Today we
celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ,
traditionally called the feast of Corpus Christi. In so celebrating, we acknowledge the
wonderful gift of Holy Communion and its implication for our daily nourishment
by God’s love in giving His Son, Jesus Christ, to and for us. This feast underscores the grand desire on
the part of Jesus to remain with us even after His death to be the life-giving
presence that we count on.
During every
Mass, as soon as the priest pronounces the words of the consecration,
transforming the bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of
Jesus Christ our Lord, he genuflects, rises, and then says, “The mystery of
faith.” Oftentimes, when we say that
something’s a mystery, we mean that the conclusion is hidden but that there are
certain clues to help solve the mystery. And once the mystery is solved, everything is
clear, and it’s no longer a mystery.
“The mystery
of faith” is much different. Those words
are spoken at Mass immediately after the consecration as a way of drawing those
of us who believe into a holy awe and amazement of what just took place. But this mystery can only produce wonder and
awe if the reality of what just took place is understood through the gift of
faith. Faith is knowing and believing
without perceiving the reality before us with our five senses or through
logical deduction (Hebrews 11:1). In
other words, faith produces true knowledge of a spiritual reality that can only
be known, understood and believed through spiritual insight. Therefore, if we attend the Mass and have been
gifted with the knowledge of faith, then as soon as the consecration of the
bread and wine take place, we’ll cry out interiorly, “My Lord and my God!” We’ll know that God the Son is present before
us in a veiled way. Our eyes don’t
perceive, nor do any of our senses reveal to us the great reality before us. We can’t rationally deduce what just took
place. Instead, we come to know and
believe that the Son of God, the Savior of the World, is now present before us
in His fullness, under the veil of mere bread and wine.
In addition
to the divine presence of our Lord and our God, the entire Mystery of our
Redemption is made present. Saint Pope
John Paul II tells us that in this moment there’s a “oneness in time” that
links the Paschal Mystery, that is, the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus,
to every moment that the Eucharist is celebrated and made present through the
words of consecration. And that unity
between each Mass and the Paschal Mystery “leads us to profound amazement and
gratitude”. As we attend the Mass and as
the words of consecration are spoken, the entire Mystery of our redemption is
made present before us, hidden from our eyes but visible to our soul by faith. It’s God, the Second Person of the Most Holy
Trinity, Who descends to us to dwell with us in that moment of time in this
glorious Sacrament.
As we
reflect today upon the hidden but real Mystery of Faith, we can allow ourselves
to be drawn into a wonder and awe at what we’re privileged to attend. We can let our faith in the Most Holy
Eucharist grow by being open to a deepening of this gift of faith through
spiritual insight and belief. Behold
this great Gift of the Eucharist with the eyes of faith, and we’ll be drawn
into the wonder and awe that God wants to bestow upon us.
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