Readings:

Dt. 8:2-3, 14b-16a; Ps. 147; 1 Cor. 10:16-17; Jn. 6:51-58

(Audio recorded live, 11 June 2023)

Today is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, also known as Corpus Christi. This solemnity focuses us on the Real Presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar. Our adoration of Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist is true worship, as the Church teaches that Jesus is truly and substantially present under the appearances of bread and wine. The word “substantial” has particular significance, both in English as well as in Latin, nor are we unfamiliar with this word. Every time we recite the Creed, we affirm that Jesus is consubstantial with the Father, that is, of the same substance. Since the substance of the Father is Divine, and since Jesus is consubstantial with the Father, that means the substance of Jesus is also Divine. And since our God is Triune, the substance of the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, is also Divine. But, Jesus, having taken flesh, also has a human substance. What is the substance of man? We have a body and a soul, therefore, the incarnate Word of God, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, fully Divine in nature, became man and took upon himself a human body and a human soul. That is why we may call Jesus the God-man. He has the fullness of Divinity as well as the fullness of humanity.

The awesome reality of Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist is particularly important for the Church today. Various polls have been taken to gauge the people’s belief in the Real Presence, and sadly, those numbers are startling. According to a Pew Research study, only one-third of Catholics agree that the Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. This is a startling statistic. That would mean roughly two-thirds of people in pews today doubt that Jesus is truly and substantially present in the Eucharist.

The fact that Catholics struggle with the awesome reality of Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist is nothing new. Interestingly enough, that we have this solemnity at all began with a doubting priest. In the mid-thirteenth century, there was a German priest, Fr. Peter of Prague, who made a pilgrimage to Rome. He stopped into the Church of St. Christina in Bolsena, Italy to celebrate Mass, and he was having doubts about Jesus being truly present in the Eucharist. At the time, there was a growing debate among several theologians, who for the first time in history, began introducing doubts about the Body and Blood of Christ being actually present in the consecrated bread and wine. But, despite his doubts, as he celebrated the Mass and recited the prayer of consecration, blood started seeping from the consecrated host and onto the altar and corporal. Fr. Peter reported this miracle to Pope Urban IV, who sent delegates to bring the blood-stained corporal to Orvieto, where it remains on display to this day.

Meanwhile, as the Eucharistic Miracle was being confirmed, there was a nun and mystic, St. Juliana of Mont Cornillon in Belgium, who had a series of visions of our Blessed Lord instructing her to establish a liturgical feast for the Holy Eucharist, to which she herself had a great devotion. She had spent many years trying to convince her bishop to do this. It just so happens, her bishop later became Pope Urban IV. So, the seeds were already planted and after many years, she finally was able to convince him to create this special feast in honor of the Blessed Sacrament. Pope Urban instituted Corpus Christi for the Universal Church just one year after the Eucharistic Miracle in Bolsena.

What a beautiful confluence of events that led to the establishment of this solemnity: The visions of St. Juliana, the doubts of Fr. Peter, and the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The modern world likes to bombard us with all kinds of scientific observations and statistics. Various scientific fields of study sometimes favor consensus rather than repeatable evidence. But, the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is both empiracle and mystical. What we see with our eyes, and taste with our tongue is purely accidental to what is truly and substantially there, namely, the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Blessed Lord.

Jesus says, “[U]nless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” Jesus is the way, and the truth, and the life. St. Thomas Aquinas once wrote, “This is certainly eminently right for through him we have access to the Father….thus he is himself at once both the way and the goal. In his human nature he is the way, and in his divine nature he is the goal….If, then, you are looking for the way by which you should go, take Christ, because he himself is the way” (Exposition of John, Cap. 14, lect. 2).

And so, as we continue to reflect on the awesome mystery of Jesus’ Real Presence in the Eucharist, may this celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass dispel whatever doubts we may have so we can enter fully into the mystery of our salvation. And may our participation in the holy procession after Mass give glory and adoration and praise to Christ, who is one with God in his Divinity, and one with us in the flesh.