I want to be with you ...

In June we celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi which, translated from Latin, means "Body of Christ". This is one of the few celebrations of the year which the Church has designated a Holyday of Obligation, which means that we are obliged to go to church. The fact that we are obliged to go to church indicates that the Church sees this celebration as one of the most important. Why?

It is one of the most important celebrations because it is a remembrance and affirmation of the most powerful of Jesus’ parting gifts to mankind: the gift of Himself. We are not talking about some vague notion of Jesus' being with us spiritually (which he is), but actually present with us.

After Jesus rose from the dead he spent 40 days with his friends whilst all the time knowing that after this period of time he would be leaving them for good. He wanted to go home to his Father and he was ready to leave. However, he also desired to remain with his friends in a deeply personal and intimate way and, indeed, with all who would ever follow him over the centuries to come,

He had already devised such a way and had given a hint of it when he ate his last meal with his friends before his arrest and death. During the course of the Last Supper he took some bread, blessed it and gave God thanks for it. He then shared it out amongst his friends saying, “Take it and eat it, this is my body”. Then he took the cup of wine, blessed it and gave it to his friends to share, saying, “Drink it, all of you, this is my blood” (Matt 26:26-28). He then gave them a very clear directive, "Do this in memory of me". Jesus was saying that whenever his friends re-enacted this scene in the future, he would make himself present, absolutely and truly, in the form of bread and wine: that the bread would become his Body and the wine his Blood.

Therefore, at every single Mass which has been celebrated all over the world since that time, Jesus is made present and we have the opportunity to be with him and to come into his presence again and again and again.

The Mass, therefore, presents us with a wonderful opportunity to be with Jesus. If you were given the opportunity to come face to face with him who holds the world in the palm of his hand and who has supreme power over your life, what would you want to say to him? What would you want to ask of him? My imagination runs riot at the very thought - there is so much I want to say to him, so much that I want his help with, so many people I want him to come to in a special way … where shall I stop?

What would Jesus say to me? Perhaps he would say, “I love you so much that I don’t want you to go through life without me. I want to be with you in all your troubles and difficulties. There is so much I can do for you and give to you when you come to me in Holy Communion. There is much that I can do for your loved ones when you intercede for them through this special time in my presence. I am giving myself to you so that you may be empowered to be the person I want you to be, a good and truthful person, someone of courage and faith, love and kindness, a person of humility and joy, a person who wants to become like me…."

We all know how wonderful it is to be with someone who loves us. We feel supported, protected, encouraged and affirmed. We learn to be tolerant and patient, understanding and gentle. We become grateful for our loved one and for all who love us. Of all the virtues, love is the most powerful and the most healing, and in the sacrament of Holy Communion, Jesus is giving us an expression of his love.

Jesus wants us to feel this love. He wants to be with us and through that being together he wants us to be empowered to live the life he wants us to live, to become more like him and transformed by him.

When people have lived together for some time, it is interesting to see how they gradually become very similar in nature and character. They share the same likes and dislikes, the same sense of humour and ways of doing things. Our relationship with Jesus is no different: the longer we spend in his company and the more often we come to be with him particularly in Holy Communion, the more we will become like him.

There is a lovely passage in a book by Sister Briege McKenna which illustrates beautifully the effect of coming into the presence of Jesus, particularly through this sacrament….

"I was just looking at the Blessed Sacrament and adoring Jesus and telling him I didn't have much to say except that I loved him. I felt as though the Lord said to me, "Well, don't you know that you don't have to say anything to me? Just be with me. Come into my presence. It's not what you do for me, it's what I want to do for you." Then I got an image of a person going out of his house and sitting in the sun. As he sat in the sun, he didn't do a thing, but he started to change colour. People who saw him knew he had been in the sun because his skin showed it. The man knew it too, because he felt the effects of the sun: the warmth and the light. I heard the Lord saying, "So it is when you come into my presence. You will experience the effects of your time spent with me. People will see it in your actions". From "Miracles do Happen" by Briege McKenna OSC (ISBN 0-86217-253-5)

It is important to remember that when Jesus comes to us in Holy Communion, he is not fragmenting himself into thousands of little pieces. Rather, he is absorbing us into himself. To the degree that he shared in our humanity, he shares his divinity with us. All who come to share in the Sacrament of Holy Communion are being absorbed into Jesus - we are becoming one body with him. That is an extraordinary thought and immediately begs the question "If God is absorbing us into Himself, what are we being empowered to do or become?"

We are being empowered to grow in love, faith, trustfulness, humility, self-control, patience, goodness, joy and kindness. Perhaps God is calling you, personally, to carry out some special task which is only yours to do?

In Holy Communion, or Corpus Christi, Jesus comes to us not with a mighty trumpet blast or glorious alleluias, but as he came into the world in the first place, humbly. He comes in the form of a humble wafer of bread and drop of wine. His great hope is that, in return, we will bring ourselves, humbly, into his presence.

Above all, Corpus Christi is a celebration that, despite Jesus' walking this earth 2,000 years ago, despite his death and despite his leaving for heaven, He is still with us. This truth is, indeed, worthy of many 'alleluias'.