The Body and Blood of Christ

One of our parishioners, Shannon Zurcher, is a FOCUS missionary who has been serving at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The following was written by Deb Happ who will be a Junior next year.

“Isn’t that cool?! We are all really connected in the Eucharist!” I paused, absorbing the statement that I had just heard. Then Shannon spoke again, “No matter where we go we will be connected, because we are one in the Body of Christ, the Eucharist.” I began to nod slowly until wham, it hit me and everything clicked; it changed the way I saw everything. “Wow so if we are all in Jesus because He brings us into Himself, and if Jesus is within every single one of us, in our heart… then yeah, we are connected! But then in the Eucharist, this spiritual connection becomes physical, and literally we are one in the Eucharist because we are all receiving the same Body of Christ at communion!”

Deb & Shannon at the UIC
Newman Center

This conversation happened during one of our discipleships this year. We were talking about a new identity in Christ and how every choice we make and everything we do has an impact on the whole world. I didn’t understand it until Shannon explained that it is because we are all connected through the Eucharist. My mind blew in a so many ways that day as my thoughts about what it means to be Catholic expanded. The power of the Eucharist… the Body of Christ… for the first time in my life I felt so happy and blessed to be Catholic as I began to understand the true idea of our global human family through this profound epiphany of what the Eucharist really is.

 

The Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

There are several distinct aspects to the prayers today. One such focus is found in the prayer after Communion. Here the gift of Communion is our reason for praise and thanksgiving. A second focus is found in the other texts, and that is the worship of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The opening prayer speaks of the memorial of the sacrifice and our worship of the sacrament. The alternative opening prayer brings the notion of covenant to the fore, using the term "solemn pledge" in place of the biblical term. Finally the fruits of Communion are given special attention in the prayer over the gifts and the prayer after Communion. This multivalent aspect of the celebration is instructive.

In our worship of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament it is crucial that we keep all the aspects of both that presence and that covenant in our minds and hearts. We need to see how wonderful the mystery is in all its many facets.
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