Eucharist Today<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Eucharist\nhas been at the source and centre of Christianity down through the ages, and\nstill remains so. Reflection on it brings to mind many demands of Christian\nliving, as many as belief in the living Christ himself does. Instituted at the\nLast Supper, the last of his meals with followers, it recalls the many meals\nduring his life and the significance of these, eating with the marginalized and\nthe outcast. In Mark\u2019s gospel, after the multiplications of the loaves, in a\njourney across the Sea of Galilee the\nevangelist notes that the apostles had forgotten to bring bread with them,\nhaving only one loaf. Jesus warns of the danger of certain leaven (yeast). The\napostles think that he is referring to their lack of bread. Jesus reminds them\nof his multiplication of the loaves, and of their lack of understanding of the\nsignificance of the miracle (Mark 8:14-21). It is a curious text, but the point\nseems to be that Jesus is calling on his apostles (and the church) to reflect\non the miracles of the leaves, his meals, eventually the bread and wine become\nEucharist and their significance as a signs and pledge of his saving and\nencouraging presence with the church, in times of need and always. There are so\nmany aspects of the Eucharistic mystery that call for reflection.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

            The 2012 50th Eucharistic\nInternational Congress in Dublin\nhad as its theme \u201cThe Eucharist: Communion with Christ and with One Another\u201d.\nThe theme reminds us of the place of the living Christ in the Eucharist as a\nsource of personal union, communion, with God and with one another, Christ\u2019s\nbrothers and sisters.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

            The real presence of Christ under\nthe species of bread and wine is a mystery, to be understood by faith. Already\nin Christ\u2019s day, as represented in John\u2019s Gospel, his Jewish listeners\nobjected: \u201cHow can this man give us his flesh to eat?\u201d Jesus replies insisting\non his teaching. When many of his disciples said; \u201cThis is a hard teaching; who\ncan listen to it?\u201d among other points Jesus replies: \u201cWhat if you were to see\nthe Sin of Man ascending where he was before?\u201d (John 6:52-65). We grasp the\nmystery of his Eucharistic presence better when we consider it in the context\nof Jesus, true man and true God, his ascent into heaven, and enthronement at\nGod\u2019s right hand. Down the centuries the Church has taken Jesus\u2019 words on the\nbread and wine as his body and blood literally and lived with the mystery, a\nmystery as ever hard to put in human words. She has refused the view that the\nbread and wine only represent <\/em>the\nbody and blood of Christ. At the consecration there is a transformation, in\nsome way, of the elements bread and wine involved. Her belief was incarnated in\nthe respect for the bread and wine after the consecration, in the reservation\nof the Blessed Sacrament and in Eucharistic devotion. These were the manners in\nwhich the faithful expressed, and continue to express, their faith in Christ\u2019s\nEucharistic presence. When the belief was challenged by Berengarius, the Church\nformally responded in 1079 that at the consecration the bread and wine were\nsubstantially changed into the Body and Blood of Christ. In the Fourth Lateran\nCouncil (1215) this change was referred to as transubstantiation. The Council\nof Trent (1551) took up the question once again at the Reformation affirming\nthat this change at the consecration the \u201choly Catholic Church properly and\nappropriately calls transubstantiation\u201d, words repeated in the more recent\n(1994) Catechism of the Catholic Church<\/em>.\n(paragraph 1376).Such Christian and Catholic beliefs as \u201cconsubstantial\u201d and\n\u201ctransubstantiation\u201d, not being words current in ordinary discourse, should not\nbe the subjects of popular opinion polls. They are terms chosen by the Church\nto make clear her position on certain mysteries.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

            Questions are still being asked, by\nthe young and not so young at to how we can deny the evidence of our eyes that\nafter the consecration of the elements the bread is not bread but the Body of\nChrist and the wine not wine but the Blood of Christ. The question and the\nreply to it are old, candidly perceived and reflected on in the light of faith.\nWe have a clear instance of this in the catechesis addressed to the newly\nbaptised in the Jerusalem\n Church in the fourth\ncentury by its religious leader. In this it is stated that after the\nconsecration we see the bread and it looks as before, but then we recall\nChrist\u2019s words \u201cThis is my Body\u201d, and can we deny this?. Similarly with the\nwine, and Christ\u2019s word\u2019s: \u201cThis is my Blood\u201d. Can we deny this?. Thus is has\nbeen down the ages, and is today. We are in the present of a mystery. We admit\nour sight and profess our faith.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings) B. Reflection & Dialogue: The Message of the Eucharist Today A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":781,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/780\/revisions\/781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}