Corpus Christi Sunday

By Fr. Roy Cimagala

THE Solemnity of the Most Sacred Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) is a good occasion for us to once again relish the tremendous love of Christ for us. He did not only teach us about what is truly good and bad insofar as our human spirituality and morality are concerned.

Christ went all the way to offering his life for us, for our sins. He was willing to go that far because of his love for us. Whether we realize it or not, Christ in total obedience to his Father, went that far because we are indescribably precious to God.

We can only deeply wonder why, and express that wonder with these words of the Psalms: “What is man that you are mindful of him. And the son of man that you visit him?”

Of course, the answer to that question is because we are children of God. We have been created in his image and likeness. We are meant to share in the very life of God. That is why he did not only create us with the spiritual faculties of intelligence and will, enabling us to know and love him. He unsparingly gives us his grace, so we can truly rise to his level and become one with him.

And even if we strayed and sinned, and continue to do so, Christ’s love never stops. It’s always there, constant and universal, irrespective of how we are, ever willing to help us solve our problems and to ultimately return to him.

This love is made even more amazing because not contented with offering his life on the Cross for us, he chooses to stay with us, especially through the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, where his redemptive sacrifice on the cross is renewed, his real and not just symbolic presence is actualized, and his own self, his own body is offered to us as our bread of life, our spiritual nourishment in our earthly sojourn.

A saint once described this phenomenon as a divine madness of love. And we, on our part, should try our best to correspond that divine madness of love. The first thing we have to do is to always acknowledge and to be deeply moved by that tremendous love, since only then would we start to repay that love with love.

Our usual problem in this regard is that we often take this love of Christ for us for granted. We have to do everything to handle this tendency properly. Offhand, what we can do is to pause from time to time if only to remind ourselves of the significance of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We have to keep alive our faith and devotion to the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

It would be helpful if we can attend and participate actively in the Holy Mass as often as possible, and not just on Sundays and holy days of obligation. We should follow as closely as possible the different parts of the Mass, and join in the dynamic of Christ’s total self-giving to us so that we too can learn to give ourselves completely to him and to the others. The Mass should be the center and root of our spiritual life.

We should also receive him in holy communion. Christ is practically begging us to do so, because only then would we have divine eternal life, even while we are still on earth and in time.

Let us also visit the Blessed Sacrament as often as possible. That way we would be spending time with Christ, if only to have some rest and relaxation and recover our spiritual energies.

The only effect of a true devotion to the Corpus Christi would be nothing other than love for God which is also expressed in our love for the others, a love that discriminates no one, that goes all the way to offering even our life for the others!

Email: roycimagala@gmail.com