Corpus Christi: The central concern of life

The Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ Lectionary

Blaise Pascal, the famous 17 ^th century mathematician, writer, physicist, Catholic philosopher and theologian, said that the proof that man was wretched, if you needed one, is death. He offered this meditation on death:

"Let us imagine a number of men in chains, and all condemned to death, where some are killed each day in the sight of the others, and those who remain see their own fate in that of their fellows, and wait their turn, looking at each other sorrowfully and without hope. It is an image of the condition of men." Pascal, Blaise, Pensées. Ozymandias Press. Kindle Edition, Pensee 199.

Pascal noted that it is strange indeed that a prisoner would not do what he could to change his circumstances.  He said that we are those people. “It concerns all our life to know whether the soul be mortal or immortal.” Pens é es, 218.  The Resurrection of Christ, is then, a central concern of life. What should we do about it?
 
Life and Death
When a baby is born, parents and family hope they have all their fingers and toes and that they will grow up to be healthy in every way and happy. When we baptize a child soon after birth, we baptize them, however, into the death of Jesus Christ. [i]  First communion is one of the beautiful memories of childhood for parents. Their babies receive the Body and Blood of the Lord. When bread and wine are consecrated, they become the sacrament of death and life. When blood is separated from the body, death ensues. But we know that the Eucharistic Christ lives and that death has no more power over him. [ii]  St. Paul, who wrote these words, met the Risen Christ. He also wrote that he received from the Lord the sacrament of the Eucharist. In fact, the reading from 1 Corinthians is the first written account of the Eucharist as the memorial of the Lord’s death.

"I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks,
broke it and said, "This is my body that is for you.
Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
 "This cup is the new covenant in my blood.
Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes." 1 Cor. 11:23-26.

 St. Paul proclaimed the Eucharist and the return of the crucified and risen Lord together.
 
Corpus Christi and Death
Lent began with Ash Wednesday when the priest intoned, “remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.” In the Pascal Triduum, we began with Holy Thursday, remembering the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist. On Good Friday we remembered his death and on Easter Sunday, his Resurrection. All of these liturgical feasts draw us to meditate on death and life.
 
Pascal said that human beings, like prisoners in a cell block, try not to think about death. Prisoners have the choice to tear at each other as they await their fate, or to support one another in hope. Prisoners can deal realistically with their situation or ignore it by pursuing meaningless diversions. What we need is some help, someone in the prison with us, a guide, who knows what to do. Better yet, we need a merciful judge who understands.
 
Corpus Christi and Life
Corpus Christi is the sign of the Lord’s presence with us on this wild ride. We are not always faithful to all he taught us; but we can always choose to be faithful to the Eucharist. Sacraments like marriage and Eucharist sustain us through our faith.

Sometimes, when he was instructing a couple for marriage, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the great Lutheran priest and martyr, would caution them with words to this effect: Right now you are in love and you believe that your love can sustain your marriage. It can’t. But your marriage can sustain your love! The Eucharist is such a ritual-container for Christians. We can’t sustain our faith, charity, forgiveness, and hope on the basis of feeling or thought, but we can sustain them through the Eucharist. We can’t always be clear-headed or warm-hearted; we can’t always be sure that we know the exact path of God; and we won’t always measure up morally and humanly to what faith asks of us. But we can be faithful in this one deep way: we can go to the Eucharist regularly. Rolheiser, Ronald. Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist (pp. 121-122). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

The Eucharist is the most important thing we do as Christians. We fail in so many ways. Let us be faithful in this.