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

Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him. - John 6:56

Remains in me and I in him. The mutual indwelling is not a spiritual aspiration. It is the fruit of the eating - what actually happens to the person who receives the Eucharist with faith. The bread Jesus gives is his flesh for the life of the world. The life produced is his life, communicated through the eating.

He fills you with the finest wheat. He sends forth his word swiftly. The psalm praises the God who provides through the word - the same word that became flesh, the same flesh that is given in the bread. The Eucharist is the fulfillment of all the providing, the finest wheat of the new covenant.

Moses tells the people: remember the manna. Remember that you were hungry and helpless and God fed you with something you could not have made. Do not forget the Lord your God in the abundance that follows the desert. The Eucharist is the practice of the remembering - the weekly, daily act of receiving the food you cannot make, from the one who gives it for the life of the world.

The bread we break is participation in the Body of Christ. Receive the Eucharist this week with the specific intention of the remaining: Lord, I receive you so that you remain in me and I in you. Stay in that intention for the minute after Communion. Let the participation be conscious rather than routine.

Lord, let the eating produce the remaining. You in me, I in you - the mutual indwelling that is the fruit of Corpus Christi. Let the finest wheat nourish what the desert has dried out. Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in you. Amen.