Corpus Christi: Jesus Shares Himself

Corpus Christi

The Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Exodus 24: 3-8 ~~~ Psalm 116 ~~~ Heb. 9: 11-15 ~~~ Mark 14:12-16, 22-26 ~~~

I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.

How shall I make a return to the Lord for all the good he has done for me?

These words from psalm 116 are so beautiful. There is no way that we can truly make a return to the Lord. The Lord wants us to believe and to follow as best as we can in his footsteps of love, compassion, and forgiveness.

The best we can do is to be forever thankful for all that he has done for us.

The gospel today reads like a screenplay for a movie...

Go into the city and a man will meet you, carrying s jar of water.

Follow him.

When they do arrive at the chosen house they are led to a large upper room furnished and ready. Everything has been prepared ahead of time for the feast of Passover; for Jesus and his disciples were devout Jews.

Tucked into this annual Passover celebration was the nucleus of what we believe.

Jesus pronounces the words of consecration of the Eucharist.

Our ministers today are still using those very words spoken many years ago in this upper room. Words which Jesus intentionally uses to institute the the Bread and Wine into his very being.

"While they were eating, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take it, this is my body.' Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. He said to them, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed for many'."

As we recite during the Mass...

'When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death,

Lord Jesus Christ, and your rising to eternal life.'

Jesus is the Bread of Life whoever believes has eternal life.

Jesus himself says, I am the Bread of Life. 

Today we rejoice in the Eucharist...

the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ

that was given up;

sacrificed for our salvation.

He alone was the perfect sacrifice offered for the atonement of our sins.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life because he is the conduit

through which we pass to our promised eternal inheritance.

We have been saved and nourished through the mystery of the Body

and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Each time we take and drink from the cup and each time we take and eat the bread we enter into this great Divine Mystery. We become part of the mystery;

because we consume this precious Body and Blood.

This bread and wine are processed into our bodily cells for food.

Physically and spiritually we are fed. He gave himself to us as bread and wine for the journey. The journey; returning back to him where we belong. 

  

Prepare your upper room for the Lord wants to remain in you.

Believe that you might have life eternal.

Jesus shares his very essence with us each time we eat and drink

at his table. Your 'Amen' is your verbal conviction to his presence.

It is by Faith that we Believe.

Pray for God to decrease any disbelief you may harbor silently within.

Water into Wine

"Do whatever he tells you." John 2:5

These short sentence can change your life in a profound way. The first miracle Jesus performed was, as you know, at the marriage feast of Cana. He changed the water into wine. He did so as a result of his mother, Mary's, gentle request. Mary was not frustrated with Jesus' initial reaction, "Woman, how does this concern affect me? My hour has not yet come."

Jesus uses the common water jugs which had held water for the Jewish ceremonial washings. The guests and all present had seen that the water in these jus had been for cleansing. A cleansing that was required before they could partake of the food.

In the time of Jesus the Jewish people had hundreds of rules. The process of “carefully washing their hands” involved washing the hands before and after eating. The process required a person to take at least half an “egg-shell” of clear water and pour on both hands. The hands had to be free of gravel, dirt, mortar or any other contaminant. The hands had to lifted up so that the water would run down to the wrist in order to ensure that the whole hand was washed and the “dirty” water did not re-flow across the fingers. Then the hands were rubbed against one another. If the water did not flow down to the wrist, the Jewish rabbis said that the hands were not clean and the process had to be repeated. If the hands had gravel, dirt, mortar or other contaminants when the washing started, the process was repeated twice. However, the second time, the water had to flow from the wrist down over the fingers.

So all present knew the purpose of the water in the jugs. Jesus came to show us a new way and this is a good example. By using these specific water jugs for his first miracle he changes the meaning of not only the jugs, but more imporantly the water. Water, without which ther is no life!

The water becomes wine which will come to be his own blood poured out for us on the cross. And this wine could not be just plain ordinary wine it had to be the finest wine because it was a representation of his very being...it represented his very essence.

That day all present noticed and commented about the best wine being reserved for the end of the party. At the end of parties many people, having had too much to alcohol, would not even notice a change in the quality of the wine.

The ritual cleansing was going to be taken to a higher level as Jesus would offer himself for our salvation on the cross. Jesus would become the Living Water. 

I chose a photo of water to create this kaleidoscope image.

The marriage feast of Cana is the reference point for doing whatever God tells you. When you do God's will amazing things will happen in your life. Believe it!