By: By Father James King

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, June 10

Exodus 24:3-8; Psalm 116:12-13,15-16,17-18; Hebrews 9:11-15; Mark 14:12-16,22-26

This Sunday we celebrate Corpus Christi — the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Sacred Scripture has much to teach us about this greatest of all the sacraments. The following are 10 truths we learn in Scripture:

— The sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted by Our Lord himself. As Our Lord and the apostles were eating the Passover supper, Jesus “took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, ‘Take; this is my body'” (Mark 14:22). Then He said, “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).

— The Eucharist is really and truly Our Lord’s body and blood. “My flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed” (John 6:55). The Eucharist is not simply a symbol of Jesus, but is Jesus himself.

— In and through the Eucharist, Christ’s saving sacrifice on Calvary for the sins of the world is made present upon the altar. Our Lord himself linked the Eucharist to His own passion and death, both by instituting the Eucharist on the night before He died and by His words of institution: “This is my body which is given for you” and “This chalice that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:19-20).

— Christ communicates his own divine life to us through this sacrament. “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). The life of Christ that we receive in Holy Communion is called sanctifying grace.

— Our Lord’s abiding presence in the Eucharist is a great sign of his love for us. Speaking of the night on which Our Lord was to institute the Holy Eucharist, St. John writes that Jesus, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). Our Lord loved and loves the church to the point of giving His body and blood to her members.

— The Eucharist is the heart and center of Christian worship. The first converts “held steadfastly to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

— The Eucharist is a source and sign of unity among members of the church. “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Corinthians 10:17).

— Those who receive Our Lord in Holy Communion are to do so worthily. “Whoever . . . eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). Those receiving Holy Communion should be free of any unconfessed mortal sin.

— The Eucharist was foreshadowed in the Old Testament. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you'” (Exodus 16:4). And in this Sunday’s first reading, we hear that Moses took the blood of young bulls “and sprinkled it on the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you'” (Exodus 24:8).

— The reception of Our Lord in Holy Communion leads to eternal life. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever” (John 6:51). Our Lord’s purpose in giving himself to us in Holy Communion is to unite us to himself and lead us to eternal life with Him.

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FATHER JAMES KING is a priest of the Diocese of Peoria who is on leave of absence for health reasons. He occasionally writes columns on Catholic life and culture for The Catholic Post.