The Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ which is also commonly known as the Feast of Corpus Christi which takes place traditionally on the Thursday after the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity or in some places for more people to follow is held on the Sunday after Holy Trinity Sunday. This celebration is very important for us because apart from the Holy Trinity, the Teaching of Christ's Real Presence in the Eucharist is one of the main tenets of our faith.
In contrast to the Trinitarian nature of Our Lord which is recognized and is a fundamental part of the faith for most people who believe in God, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist has not been accepted and rejected by some segments of people who believe in God. However, this clearly does not show the sentiments and beliefs of the Church Fathers and all the early Christians who all believed in the true, real and living presence of God in the Eucharist.
This means that the bread and wine that we offer at the Celebration of Holy Mass and which are blessed and offered by the priest to God at the Consecration actually become God's Own Body and Blood, God's own substance and essence, although they may still appear to us in the form of bread and wine. This process is called Transubstantiation, where 'Trans' means change and 'Substantiate' means substance or essence.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the word Transubstantiation means the transformation of the entire substance of the bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and the entire substance of the wine into the substance of His Blood. This change is brought about in the Eucharistic Prayer through the efficacy of Christ's words and by the actions of the Holy Spirit. From the Catechism we can see how the Church clearly teaches us what the Eucharist means to all of us.
This means that the bread and wine themselves have been changed, transformed into the substance, essence and reality of the Most Precious Body and Most Precious Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. The same Christ who offered Himself on the Cross at Calvary as a worthy Sacrifice, as an atonement for our sins. In the bread and wine that are transformed into the Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood of God, the Eucharist we partake of, we share in the same sacrifice of God that day on the Cross.
That is why the Mass is more properly known as the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass because the priest celebrant acts 'in persona Christi' or in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ with the authority that Christ Himself gave to His Apostles and because the Mass itself is the same Sacrifice that has God experienced when He took His Cross to Calvary, was crucified and died there for us His people, the whole Mass represents all of us who live through the same act of God's love in saving us.
When the celebrant pronounces the words of the Consecration by the power of God through the Holy Spirit, the bread and wine become the Most Precious Body and Blood of God and as the celebrant said with the same words that Jesus spoke at the Last Supper, This is My Body that has been given up for you, and This is the Cup of My Blood, the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant which was shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Therefore, in Holy Communion we do not only receive bread and or wine, and are not merely symbols of the Body and Blood of Christ as some people believe and believe, but in truth and reality, the Most Holy Body and Blood of our Lord Himself in the Flesh and Blood. We may see the appearance of bread and wine, the taste of bread and wine, the smell of bread and wine but in reality, the essence of all of them has been completely transformed into something beyond our human understanding, the Mystery of our Faith.
We believe in God and in the mystery of Transubstantiation, the most important doctrine of the Church from the beginning and which was promulgated at the Fourth Lateran Council in the early thirteenth century and practiced by our brethren in the Eastern Church. The Eastern Church also inaugurated their Synod in Jerusalem five centuries later, believing that God Himself has given His Precious and Holy Body and Blood for us to eat, eat and drink as real food and drink and not as something imaginary or merely symbolic. as Christ emphasized to the people in His sermon about the Bread of Life as the True Bread from Heaven far superior to the heavenly manna bread which God had miraculously given to the forefathers of the Jews, the Israelites during their forty year journey to the Promised Land. . Christ refers to that event, comparing how their ancestors died but those who receive this new Bread of Life i.e. Christ Himself, they will have eternal life through Him.
When Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life, He also mentioned to the people that they would have no life and not abide in Him unless they ate of His Body and drank His Blood. Jesus also specifically mentions that His Body is truly Food and His Blood is truly Drink. Jesus did not say that He gave them symbols to possess or to celebrate but instead doubled down on His own declaration of truth, to the point that many of His followers abandoned Him after this particular moment, which is ironically very similar to how some of our brethren choose to leave. the same truth about the Real Presence in the Eucharist.
To His remaining disciples, to His Twelve Apostles, Jesus gave power and authority at the Last Supper when He instituted the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. His commandment to them to 'do this in remembrance of Me' was a very important mission, which the Apostles had faithfully carried out and they passed on to all their successors, Bishops and Priests of the Church who have been ordained and receive the power and authority given to them. from Jesus to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass.
By sharing and partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, we have Holy and Holy Communion in the Church which then forms the Body of Christ. Because in sharing the same Body and Blood of God, we have been united through Christ and made one as a people blessed by Jesus and unite us to partake together in the Bread of Life, Christ our Savior becomes the Mystical Body of Christ, the One Church, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic.
From the very beginning our Church has very strong evidence and extensive evidence of the Real Presence of the Fathers and Leaders of the Church itself, such as Saint Ignatius of Antioch, second Bishop of Antioch and successor of St. Peter who said that within me there was a burning desire not for material things. . I don't like world food. What I want is bread from God, which is the Body of Christ and the drink I want is His Blood, a food for eternal supper.
Saint Justin Martyr and the Fathers of the Early Church and other saints also agree with this truth, Saint Justin Martyr says we call this meal the Eucharist and no one is allowed to partake in it unless he believes in our teaching. Because we receive this not as ordinary bread or ordinary drink but because of the power of the Word of God, our Savior Jesus Christ has become a Man of Flesh and Blood for our salvation, so we are taught that it is the food that has been turned into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer. determined by Him is the Body and Blood of Christ incarnate and with the changes that occur our bodies and blood are strengthened.
For Jesus anything is possible and everything is possible even changing matter and essence, the reality of the bread and wine into His Precious Body and Blood to be given to us and deservedly taken for our salvation. At the Last Supper mentioned by Saint Ambrose of Milan and the Apostle Saint Paul, the Lord said, This is my body and this is the cup of my blood, it is unchanging. The Most Holy and Precious Body and Blood are not imitation, not symbols, not representations, not even spiritual unity but the same, real, complete and bloody Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross at Calvary.
Having deepened our understanding of the rich history of this one of the most important principles of our faith, how will we truly celebrate the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ? It is not enough just to celebrate this day with a solemn celebration of the Holy Mass. In fact, we all need to have a major change in how we treat the Eucharist and how we should revere and adoration for the God who is truly present in the Eucharist.
On this Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, let us renew our zeal and faith in the True Presence of the Eucharist which Christ has given us all for our salvation through the hands of His Bishops and Priests. Let us strive to be worthy to receive the Body and Blood of Christ into ourselves and be grateful for the loving Sacrifice Christ has made for us by living a wise and exemplary Christian life.
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