Corpus Christi

In the celebration of the feast of Corpus Christi this past Thursday, the Church called us to reflect on the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6. There, we see that Jesus consistently teaches, “...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). Upon hearing this, many of his disciples are troubled as they say, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” What makes this a hard saying? What about this teaching causes many of Jesus’ disciples to abandon him? Perhaps, it is still hard for us to accept today. Jesus also includes in this discourse, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). 

Wasn’t this the goal of humanity all along, to be restored to the state of communion between God and man in Eden? Wasn’t this the goal of Israel’s story, to be a light to the nations in that God would dwell among them? After all, what is the point of solely having a promised land that would fade away as all other nations do? What sets the people of God apart is that God dwells among them, and here in John 6, Jesus indicates that it is the will of the Father to do so in a radical way. Through the Son, God now reveals that man himself is called to be a sanctuary for God as he eats and drinks the Body and Blood of the Son of Man. This is indeed hard because this kind of self-emptying love takes a lot to comprehend. 

This is indeed hard because if God loves me this much, then I must change my way of life in order to become a sanctuary for his dwelling. Rarely is man a fan of change. Rare is the true disciple who embraces the fact that he has fallen short of loving God, his neighbor, and himself properly. The Body and Blood of Christ has been given as a medicine for our lack of love, and it may remain a hard saying for us until today. Yet, as Peter confessed after hearing this, these words of Jesus are the words of eternal life—it is in communion with Christ through his Body and Blood that man is fully becoming himself.