Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ
Genesis 14:18-20
— 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 — Luke
9:11-17
June 6, 2010
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Scriptures for this Sunday
Office of
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St. Thomas Aquinas (A.D. 1225-1274)
O precious and wonderful banquet!
Since it was the
will of God’s only-begotten Son that men should share in his divinity, he
assumed our nature in order that by becoming man he might make men gods.
Moreover, when he took our flesh he dedicated the whole of its substance to our
salvation. He offered his body to God the Father on the altar of the cross as a
sacrifice for our reconciliation. He shed his blood for our ransom and
purification, so that we might be redeemed from our wretched state of bondage
and cleansed from all sin. But to ensure that the memory of so great a gift
would abide with us for ever, he left his body as food and his blood as drink
for the faithful to consume in the form of bread and wine.
O precious and
wonderful banquet, that brings us salvation and contains all sweetness! Could
anything be of more intrinsic value? Under the old law it was the flesh of
calves and goats that was offered, but here Christ himself, the true God, is
set before us as our food. What could be more wonderful than this? No other
sacrament has greater healing power; through it sins are purged away, virtues
are increased, and the soul is enriched with an abundance of every spiritual
gift. It is offered in the Church for the living and the dead, so that what was
instituted for the salvation of all may be for the benefit of all. Yet, in the
end, no one can fully express the sweetness of this sacrament, in which
spiritual delight is tasted at its very source, and in which we renew the
memory of that surpassing love for us which Christ revealed in his passion.
It was to impress
the vastness of this love more firmly upon the hearts of the faithful that our
Lord instituted this sacrament at the Last Supper. As he was on the point of
leaving the world to go to the Father, after celebrating the Passover with his
disciples, he left it as a perpetual memorial of his passion. It was the
fulfillment of ancient figures and the greatest of all his miracles, while for
those who were to experience the sorrow of his departure, it was destined to be
a unique and abiding consolation.
Responsory
See in this bread the body of Christ
which hung upon the cross, and in this cup the blood which flowed from his
side. Take his body, then, and eat it; take his blood and drink it, and you
will become his members.
