The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi)

Not by bread alone does one live - but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Moses says this to the desert generation after forty years of manna. The manna was the word made edible - the provision of God in the specific form the hungry people could receive. The Eucharist is the fulfillment: the Word made flesh, made bread, given for the life of the world.

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. The mutual indwelling is the fruit of the Eucharist - not just the reception of a symbol but the actual remaining. The bread produces what it is: the union of the eater with the one who is eaten. As the Father sent Jesus and he has life through the Father, the one who feeds on Jesus has life through him.

In your twenties the Eucharist can become routine - the Mass attended, the Communion received, the week continuing unchanged. Corpus Christi is the feast that interrupts that routine and names what is actually happening: participation in the Body and Blood of Christ, the one bread making many people one body, the mutual indwelling of the living Christ in ordinary people who come to the table.

Receive the Eucharist this week as if for the first time - knowing what you are going to, staying in the remaining after you receive, letting the one bread produce the one body in your actual community.

Lord, let the bread produce the remaining. You in me, I in you - the mutual indwelling that is real, not aspiration. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.