June 27, 2011
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Whoever shall drink my blood and eat my flesh….
Yesterday at our little church in our little village we celebrated. We didn’t merely observe but celebrated, or maybe I should say CELEBRATED the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. After our 11:00 Mass the men of our little church left their pews and began a slow and solemn procession out of the church. Along with a cadre of alter servers they bore on their shoulders a platform that held a statue of the Blessed Mother of God. Behind them came the parishioners from the pews, followed by the young girls of Our Lady’s Sodality wearing their blue robes and their white chapel veils. After the girls came the choir singing hymns of praise to the glory of God in the Blessed Sacrament. Finally, behind the choir, preceded by another cadre of alter servers and the pungent smoke of incense rising up to God, was our beloved pastor bearing in his consecrated hands Our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Down main street we walked, slowly and solemnly singing hymns of praise to Our Lord. Along the street people in their homes and the members of the other churches watched as we bore witness to our faith in and our devotion to the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ, really and truly present in the Blessed Sacrament.
When we returned to the little church, those in the town cannot be in any doubt that the Real Presence of Jesus resides there in that humble church and that the people who come and go from that house of worship truly believe in Him.
When Jesus said, “You must eat my body and drink my blood,” he was unequivocal. He did not mean that we were to commemorate what he had done with representations but that he would provide for us a means of doing exactly what he said. There is that little church in that small town, just as He is in any Catholic church no matter the size, he is present so that we can obey him.
“Eat my body and drink my blood so that you may have eternal life.”
